25 years ago today : Metallica's Black Album is released

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Kaladin

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August 12, 1991

I love this album. Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, Through The Never, Struggle Within, Of Wolf And Man.....shit, the whole record is classic.

It's got amazing staying power. As of February this year it was selling an average of 5,000 copies each week.

Amazing for an album 25 years old.

Fun fact : My first online username was Sandman, djsandman and Mr. Sandman at various places in tribute to Enter Sandman.

What is your favorite track?
 
One of the first CDs I ever owned.

The God that Failed is one of my favorites on the album, along with Sad But True and Struggle Within.

Hard to believe they originally wanted Holier Than Thou as the first single, but they ended up putting Enter Sandman out first.

I wonder how things wouldve changed if they went with the former first?
 
25 years ago I was in Middle school, so this years '25 years ago' threads hit me with maximum nostalgia, and the Black Album is not an exception. Purchased the tape of this at Shopko on the same day as Strider for the Genesis. I'm positive that I beat that game before finishing listening to the album.
 
This was released at the peak of my Metallica boner. Jammed the shit out of it and the rest of their catalog for years after this.

Then started to get tired of hearing it.

Then Load came out.

*slowed down dramatic movie voice* "NOOOOOOOOooooooo!!!!"
 
Everyone I knew, including myself, was there day one to buy this album. I remember the CD case came in one of those long cardboard packages that CDs used to come in. We actually lined up at the local record store to get it. Man, those days are long gone.
 
I throw it on whenever I want to remember how silly angsty teen years were like for me when this came out. I don't want to be the guy in unforgiven lyrics.
 
Horseress said:
"My Friend of Misery" is still one of the most underrated songs ever. Such a great song, in a fantastic album
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One of the first things I learned to play on bass.

Pivotal album for the band that brought them into the mainstream and a lot of credit for the success of the album and the band needs to go to Bob Rock who insisted on shortening the tracks for ease of radio play.
 
This album sits in a strange place for me. Being raised in rural Iowa, this was the first mainstream music exposure I had to something vaguely counterculture. I loved the album and picked up some earlier Metallica albums, Puppets, Kill 'Em All, Lightning.... And it was then that I realized Metallica in the 80's was so much better. I was in my early teens and I did not understand how such a heavy fast band could tone down their music so much. I wanted to love the Black album again, but I couldn't. It just didn't compare to Puppets.

It wasn't long after that my musical tastes changed. I heard Nine Inch Nails, Wumpscut and Apoptygma Berzerk. That latter being one of my favorite bands to this day ( I even had the pleasure of booking and promoting a concert for them in Omaha, really wonderful nice people). Apop does an amazing cover of Fade to Black and Nothing Else Matters, further proof to me that the musical journey I was on made sense.

I still look back on the black album with nostalgia and fond memories, but more for where it's taken me. It was my starting point into my love of music. It's tyre what they say, you never forget your first Metallica album.
 
Hooligan69 said:
This was released at the peak of my Metallica boner. Jammed the shit out of it and the rest of their catalog for years after this.

Then started to get tired of hearing it.

Then Load came out.

*slowed down dramatic movie voice* "NOOOOOOOOooooooo!!!!"
Click to expand...

I liked Load and to a lesser extent, Re-Load. They felt experimental and, at times, more personal. St. Anger came out and I listened to it once and tossed the CD in the garbage. That's where my Metallica super fandom died. Frantic tick tock, tick tick tick tock...so bad and scared into my memory forever.

DontBeThatGuy said:
Beginning of the end.
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Had more to do with Cliff's death in my estimation.
 
Black Album is probably my fourth favorite Metallica album. The only album I dislike is St. Anger tbh, even Death Magnetic has some cool songs
 
Lionheart1827 said:
One of the first CDs I ever owned.

The God that Failed is one of my favorites on the album, along with Sad But True and Struggle Within.

Hard to believe they originally wanted Holier Than Thou as the first single, but they ended up putting Enter Sandman out first.

I wonder how things wouldve changed if they went with the former first?
Click to expand...

I believe that was largely because Metallica generally writes the rest of the song before the lyrics. So the instruments of Holier Than Thou Art sounded like they should be the single, then they changed their minds once the lyrics came about.
Horseress said:
"My Friend of Misery" is still one of the most underrated songs ever. Such a great song, in a fantastic album
Click to expand...
Speaking of writing the lyrics last, I think this was originally an instrumental? Probably should have stayed one. The lyrics are pretty much just James rattling off trite expressions. Great guitar and bass though, though the bass is strangely similar to Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth).
 
The album changed my entire life. I liked Enter Sandman, so I bought the album, then I heard "Sad but True" and it changed the game for me man. Classic album, probably my third favorite of theirs.
 
ascii42 said:
I believe that was largely because Metallica generally writes the rest of the song before the lyrics. So the instruments of Holier Than Thou Art sounded like they should be the single, then they changed their minds once the lyrics came about.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure nearly every band writes music before lyrics.
Usually music>lyrics>vocals
 
Classic album, although I am still partial to older Metallica (Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets are my favorites). Nothing Else Matters is probably my favorite song from the album.
 
