Audio Engineers React to the "Black Album" by Metallica!

[@RÅNÇIÐ]

This is such a perfectly engineered Metal album. It basically set the blueprint of how a high end Metal production was supposed to sound like for at least the next two decades. And it was all done analog. Bob Rock knew what he was doing.

[@LuGer212]

the *GO* in The Struggle Within, and the riff afterwards ... still the heaviest thing in the universe

[@ImThe5thKing]

We have different definitions of heavy. The Thing That Should Not Be is "the heaviest fucking number known to mankind" as said by Jason Newstead

[@kyletomczak6126]

it's so damn good

[@AndyTheRoo]

Shame that riff is too short though

[@gusgiesel]

Agree 100%, I love that part!!

[@turbomecatech8102]

The "crack" in Wherever I May Roam is Jason plucking a 12-string bass. It's so deep it just "cracks". It would benefit to watch A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica and the Classic Albums Metallica. They both document every single aspect of this album and where all the different sounds come from including the intro to Unforgiven and and the little things like racking a shotgun in The God That Failed. Highly recommend it.

[@tommygalusha]

Wow I never knew that

[@tommygalusha]

@@srenteddylarsen892 woah so like essentially a six string, but with two additional octave strings with each bass string?

[@Lord_Raptor]

​@@tommygalusha Yes, exactly that. 👍👍

[@willwozniak2826]

I got a question not mentioned on either of them.....what kind of effect pedal was played during the 1st guitar solo of My Friend of Misery?..a Harmonizer like on Master of Puppets?.

[@TheJerseyNinja]

That “crack” sound in wherever I may roam is actually a 12-string bass

[@venon4575]

Thank you, I was wondering what that was for the longest time.

[@VadersRage]

Exactly. Jason's smackin' the Hell out of the neck of the bass.

[@jugularmusic]

Holier Than Thou was the song Bob Rock and James wanted as the first song and the first single BUT Lars fought hard for Enter Sandman!

[@Ben.T0722]

god bless Lars

[@dislikebutton4981]

​@Ben.T0722 turn down bass on stereo LMAO Lars is priceless. Love him or hate him, the man knows what he wants.

[@TotalNightmaree]

IMO Struggle within should be the first one

[@MXP250]

How can you not like the beginning of One?

[@fredriksvard2603]

I don't. Don't like the clean rhythm guitar and can't get over how the lyrics don't fit, like "wish for de-eath".

[@Huddle_House56]

@@fredriksvard2603 that’s a common musical/lyrical tool lmfao

[@gthewolf7948]

​@@fredriksvard2603 shut up

[@riphopfer5816]

@@fredriksvard2603 I can understand this much: the TONE of the clean guitar is abysmally dry, it lacks bass, and there’s too much going on in the 2k-6k frequency range. It sounds grating, and as if someone took an high-pass filter with a shallow curve and applied it to the guitar right around 400-500Hz, with all frequencies below that dropping off precipitously until there’s almost zero information around 150-200Hz. If you’re going to have a clean guitar tone , use a guitar/amp combo that will give it some harmonic richness, at least. Yet ANOTHER reason (apart from the lovely vocal harmony on ‘Now the world is gone, I’m just one…’ which really adds a sense of poignancy and moves the song along far more effectively than the studio record’s jarring clone of the melody of the immediately identical previous stanza) that live renditions of this song from ‘88-‘91 tend to sound better than the original record.

[@fredriksvard2603]

@@riphopfer5816 Yeah that's a bit over my head, but agree about the dryness and the vocal harmony. That said, i was drawn to metallica precisely because they had a less organic or vintagey sound than most rock bands, especially the black album which sounded "futuristic" to me compared to gnr, aic, sepultura and so on and even more so compared to older acts. Never cared much for the "rock" sound personally.

[@masterofpuppets232]

That's how I ended up listening to metallica. Songs from the black album. Then a friend of mine had master of puppets on cassette and he listened to rap. Came to me and said you want this and I said sure. And my life changed.

[@PatrickMusilek]

I love it! The rap friends comes through in the end!

[@alexnavarro9285]

You actually NAILED the hypothetical scenario. I was 11yrs old when i heard ‘justice’ and ‘black’ album for the first time. I lived and breathed heavy metal music since then.

