Metallica Superthread -All Metallica discussion goes in here

Ash.J.Williams

blastman wrote: »

At least they're treating all the bassists since Cliff equally (badly)

ha ha true!

Bang_Bang

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

ha ha true!

I don't know, I get the feeling that James, kirk and Lars are touring so much so they won't go back to drinking, the boredom of doing nothing would drive anyone to drink. They have that much money, etc... Lars obviously likes to drink a few beers, but if they weren't doing this, James would be managing a hotrod racing team of his own, so he doesn't "glug glug".

And as for Rob!?? Go back to sucidal tendencies, they fúcking miss you and you are clearly BORED! (Not with the money)

Jason did the right thing.

briany

Phil Anselmo is not a big fan of Load, it would seem.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/philip-anselmo-says-metallicas-load-album-should-never-have-been-released-its-a-terrible-record/

Asked which album should never have seen the light of day, Anselmo replied: "I would have to say [1996's] 'Load' by METALLICA. I mean, it's a terrible record, man. I just don't get it. If you're gonna put out a record like that, just do a ****ing side project or something, ya know?"

Mushy

Phil Anselmo is a bellend!

hidinginthebush

Mushy wrote: »

Phil Anselmo is a bellend!

Big time. Pantera have some cracking songs, but they're interspersed with an awful lot of ****e

I quite enjoyed this bit

I think that was when 'Load' was out, and it kind of shocked everybody — everybody was freaked out." Anselmo elaborated in a subsequent interview, claiming that METALLICA never would have shared a stage with PANTERA in the U.S. "because they know what would ****in' happen. We would ****in' eat them alive! That's the end of the ****in' sentence. We would crush 'em." METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich responded to Anselmo's challenge by saying, "Is he that desperate to tour? I love all these challenges. The ol' step it up...," and adding that Anselmo "has a tendency to talk a lot of horse**** most of the time."

briany

hidinginthebush wrote: »

Big time. Pantera have some cracking songs, but they're interspersed with an awful lot of ****e

I quite enjoyed this bit

Well Pantera's catalog is pretty solid. I don't see much ****e in there. Now maybe some of Anselmo's solo work is ****e, I don't know, I haven't listened to all of it. I've listened to a bit of his work with Down and I enjoyed it but it's ironic because the stuff Down does is loose and grungy, not unlike Load in some ways so I don't know where his distaste for Load comes from since he's done similar work. Unless he disavows his work with Down, his distaste for Load comes off as a little bit hypocritical IMO.

Phil's always gonna be one of those guys who says loaded stuff. He said of Dimebag, before he died, that he 'ought to be beaten severely' or words to that effect, and going on to say that he could beat Dimebag into 'vapor'. Probably some heroin fog going on there, too, though.

Bang_Bang

Load and re-load were shíte, so I don't see what the problem is. Metallica had 5 great albums, then coke, hookers and total disarray brought them to a point that Jason wanted to leave probably one of the greatest heavy metal bands in the world. This is the man that was the Metallica fan!!! and then joined them for some great years, then they lost it tbh. He's best away from them.

Degag

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJxKf34B-7E

Loved Frayed!

briany

Bang_Bang wrote: »

Load and re-load were shíte, so I don't see what the problem is. Metallica had 5 great albums, then coke, hookers and total disarray brought them to a point that Jason wanted to leave probably one of the greatest heavy metal bands in the world. This is the man that was the Metallica fan!!! and then joined them for some great years, then they lost it tbh. He's best away from them.

Metallica (well, Lars and Kirk) were dabbling in cocaine and groupies (the entire band) since the mid-80s while they were making some of those great albums. The reasons for Jason's leaving are numerous and I've heard him give so many different explanations as to why. They all probably make up a piece of the puzzle though. Listening to that Scuzz interview he did, the whole episode is still an emotional subject for him. It seems in no way did he ever want to leave Metallica but it came to the point where there would be no way to stay and keep his sanity/integrity intact.

Bafucin

This took it all to another level for me.

