BOC Covers/metallica

[Robert C. Mayo]

metallica stopprd being the driving force they once were immediately after 2
events occurred almost simultaneously:
1) the death of cliff burton. they have never recovered.
2) they ran out of material that was co-written by former guitarist dave
mustaine after
'master of puppets' (one lone snippet on 'justice...' not withstanding).
after these events, the band stopped leading and began coasting.
since then the most appealing thing about them has been there covers; their
application of their doubtlessly unique and pioneering sound to well-written
songs (as opposed to their own).
also: the 's&m' thing is actually excellent. i can think of no other (metal)
band that could benefit from orchestral backing as much as they, especially
during their heavier numbers. 'wagnerian', 'opus', etc. 'music of broad
gesture' indeed. it relies heavily on earlier material (a good thing,
considering their last 5 lps were either crap or live/comp). their best since
'justice'.  5 stars.
np: deep purple/live in japan/cd3:tokyo 8.17.72
rmayo