[@cockynanderson]

The sound at the beginning of The Unforgiven is a French Horn. It was used again in Unforgiven II. It was used in Unforgiven III but not in the same way.

[@ryantimmel6112]

it was lifted from the good the bad and the ugly and reversed

[@thebatt962]

During The God That Failed the 'chk chk' sound is James cocking a shotgun, which is pretty freakin metal.

[@chuckweatherman_3426]

actually it was a lever-action winchester rifle, but yeah its pretty sick

[@emilbachrenleff4421]

@@chuckweatherman_3426 🤓

[@Defensive_Wounds]

There is a non fade out version of this and many other Metallica songs on YT that came from the Metallica Guitar Hero soundtrack. The only album that was heavy in 1991 that was on par with the production of this album is RATM's self titles debut album! The recording of that was live in one room in a studio with a small audience as the band could not play properly unless it felt like a gig...lol Doesn't feel like a live recording though, but at times you can hear the mic bleed and the room mic adds depth (as it does to my music I play and record etc.) 1:08:22 - If you download the stems of this song and load them into your DAW you can see and hear the metronome is STILL in this song here! It sounds like a shaker - because it is! It is low in the mix but once you hear it isolated then you can not unhear it in the full song!!

[@fixxxer3456]

Michael Kamen did the orchestration for Nothing Else Matters. There is an elevator version out there that has more of it in there. He also conducted the first S&M show they did. He died in 2003 but was SUPER talented

[@crookedriverstudios]

Fun fact, dunno if someone said it yet but that guitar melody at the beginning of Don't Tread On Me is from a song in West Side Story. "I want to go to America, won't you take me to America" something like that

[@jasonlippert747]

thank you. I was just going through comments to see if anyone had said this. Youngsters lol.

[@abranzoni4815]

Definitely my favorite react channel now. Experts in the field with the funniest wise cracks, yes please ? The five finger part “ I think you killed him”, brilliant.

[@ChrisHaynes-ds6rp]

The clean guitars were recorded using a Roland JC-120 Jazz Chorus. One of the best sounding clean amps of all time from just about every guitarists ever opinion.

[@seelenwinter6662]

and behind a wall of wood and blankets... and for the drums they put 50 mics around the whole drum... there was a great doku last days in tv about 30 years black album...

[@maxx.mazzeo]

Idk, I really love Fender amps clean a lot

[@ChrisHaynes-ds6rp]

@@maxx.mazzeo I do as well but the old tube ones are so LOUD for home use. Cant turn them up past 2 or blow you out of the room.

[@MetaITurtle]

I call it the Spooky Dooky clean tone

[@clintmorrison5863]

My favorite track on this album is 'The God That Failed.' I love Kirk's solo in that one.

[@LightBlueWool]

easily top 10 solo

[@CMill78]

That solo and Lars's drums throughout it are perfect.

[@locsbcn]

exactly! Lars's drums is maybe the best drums part of the album. so groovy and clinic@@CMill78

[@JBjopa8]

And Jason's bass sound is awesome

[@eriksenbriggs]

1:18:00, I think what is being talked about here is on the intro of "Master of Puppets" (only the first riff) they tuned the guitars down and slowed the tape down. That way, the producer Flemming Rasmussen, got the riff as tight as possible. When they sped it up again, the pitch was then back to A440 hz. But they didn't do that for the purpose of speed, nor did they do that on the entire song, but only for the sake of getting the intro as tight as possible.

[@henrihaapala5795]

Awesome discussion guys! I totally listened to every word to the end. Looking forward to you all three doing the rest of the Metallica albums together. Musical taste is one of the most interesting things because whatever you have liked when you were 13 you are going to like the rest of your life.

[@PatrickMusilek]

Nostalgia often means more than it should when "liking" something imo. I try to be objective, but you are right...for most people the music that they listen to during their formative years is their favorite music. For me personally, my top three favorite bands were all discovered in the last 15 years, and the top 2 in the last 10.