Cliff Burton apparently loved Bach and had been inspired in some songs. Maybe an homage in remembrance? S&M contains performances of Metallica songs with additional symphonic accompaniment, which was composed by Michael Kamen, who also conducted the orchestra during the concert.
Cliff's talent was his live improvisation and song writing ability rather than his playing ability so I imagine this would have been something he would have been into. Had he lived longer he could have enjoyed it. I would loved to have heard it live.


Amazing!

Cliff solo...not technically difficult playing and the distortion is something else...but it's music ...unlike a lot ****...he improvised actual MUSIC.

He had the stuff you can't practice for ...presence etc if he had stayed off the crap he would have only have gotten better and better..

Bang_Bang

briany wrote: »

Metallica (well, Lars and Kirk) were dabbling in cocaine and groupies (the entire band) since the mid-80s while they were making some of those great albums. The reasons for Jason's leaving are numerous and I've heard him give so many different explanations as to why. They all probably make up a piece of the puzzle though. Listening to that Scuzz interview he did, the whole episode is still an emotional subject for him. It seems in no way did he ever want to leave Metallica but it came to the point where there would be no way to stay and keep his sanity/integrity intact.

I think bob rock gave Jason his bass adjustment, but he(bob rock) also killed Metallica, by lowering their tempos and aggressiveness. After bob got involved They just made shíte records after the black album. Bob fúcked them up as a band. As well as the new money flowing in after the black album sales , they just fúcking went ape shít on drink and drugs.

Riddle101

I wish Metallica would go back to working with Flemming Rasmussen. He was the producer for Ride The Lightening, Master of Puppets and And Justice For All which are among Metallica's best albums.

Bang_Bang

Riddle101 wrote: »

I wish Metallica would go back to working with Flemming Rasmussen. He was the producer for Ride The Lightening, Master of Puppets and And Justice For All which are among Metallica's best albums.

Sonically the black album is the best, Lars drums sound like a machine gun in most songs especially in wherever I may roam. But it's not a technical album, lars said it himself and Kirk said for him it was the easiest album. Bob Rock encouraged them to write simple, slower music and that's all they did after that.

For me AJFA is by far the most technical, serious guitar changes and same with the drumming. Puppets is also like this except it's got this huge stadium feel to it

briany

Riddle101 wrote: »

I wish Metallica would go back to working with Flemming Rasmussen. He was the producer for Ride The Lightening, Master of Puppets and And Justice For All which are among Metallica's best albums.

There'd be no point, IMO. That makes the assumption that Flemming Rasmussen was key in the making RtL, MoP, and AJFA, whereas the truth is he was a steady hand who knew how to get a good sound on tape, but more importantly he was overseeing a group of talented, hungry and visionary musicians in their early to mid twenties. Bringing him back now wouldn't be the same. As they say, you can't go home again.

Sometimes, when bands try a bit too much to go back to their past, it's like a tacit admittance that they're not too happy with their present or hopeful about their future. This would be especially true for Metallica 'cause pretty much all along, except for DM maybe, they've been about what's a bit new, different or unexpected.

Bang_Bang

briany wrote: »

There'd be no point, IMO. That makes the assumption that Flemming Rasmussen was key in the making RtL, MoP, and AJFA, whereas the truth is he was a steady hand who knew how to get a good sound on tape, but more importantly he was overseeing a group of talented, hungry and visionary musicians in their early to mid twenties. Bringing him back now wouldn't be the same. As they say, you can't go home again.

Sometimes, when bands try a bit too much to go back to their past, it's like a tacit admittance that they're not too happy with their present or hopeful about their future. This would be especially true for Metallica 'cause pretty much all along, except for DM maybe, they've been about what's a bit new, different or unexpected.

Flemming Rasmussen didn't mix AJFA. He's credited to it, but there's plenty of YouTube videos of James and Lars admitting that they did it.

