BOC: Metallica a l'astronome

[Bolts of Ungodly Vision]

Here's what Addicted to Noise sez aboot the much mentioned CD set:


                    Just Some Cover Band ...

If it's hell-bent guitar you want, don't fret. Leave it to Hammett, who
stretches out on a monumental versionof "Astronomy" from the songbook of
the guitar-driven riff-rock monsters Blue Oyster Cult.

                    By Michael Snyder

There comes a time in the career of a famous rock band when its members
are inexorably drawn to the idea of recording some homage to their
influences, or perhaps a tribute to favored colleagues. For Metallica, this
was the time.

Whether their music is careening like a runaway heatseeker missile or they're
just working the heavy-metal stomp-and-howl, Metallica's James Hetfield,
Kirk Hammett, Jason Newsted and Lars Ulrich have never been anything less
than tremendously agile musicians. That's a given, even when the
hard-rocking quartet could get away with coasting.
 This two-CDcollection --over two hours of cover tunes-- might have
been one of those opportunities to dash off something quick and easy.
Instead, it's a chance for the band to get back to the raw-fusillade approach
to music from their early Master of Puppets days, after the more recent,
more polished efforts such as their self-titled, multi-platinum 1991 album.

With one exception, the first disc of Garage Inc. was recorded in a recent
three-and-a-half-week, post-concert tour burst. The ringer is an overly
reverent, all-star version of Lynyrd Skynyrd's lament, "Tuesday's Gone,"
recorded for a radio broadcast. (Les Claypool of Primus, John Popper of
Blues Traveler and Skynyrd's own Gary Rossington were among those sitting in
on the session.)

But the rest of that first disc, subtitled "New Recordings '98," takes on a
panoply of material from artists that range in diversity from lumpen,
prole-metal band Mercyful Fate to metal-pop cult faves the Misfits to
aggro-punkers Discharge to blue-collar rocker Bob Seger. And what is truly
remarkable is how comfortable Metallica  sounds on most every number, despite
the disparity in genres.

Singer Hetfield's growl services the darkly-menacing "Lover Man" from
Aussie Goth-blues maven Nick Cave.Then Hetfield turns around and taps
into the sorrow of the nomadic rocker on Seger's "Turn the Page." If it's
hell-bent guitar you want, don't fret.Leave it to Hammett, who stretches
out on a monumental version of "Astronomy" from the songbook of the
guitar-driven riff-rock monsters Blue Oyster Cult.

 Throughout the project, the rhythm section of bass player Newsted and
drummer Ulrich hammer and thump with verve. The more metallic the
composition (Diamond Head's "It's Electric," Black Sabbath's "Sabbra
Cadabra"), the better they serve it up.
"Whiskey in the Jar," the Gaelic traditional rearranged by '70s Irish
hard-rockers Thin Lizzy, is the high point of Garage Inc. Played with
passion and dynamism, it just rears back and roars.

"New Recordings '98" was assembled at the Plant Studios in Sausalito, Calif.,
with producer Bob Rock -- a comfortable match after his work on other
Metallica releases.

The other disc was even easier to put together -- previously-issued Metallica
covers of songs first done by artists such as speed-metal icons Motorhead
("Overkill"), anarchy-loving punk-rockers the Anti-Nowhere League
("So What"), new-wave art-punks Killing Joke ("The Wait") and -- gasp! --
the pop-eratic chart-toppers Queen ("Stone Cold Crazy"). Completists will
freak over this de facto compilation of B-sides, EPs and rarities. (For
instance, the Queen track was recorded for Elektra Records' 40th Anniversary
anthology.)

Metallica seem to have approached Garage Inc. with a spontaneity that
cuts to the bone of the material. If it just happens to have an effortless
feel to it, that's part of its allure.

                    [Mon., December 14, 12:00 AM EST]
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"It is only beginning with me that the earth knows great politics."
        -F.Nietzsche, _Ecce Homo_
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