[@curlybearington1734]

Patrick singing Kid Rock lyrics over the Sad But True intro as a reference to "American Badass" - while actually singing the lyrics to Bawitdaba - is hysterical

[@jhhhfdm11]

2:15:14 of wolf and man is about hunting and it captures the energy so well + the lyrics are a masterpiece kind of a double meaning. it describes a wolf as well as a man (of wolf and man) after the new days mist i run, i hunt, therefor i am, harvest the land, taking the fallen lamb We shift, pulsing with the Earth Company we keep Roaming the land while you sleep [Chorus] Shapeshift, nose to the wind Shapeshift, feeding I've been Move swift, all senses clean Earth's gift (Back to the meaning) Back to the meaning of life

[@anderso.madsen2976]

metallica better hurry up and make a new album!! just so that i can spend 3 hours listening to you guys. seriously though, i never thought i could sit through 3 hour long videos of people talking, i absolutely love your channel patrick!! looking forward to seeing you guys react to other classic albums as well, keep it up! :)

[@riphopfer5816]

1990, it was all tape. I was there. No auto-tune, no quantisation. Back when music was real, and didn’t sound like it was made by robots. Chris: Yes, that’s a B-bender in ‘My Friend Of Misery’, and the ‘harmonised guitars’ were Kirk through a compressor, Big Muff, and then a digital harmoniser, on which one sets the interval between the ‘separate guitars’, then play. BTW: I’m an audio engineer as well. I’ve also been around for a while-that’s why I’ve had so much to say. Chris, you’ve got a very good ear for guitar tone. They-especially James-used LOTS of different guitars either standing alone or as a part of his layers of guitars. Apart from that Danelectro faux-sitar, I think the strangest guitar they used on this record was a Gretsch White Falcon. Strange for Metallica, at least.

[@knightfall9394]

Ive read the my friend of misery stuff was james with a mxr distortion + into the board, and im positive he tracked the harmonies the same way he did all the other harmony stuff and did it all himself without a harmonizer, kinda like what he does on the wherever i may roam harmony in the black album studio footage Also you’re forgetting another strange guitar on TBA and its the danelectro baritone james uses on the chord hits in the sad but true riff. I guess you could also count the telecaster he uses with the ebow on nothing else matters and jasons 12 string bass on wherever i may roam

[@venon4575]

1:37:38 Something you can't hear on the studio track but live and isolated vocals is James rolling his "R" in Throat . I wish you could hear it more.

[@riphopfer5816]

I can hear it. Or, at least, I could always hear it on the original masters. I wasn’t paying specific attention to hear whether that’s been obscured on the remaster. But I agree: that was a nice touch. It’s funny: when I was VERY young, ~6 or 7 or so, in the late 80s, the only name I knew associated with Metallica was Lars Ulrich, because mi best mate was a drummer, and his older brother was ALSO a drummer. I didn’t know Lars was Danish, but I knew that name was something Teutonic/Scandinavian. I thought the entire band was of the same nationality, originally, because I could’ve sworn I heard hints of an accent in James’s voice. When the Black Album came out, I was even further convinced of that, till I bought my own copy, and read the names of the band members. Can anyone else relate to this?

[@rafamenoyo]

I could always hear on the 91 original master. if we are talking about the same thing. It's the classic touch of James that kind of filler. At minute 1:40 for example in "gives me all I need". That's what you mean?

[@GeekFurious]

My gripe with someone saying "Ride the Lightning sounds bad" is that there is a wide choice of words to use between great and bad. Like, I can somewhat accept someone saying, "The bass on And Justice for All sounds bad" because you can just BARELY hear it on 4 songs and you really can't on the others. But the whole album sounds BAD? Either you lack basic vocabulary or you're ability to reasonably analyze something lacks any nuance and so every sound you don't think is good is equally "bad"? Expand your word use.

[@PatrickMusilek]

We have a whole video talking about Ride The Lightening!

[@user-yk4gd1fl4z]

Yeah, lol it does not sound bad! Yeah its got reverb, yeah its a semitone sharp so fucking what, it kills.

[@MBx19v]

The intro to Don't Tread On Me is "America" from West Side Story and it's good because it's so out of place in a Metallica song.

[@0mik3mik3]

Way to go, my two favorite bands are Depeche Mode and Metallica.

[@PatrickMusilek]

YES! Not so crazy to like both of them!

[@TheJerseyNinja]

Also, that sound in the god that failed around 2:27:10 is James cocking a shotgun 😂

[@MBx19v]

It's in the intro too, harder to hear but it's there in the left channel as the guitar comes in.