King George VI

I'd really love a re-master of the first 4 albums. Master of Puppets is unreal sonically, but I reckon it'd sound even better with a bit of touching up. AJFA would sound heavenly re-mastered

Bang_Bang

Johnny Carson wrote: »

I'd really love a re-master of the first 4 albums. Master of Puppets is unreal sonically, but I reckon it'd sound even better with a bit of touching up. AJFA would sound heavenly re-mastered

you should check out dyers eve with the bass up on youtube, it's amazing, really heavy.

Ash.J.Williams

a new edition of ajfa could well be the last thing they ever do! they are hardly going to to release a new album worthy of a swansong so ajfa v2 would suffice!

Although i love ajfa and think it sounds f**ed up and weird and unique and brilliant and dirty as f**!

Bang_Bang

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

a new edition of ajfa could well be the last thing they ever do! they are hardly going to to release a new album worthy of a swansong so ajfa v2 would suffice!

Although i love ajfa and think it sounds f**ed up and weird and unique and brilliant and dirty as f**!

When I listened to Lords of summer, 2 things stuck out, Kill Em All and AJFA influence. Maybe they should just make the new album a mix of KEA, RTL, MOP and AJFA and call it "Master of them all":pac:

King George VI

Bang_Bang wrote: »

you should check out dyers eve with the bass up on youtube, it's amazing, really heavy.

I've heard a few of the Justice tracks on youtube with the bass up. I think they sound a bit better with the higher bass, but the guitars and drums still sound awful like on the album. What it needs is an EQ overhaul.

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

a new edition of ajfa could well be the last thing they ever do! they are hardly going to to release a new album worthy of a swansong so ajfa v2 would suffice!

Lars already said they would do it. Not any time soon I doubt but still.... it's something.

Lars wrote:

Ulrich: Now that we own our own records and have our own label, we will probably take each album, remaster them and make them available with the latest technology and find interesting outtakes and additional things that will make it special. You do want to cash in, so if you can put some packages together that are special to the fans, it is worth doing.

http://www.blabbermouth.net/news/metallica-s-lars-ulrich-death-magnetic-will-be-a-difficult-record-to-follow/

seachto7

Ride The LIghtning needs a remaster or remix. I never liked the sound of it, even though the songs are good.

StaticAge11

Ive always hated the vocals on KEA, RTL and MOP. Hetfields voice to me was perfect on the Garage Inc album. I love his voice on DM too, if the vocals could be redone it would be a dream come through. But alas there arent many Met fans out there who would agree with me

Bang_Bang

StaticAge11 wrote: »

Ive always hated the vocals on KEA, RTL and MOP. Hetfields voice to me was perfect on the Garage Inc album. I love his voice on DM too, if the vocals could be redone it would be a dream come through. But alas there arent many Met fans out there who would agree with me

I would disagree with you, I loved his voice on AJFA and the black album ( his balls obviously dropped after MOP) hated this voice on DM, it's just screaming and shouting.

briany

Bang_Bang wrote: »

Flemming Rasmussen didn't mix AJFA. He's credited to it, but there's plenty of YouTube videos of James and Lars admitting that they did it.

Yeah, but he's credited so I had to include him, otherwise I'd be getting 'Flemming also produced on AJFA". Besides, Flemming still engineered the album and manned the desk like the two previous records AFAIK, he just didn't mix the album, but he didn't mix the other two either. The mixing seems to be handled by another person for many of Metallica's releases. In this case it was Hetfield and Ulrich who mixed, which is why they get that producer's credit AFAICT, and proceeded to merrily to reduce Jason's contribution down to a faint essence.

In all honesty though, taking the bass almost totally out of the mix was one of the most petty and small minded things Hetfield and Ulrich ever did and it's a big part of why I think AJFA is overrated as an album. So horribly thin sounding at times and it really takes away from the music. It's a real slap in the face to Jason as well, IMO. Forget those Youtube remasters that are just a glorified EQ tweak, one day the band has to remix that album and release it as it should have sounded with an actual low end and a bit of room mic.

