The Black Album
February 21, 2007 by Jo Minor
Metallica, or The Black album as it is unofficially known by millions of Metallica fans worldwide, marked the bands entry into commercial success. The album was an amalgam of shorter, radio-friendlier tunes - a total opposite of what the band created in the two masterpieces preceding this one. Master Of Puppets and …And Justice For All had significantly longer songs that were technical and…long, but they were some of the best albums the band has ever come up with. The Black Album, however, did have the all-too-famous song written by lead guitarist Kirk Hammett - Enter Sandman - and quickly became Metallica’s best known (read: commercially successful and radio friendly) track.
The Black Album is an album that’s unforgettable. The worldwide craze it spawned will go down in record books, and the album was even certified Gold in our very own Malaysia - it even achieved multiple Platinum status in other countries. Even the all black album cover - save for a tiny rattlesnake motif - that is barely visible at best - lodged at one of the corners of the cover, was cheeky and original. It was also the album after the epic and very lengthy …And Justice For All, which was then new bassist recruit Jason Newsted’s first album with the band. While the production maladies of …And Justice For All raised the ire of Newsted, whose bass playing could not be heard clearly in the final mix of the album (some conspiracy theorists claim that this was done on purpose by the rest of the band to push aside the then fresh hired gun’s bass playing) some foresaw The Black Album to finally do some justice to the man’s outstanding bass playing capabilities.
When it finally hit the stores, the album proved to have benefited from a great production process, thus making the songs in the album much clearer and cleaner than ever before in Metallica history - the album even made the band sound bigger and heavier than they ever have.
The Black Album also contained a song - written for the first time by bassist Jason Newsted - that was titled “My Friend Of Misery”, which is probably one of the best tracks in an already solid album. Personally, I would choose “Wherever I May Roam” as the best track for the CD, and give “My Friend Of Misery” a generous #2 spot - I wouldn’t choose Enter Sandman after the senseless spins it gets on the radio and (cough) even in clubs!
What made The Black Album a great record was the fact that it was given a production worthy of the quality of the songwriting present within the covers of the album. It was also the band’s most commercially successful and radio-friendly album to date - and marked the end of the band’s legendary first four albums that placed the band in the annals of heavy metal history for all time. From their humble thrash metal roots in Kill ‘Em All to their express train world tours to support the …And Justice For All album, Metallica had already become a household name, in millions of households around the globe, quite some time before The Black Album saw the light of day.
Sadly, though, this departure also signaled the end of an extremely creative period for the band. The Black Album soon paved the way for the band’s more commercial albums, especially the Load and Re-Load albums, and spelled the end for Metallica the Thrash Metal Band and marked the beginning of Metallica the Radio Rock Band.
Although The Black Album was a first in terms of production and songwriting approach for Metallica, it will always be seen as the tombstone that marked the end of Metallica’s most glorious period.
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