An absolute masterpiece and the soundtrack to my teenage years. I saw them when they played the entire album live a few years ago.
 
Sad But True in particular but really the whole Metallica Monsters of Rock set live from Moscow in September 1991 is the last great moment for Metallica imo. From 1986 to 1991 they were unstoppable. So I hold the album in high regard, if not as high as AJFA or any of the first four.
 
I felt like this was overall better than Justice. Justice suffered from muddy sound and an overall lack of bass.

Then you had this album come out of the studio and it sounds like a timeless masterpiece.
 
"had more to do with Cliff"
You guys forgetting And Justice for All or what?
Kaladin said:
I felt like this was overall better than Justice. Justice suffered from muddy sound and an overall lack of bass.

Then you had this album come out of the studio and it sounds like a timeless masterpiece.
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Lars is the dinkleberg of Metallica
 
OnionPowder said:
To Live is to Die though, which is the best song on that album hands down.
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That's a rather unique opinion, and that was the only song he had a writing credit for. I'd place every other song on the album above it, and I know there's no replacing Cliff, but he couldn't do much on AJFA when work started posthumously.

Ironically, Jason's credit on the opener Blackened was probably a bigger deal musically.
 
OnionPowder said:
To Live is to Die though, which is the best song on that album hands down.
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Great song, wouldn't say it's the best though. Honestly it's a pretty amazing album overall and a great follow-up to master of puppets EXCEPT for the fact that it got dealt the bad hand of production stuck between two albums with amazing production. They should do a full remaster or re-record for the 30th. it definitely deserves better treatment.
 
Killer Queen said:
"had more to do with Cliff"
You guys forgetting And Justice for All or what?
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Nope. It's more of a response of pegging "the beginning of the end" to the Black album. Lot's of things contributed Metallica's evolution (Mustane getting booted, Cliff dying, Bob Rock producing, James deciding every contributes to writing lyrics, etc).
 
EleventhHourSuperpower said:
That's a rather unique opinion, and that was the only song he had a writing credit for. I'd place every other song on the album above it, and I know there's no replacing Cliff, but he couldn't do much on AJFA when work started posthumously.

Ironically, Jason's credit on the opener Blackened was probably a bigger deal musically.
Click to expand...

To be fair, I have a heavy bias towards instrumental Metallica tracks. I do love all of AJFA. I think their depression after the loss of Cliff greatly helped that album though.

Killer Queen said:
Great song, wouldn't say it's the best though. Honestly it's a pretty amazing album overall and a great follow-up to master of puppets EXCEPT for the fact that it got dealt the bad hand of production stuck between two albums with amazing production. They should do a full remaster or re-record for the 30th. it definitely deserves better treatment.
Click to expand...

Yep, they should also try and dig up their records and get the original cut of To Live is to Die before they had to shorten it for space reasons.
 
Killer Queen said:
Great song, wouldn't say it's the best though. Honestly it's a pretty amazing album overall and a great follow-up to master of puppets EXCEPT for the fact that it got dealt the bad hand of production stuck between two albums with amazing production. They should do a full remaster or re-record for the 30th. it definitely deserves better treatment.
Click to expand...

Re-record would be a shame, even if they use James' original vocals.

The dry sound and nearly inaudible bass (you can briefly hear it on the title track towards the end) was part of the draw. Often imitated, but never as successful. There's something about the sterile sound and clicking (CLICKING) of the drums that's magical imo.

OnionPowder said:
To be fair, I have a heavy bias towards instrumental Metallica tracks. I do love all of AJFA. I think their depression after the loss of Cliff greatly helped that album though.



Yep, they should also try and dig up their records and get the original cut of To Live is to Die before they had to shorten it for space reasons.
Click to expand...

No worries, I'm the same with the Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth), The Call of Ktulu, and Orion.

When even what became a top 40 hit is 7 1/2 minutes long, I think AJFA got to the point where they gladly cut any song that would have been over 10 minutes. Harvester of Sorrow would have been 4 minutes tops on KEA.
 
An excellent release. I was just listening to Wherever I May Roam yesterday, which is my favourite from this album.

Here's my controversial opinion: St Anger is better than Kill 'Em All!
 
EleventhHourSuperpower said:
Re-record would be a shame, even if they use James' original vocals.

The dry sound and nearly inaudible bass (you can briefly hear it on the title track towards the end) was part of the draw. Often imitated, but never as successful. There's something about the sterile sound and clicking (CLICKING) of the drums that's magical imo.



No worries, I'm the same with the Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth), The Call of Ktulu, and Orion.
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I'm going to have to politely yet firmly disagree

OnionPowder said:
hey that's me
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Me too lol.
 
My older brother had all of the Metallica albums when I was a kid and I would always listen to whatever he liked. The black album is the first one I really listened to over and over again. It was the best thing I ever heard when i was 11. I remember listening to it while playing my brand new snes. Hard to believe it has been 25 years. I still have all of his old cd's to this day.
 
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