Bang_Bang

briany wrote: »

Yeah, but he's credited so I had to include him, otherwise I'd be getting 'Flemming also produced on AJFA". Besides, Flemming still engineered the album and manned the desk like the two previous records AFAIK, he just didn't mix the album, but he didn't mix the other two either. The mixing seems to be handled by another person for many of Metallica's releases. In this case it was Hetfield and Ulrich who mixed, which is why they get that producer's credit AFAICT, and proceeded to merrily to reduce Jason's contribution down to a faint essence.

In all honesty though, taking the bass almost totally out of the mix was one of the most petty and small minded things Hetfield and Ulrich ever did and it's a big part of why I think AJFA is overrated as an album. So horribly thin sounding at times and it really takes away from the music. It's a real slap in the face to Jason as well, IMO. Forget those Youtube remasters that are just a glorified EQ tweak, one day the band has to remix that album and release it as it should have sounded with an actual low end and a bit of room mic.

I love the technicality that was put in to AJFA, but Hetfield and Ulrich ruined it. I remember Kirk saying in an interview that it was an experiment, what he really meant is that they were "experimenting with Jason" and breaking his balls at the same time. Your right the original AJFA tapes have to be remastered, it would be a crime not to do it.

seachto7

StaticAge11 wrote: »

Ive always hated the vocals on KEA, RTL and MOP. Hetfields voice to me was perfect on the Garage Inc album. I love his voice on DM too, if the vocals could be redone it would be a dream come through. But alas there arent many Met fans out there who would agree with me

I wouldn't redo anything. Mustaine did that with some of the remasters. He arsed around with re recorded parts and extra bits. You can hear it clearly on So Far So Good So What. The old one sounds way better.

I don't see the problem with a remix or a remaster, but I wouldn't buy an album with re recorded vocals or instruments. Disaster waiting to happen.

I know Anthrax did it with The Greater of Two Evils, but they recorded a live album in the studio with John Bush.

Ash.J.Williams

Rasmussen was brought in to fix ajfa, as i think Mike Clink made a balls of it previously.




or maybe not

http://thequietus.com/articles/00076-metallica-from-rocks-back-pages
After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf


After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf

briany

Bang_Bang wrote: »

I love the technicality that was put in to AJFA, but Hetfield and Ulrich ruined it. I remember Kirk saying in an interview that it was an experiment, what he really meant is that they were "experimenting with Jason" and breaking his balls at the same time. Your right the original AJFA tapes have to be remastered, it would be a crime not to do it.

Be careful with 'remastered' vs 'remixed', as I think they're two different things. Mastering something doesn't really affect the individual instrument levels relative to each other too much, it's really more about equalizing, compressing or adding various other dynamic alterations to the whole sound, after the mixing process is completed and before the recording is transferred to the medium that copies are made from. Mixing is where the levels of individual instrument tracks are put in their respective places and many other important things are done, so definitely I think a little remix wouldn't hurt to get Jason's volume up and his bass audible, although neither would a little remastering afterward!

Ash.J.Williams wrote: »

Rasmussen was brought in to fix ajfa, as i think Mike Clink made a balls of it previously.




or maybe not

http://thequietus.com/articles/00076-metallica-from-rocks-back-pages
After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf After recording a pair of covers with Clink, the band ended up calling in Flemming Rasmussen, the Danish producer who had worked on Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. What happened immediately before, during and after is henceforth committed to Decibel’s Hall of Fame. - See more at: http://www.decibelmagazine.com/hall-of-fame/metallica/#sthash.Vuf4DWh5.dpuf

Yeah, the impression I get is that they didn't like the sound they were getting with Clink and decided to go back with what they knew. As I said, Flemming's contribution was really about the sound he could get Metallica throughout his tenure producing them, setting up the mics just right and all that, that's what he mainly talks about in interviews like this. His contribution to AJFA was only less apparent because Hetfield & Ulrich were allowed near the mixing console, which shouldn't have happened in retrospect.

Bang_Bang

briany wrote: »

. Mixing is where the levels of individual instrument tracks are put in their respective places and many other important things are done, so definitely I think a little remix wouldn't hurt to get Jason's volume up and his bass audible, although neither would a little remastering afterward either!