[@chuckweatherman_3426]

lever-action winchester rifle*

[@riphopfer5816]

‘Holier Than Thou’ was actually meant to be the first single from this record, but they ended up going with ‘Sandman’ instead, for some reason.

[@PatrickMusilek]

In the end I guess it turned out for the best! Although if they had led with a faster single maybe their hardcore fans would have been happier?

[@fixxxer3456]

@@PatrickMusilek Bob Rock wanted Holier to be the first single but the band shot him down and fought for Sandman. There is a clip in A Year and A Half In The Life of Metallica where they sit down with Bob and discuss it

[@lungfulldrummer8921]

Pantera would be an interesting discography to work through. Also if you're talking 90's albums. machine head - burn my eyes is an absolute monster. Fear factory - demanufacture still sounds cutting edge. Neurosis - through silver in blood sounds like the end of the world. Throw on top of that faith no more - angel dust, and rage against the machine. There's a lot of killer records from that era.

[@BandOfHarjaps]

I second Burn My Eyes.

[@jwinnfield9192]

Yep burn my eyes is a certified monster… unpopular opinion I have is that it is their best of all time as many think the blackening is… further to that their new album is arguably my second favourite machine head of all time

[@TheMaxyms]

And god damn Sepultura

[@_threepointedcircle_]

The percussive twang in Where Ever I May Roam is actually a 12 string bass with effects getting slapped. There's a song that has a rifle being cocked as a percussion instrument in one of the songs as well. ** its God That Failed Its in the intro and post solo. And the opening melody in Don't Tread On Me is from a musical West Side Story, America I believe its from. Loving the listen throughs 👍

[@PoltergeistWorks]

You actually missed a clue on how the rhythm guitars are done on the album when you were talking, on Holier than Thou (1:22:20) they come in after the solo. There are 3 rhythm tracks all recorded by James - left pan, right pan, and center (slightly to the left, as he would call it the "thickener" on a documentary once).

[@MegaCatscratch]

such a fun channel!!!!

[@shmarishcal2223]

It's such skill how y'all talked through the entirety of don't tread on me

[@_threepointedcircle_]

As a Metallica fan since 95 I can assure you we like Depeche Mode too, Never Let Me Down Again is a top track of mine. I do believe the singer from Depeche Mode has a cover version of a Black Album song on their celebration release of covers.

[@PatrickMusilek]

You are right! Dave Gahan did a cover of Nothing Else Matters! I wanted to do a reaction to the song with Chris S. but when we do a whole Metallica album there isn't much energy left afterwards! Glad to see the love spread around genres though!

[@Metallikyle]

The opening riff in Don't Tread On Me that gave you a patriotic impression is lifted straight from the song America from the musical West Side Story.

[@boots_33]

That "crack" sound you hear during the opening riffs on Wherever I May Roam is a 12-string bass. 1:42:38 Joke's on Virtual Chris... Wherever I May Roam is a song about James being unfaithful and sleeping around while on tour. Also, you guys talked about the lyrics to Enter Sandman being about children's nightmares, but they're actually an allegory for Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS).

[@boots_33]

That "harmony" that opens Don't Tread On Me is the melody from West Side Story's "America." 2:41:44 Yes Chris, that is a B-Bender.

[@CorinShadowblayde]

Yo! Omaha native, and huge ‘Tallica fan. Subbed to this channel when I heard your reaction to 72S. Keep up the good work in the Midwest.

[@PatrickMusilek]

Thanks! And make sure to watch all the upcoming Metallica reactions we plan on doing! Plus all sorts of other artists and bands!

[@justo316]

The best thing about Metallica for me has been the unprecedented amount of behind the scenes access we've been blessed with. Being able to see how these guys record albums is awesome.

[@arnaudfoucart3188]

you need to watch "a year and half in the life of metallica", lot of footage from the studio and how they recorded this album

[@dinounit67]

Give Load/ReLoad a chance. From your perspectives I think it would be an interesting venture into a different side of Metallica. Is it their best stuff? No, not at all. But does it have some hidden gems? For sure!

