“(Shape shift) Hair stands on the back of my neck/ (Shape shift) Wildness is the preservation of the world/ So seek the wolf in thyself.” It’s a bit corny, but tell that to Hammett’s howling-at-the-moon solo.

How could it not? “Shape shift/ Nose to the wind,” Hetfield howls over another chug-chug-a-chug-chug rhythmic lick. “Misery/ You insist that the weight of the world/ Should be on your shoulders.” It’s a mammoth chugger with a melodic bass line that carries the song from shout to shout: “Misery/ There’s much more to life than what you see/ My friend of misery.” Hammett closes out the track with a tender guitar lick that morphs into a laser-beam riff pointed to the sky.īecause of course Metallica features a track about morphing into a wolf. Now here’s an appropriate topic for the hard-core metalheads: misery. (Well, they all are, but especially this one.) This polished thrash metal bar-brawler has Hetfield pointing fingers at the haters: “Before you judge me, take a look at you/ Can’t you find something better to do?/ Point the finger, slow to understand/ Arrogance and ignorance go hand in hand.” Didn’t your mom tell you never point fingers? “Struggle within, it suits you fine/ Struggle within, your ruin/ Struggle within, you seal your own coffin/ Struggle within, the struggling within!” Hammett then unleashes another out-of-this-world riff that sparks fire.Īttention headbangers: This one is for you.

The album closer opens with marching drums and Zelda-style guitar heroics that turn into a thrash metal speed demon, with Ulrich’s drumming leading into twists and turns. Which makes the lyrics more fitting: “So be it/ Threaten no more/ To secure peace is to prepare for war.” If only CDs and stereos existed in the Middle Ages. “Don’t Tread on Me” is a triumphant battle cry with marshal drumming and distorted guitar riffage, which certainly sounds like the war song for a band of Vikings preparing to invade and plunder a foreign land. It was the album that made “Metallica” a byword for “metal.”īuckle up - let’s revisit the album’s 12 tracks, ranking ’em all from worst to best.

For that matter, so was Otto from The Simpsons. Beavis, of Mike Judge’s Beavis and Butt-Head, was certainly a fan. The band’s creepy music video for “Enter Sandman,” then omnipresent on the channel, won best rock video at the ’92 VMAs. MTV played a role in its ubiquity and success. It won for best metal performance at the 1992 Grammys - the band’s third consecutive win in that category. The number of records it holds is long it’s become the fourth release in American history to enter the 550-week milestone on the Billboard 200, and is now the second longest-charting title in history. It has since become one of the best-selling albums worldwide, ever, going 16 times platinum. 1 in 10 countries and spent four consecutive weeks at the top of the Billboard 200. By the end of its debut week, Metallica reached No. “Enter Sandman,” released as the lead single on July 29, fanned the flames. 12, 1991, headbangers around the globe lined up at their local record stores to join in a true musical event. Recorded at One on One Studios in Los Angeles over eight months, Metallica ushered in a new, cleaner, fuller sound, far more focused than the progressive thrash of their four previous releases.

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