So put Jasons bass where it should have been from the start, then bring the guitars and drums to MOP. RTL was mixed badly, I think KEA has a better sound to RTL. RTL was probably Flemmings first "student" project, I'm not a fan of the sound engineering on that particular album. It was miles away from KEA. Which is not bad, but if you listen to the two albums back to back, it's like two different bands. MOP is where they mastered it.

Then the older brother that Hetfield looked up to died, and he apparently had a lot of influence on AJFA before he died. He "apparently" deserves more credit for AJFA than just TLITD. That's probably why Jason got his balls broke so much, then James wrote his bass parts.

Currently I just saw a clip of Rob playing guitar in the DM documentary, Hetfield looked impressed, but also had this look on his face which said "Should I kill him or keep him?:D"

Hetfield must be a nightmare to work with, I have looked at the documentaries online about through the never, and all you can see is directors, make up artists, stage hands producers all waiting for the band, sometimes for up to 5 hours while they are fúcking around in the dressing room for this movie.

The guys (camera, op's, directors, make up artists) shouting out "Hey Guys are we making this film or what??????"

King George VI

Just found an interesting post on MetallicaBB.COM ABOUT JH's vocals over the years.

James Hetfield, a legendary singer whose style has left a great impact on many attempted metal vocalists as of today. Who am I kidding, the guy needs no introduction. This is a Metallica board after all.

As we all know, throughout his career his voice has been erratic as all hell. Probably due to all the touring it had to push through, especially at the time they were promoting their self-titled record (1992 was the most tedious touring year, with a total of 168 gigs played) we all know and love so well.

1982: Very high-pitched voice, remiscent of that of an everyday tenor. Perhaps puberty hadn't truly altered his voice that much at this point. Not very good singing live.

1983: Voice usually seems to be resorting to non-modal screams, due to lack of clean singing potentiality. Live he sounds like '82 but more screaming.

1984: Slight difference in timbre. Clean singing ability has improved, but still sounds sheepish and bland. Any upper 4th octave notes though gets distorted. As a matter of fact a lot of the vocal tracks in the studio in this era were processed to hell, for the purpose of adding more power I guess. Live he's improved a lot though.

1986: Much more controlled singing appears on Master of Puppets, and voice starts to sound more akin to the one we all know. I'd say his voice at this point sounds more like a low tenor. Voice sounds pretty light/nasal live though.

1988: At this point, my guess is as James mourns Cliff, he wants to show the world how pissed off he is, doing nothing else than screaming his lungs out. So he pushes and strains his voice to the absolute limit on Justice and Garage Days. If you listen to the vocal tracks you can hear him clearing his throat frequently. This is due to him using a wrong technique, one that could result in causing severe damage to his voice had it continued. It hurts my voice just thinking about singing like he did in this era. For what it's worth, he left us all with a pretty damn cool vocal ripping journey that is ...And Justice for All.

1989: He now pursues a very dark, powerful voice and timbre. Many would say he had now reached his peak as a granted metal singer. The approach he used here was less probable of causing injury to his vocal chords, provided he didn't push it. Which is what he did live then, all the time. Which was awesome at the time, but not at all healthy for his voice. He's also probably a bright baritone at this point as his speaking voice is not much different from following years, who knows.

1991: Now, he commences to introduce lower notes to his arsenal. On The Black Album his voice had now reached a point, where he could combine his powerful gritty delivery with a melodic edge. Thus the 'original' James voice was born. Live he's excellent, and pretty much the same as '89 but with better overall singing. His gesture was amazing in this era, he was pretty much on fire live.

1992: Voice deepens even more, he slowly continues to develop a standard baritone timbre from here to '96. Though this is where it all started to go wrong. Year starts out fine, great actually, but near the end he starts to lose a lot of power and sounds like he's pushing it for the worse again. Had it not been for this year might've still been the same at the present, who knows. AFAIK this is also the time where the band became heavy drinkers.

1993: As we enter '93, his voice sounds almost wounded. Weird vocal cracks appear in the higher register now and again, and as the year progresses his voice loses more and more power. There are bright spots though, like the Mexico City gigs. The following years were pretty much the same.

1996: Enter '96, my personal "peak" for his vocals. Voice seems to have been repairing itself, it sounds like it's regaining its power live, there were a lot of performances ranging from good to awesome and '91-esque. On Load his singing ability seems to benefit from the lower timbre he's developed, but also granted the change in key/tuning has helped his belting a lot. His singing has improved a great deal in other words. He now sounds like a standard baritone. But there are occasions where he would sound a lot more like his predecessing long-haired self but with that twist of dark, bluesy, almost country like singing. Then finally resort to deep gutteral growling and gritty barks. Combine that with his fierceful gesture. Pure badass!

1997: *Sigh* I guess this one needs no introduction, instead of continuing the wicked '96 trend, he would start oversinging every note and overemphasizing every line, sounding like a retarded redneck. Plus there would be moments where he would sound wounded like in '93. Not even the lower tuning could help his voice here, he was pretty much gritless throughout the year, with only a few exceptions. It's a shame really. Because had his voice only not been so ****ed up here, but as good as in the previous year, or even '91. It could've just been the best year of their career. James still had the attitude, and the band was playing tight as ****. They were bringing back a lot of the classics and the setlists were just plain badass. Heck, they almost played Cure one time that year! I mean how cool is that? There were also moments on ReLoad that the sleazy "southern" approach strangely enough seemed to work, Where The Wild Things Are for instance.

1998-2000: Voice has deepened, once again. This here is the timbre that we would continue to hear until today, his permanent adult voice so to speak. Live it pretty much continues the '97 trend but with a slightly higher amount of grit and aggression, but at the same time even more bad vocal habits like singing Nothing Else Matters like some ****ing hillbilly surfaced. One VERY good thing about this era though, is that not only did he manage to maintain his grit durability somewhat good on S&M (still with the annoying vocal habits of course, and some weird auto-tune **** going on, but good singing overall) but on Garage Inc in '98 we would hear the best James voice we've heard since Justice, how is this even possible? You'd think that after a year like '97 that the voice we once recognized would be extinct by now. Nope, on Garage his voice is back and better than ever. The famous growl returns with a vengeance, and his dark timbre allowed him to pull of some really neat melody chops here and there. There is also a lot more personal touch to the vocals, lots of character is added especially when compared to TBA vocals. The actual singing is fortunately the best we've heard yet. Sadly this is probably the best his voice is ever going to sound. Live in this period, it was NOTHING like it was on the record at all. So it being so good on that album remains a mystery to me. Maybe he truly just saves his voice live, for it to strike back in the studio like that?

2003: His voice sounds fine on St. Anger, but his great singing ability has faded. There are a few off-key moments that just add to that unpolished rawness of the record I guess. Live he sounds great, and that is probably the best "new" voice we would get until 2012/2013.

2004-2011: I don't really have a lot to say about this one. I know a lot of people here love these, especially 06-09 but I for one can't stand this era. Way too monotous and lacking power for my taste. Most importantly there was too much ****ing HOWLING. This sailor-like singing started all the way back in '93, but at least it was more tolerable back then. Now it's just irritating and cringe-worthy, and seeing Rob ape around with his bass, crouching and looking like he's going to take a massive **** all the time aren't helping matters. Death Magnetic has some pretty good singing though, notably on power ballads like The Day That Never Comes and Cyanide.

2012: Well, monotone or not there's no denying his voice has really gained a lot of power here. Sounds a lot more remiscent to the Black Album days, but there's still the howling/off-key problem. Plus his high notes really, REALLY fail these days. Actually have since '06.

2013/2014: He seems to have learned a headier technique. It also seems he's learned a healthier technique to project the grit, but besides having more grit and growl to it it's really not that much different from 2012. One thing though, is that I must say that he could explicitly qualify for a proficient death metal singer these days. His delivery gets VERY gutteral and nasty at times. Especially on Fight Fire With Fire and the second half of Battery.

http://www.metallicabb.com/index.php?showtopic=157482

Good read.