[@PatrickMusilek]

Right now the plan is to do videos for the rest of Metallica's studio albums, so Kill Em All, Load, Reload, Death Magnetic, Hardwired, and 72 Season when it comes out. We are going to spread them out a little, and some I might do on my own since its getting hard to schedule stuff with the Chris's but thats the plan!

[@dinounit67]

@@PatrickMusilek Cool! Yeah, take your time, there’s no rush. I would just hate it to see you miss out on some of the most underrated Metallica tracks from their later catalogue. But yeah, take your time, it’s not like the albums are going to run away.

[@vibingwithvinyl]

@@PatrickMusilek Oh you're going to _hate_ Death Magnetic. I recommend you also give a listen to one of the unofficial remasters.

[@turbomecatech8102]

1:48:00 The opening guitar riff on Don't Tread on Me is taken from the song "America" in the 1957 musical West Side Story.

[@metallicoustic6733]

Yes Chris, that's a b bender in the bridge of Misery

[@andrewzab83able]

At the West Virginia University football home games, the team takes to the field with Enter Sandman playing throughout the entire stadium. The band actually made a short video about Hokie-Nation. Everybody loses their shit when the song comes on.

[@StarBoyMusic5]

When you guys were talking about people who listened to the black album first and nothing before, reminded me of what happened recently with Master of Puppets (the song) and how it was on Stranger Things. Some of the “metal elitists” started hating on new Metallica fans for discovering them from a popular Netflix show.

[@PatrickMusilek]

Yeah, I can see that. It's a bummer, but it's always a good thing when people discover new music in my opinion!

[@abranzoni4815]

Definitely my favorite react channel now. Experts in the field with the funniest wise cracks, yes please ?

[@mfree80286]

2:55:06 OH OH! OH! I'd never spotted that before! The little descending riff in that section of Struggle Within, is that not super similar to the end of the bridge section in All Nightmare Long? ED ADDL: Metallica tracks all their live plays on their website, Struggle was played in concert 20 times... and only in 2012, and 2021.

[@MBx19v]

3 and a half hours...think I might need to do this in a few sessions. Plus the higher quality might be available by then too

[@PatrickMusilek]

Wooohooo! I had some trouble with uploading this video but it is live now! Yes feel free to wait until the HD gets processed and remember that you can check the timestamps on the timeline to see the different topics we discuss! Feel free to skip around! I know it's a LONG video, but we had so much fun and had a great conversation the entire time!

[@actavisprime514]

“Very recently”…..I like this guy.

[@DaveFurbush]

The album that made me learn to play drums. To this day, drum sound perfection.

[@TheGrandmasterb82]

The Black Album is the most influential album in my life. Absolutely love this album. Y’all should listen to The Metallica Blacklist album that they released alongside the 2021 remaster. It’s 52 different artists doing songs from the Black Album. Artists from Ghost, Weezer, and Volbeat, to The Hu, Phoebe Bridgers, and Portugal The Man. Really interesting stuff.

[@PatrickMusilek]

I really want to hear it!

[@GregMcNeish]

During the Enter Sandman discussion, you guys talked about how disappointing it would be to have loved "Justice" and buy this album going "WTF!!!???" I think it's important to remember that Enter Sandman dropped as a single a full two weeks before the album was released, and for the album to debut at #1 you know that single was EVERYWHERE on radio and MTV. If you bought that album not knowing what you were going to hear first, that was YOUR fault.

[@venon4575]

Also the first solo on "My friend of Misery" it's actually just two guitars harmonizing.

[@dinounit67]

If you haven’t been into bands like Iron Maiden I would be very interested to see you go through their discography. But that would of course be way into the future, in the back of the pipeline so to say.

[@RolandDeschain1]

Jason wrote a longer bass piece with a view that it would be the basis for an instrumental. I think the band decided to not do one just to piss Jason off. I bet it really hurt to give him the writing credit too. In the YEAR AND A HALF... PART 2 video there's a moment where they're at the Freddie Mercury tribute concert doing press. James, Lars and Kirk are waiting to get their picture taken while Jason is elsewhere doing an interview, and you hear James say "He thinks that because he got a writing credit he can make us wait..."

[@knightfall9394]

2:09:33 its james with an ebow, there’s footage of him doing that stuff in the studio with bob and he’s using a explorer with the ebow. thats where the sustaining sound is coming from

[@Phix75]

It may not be a lot of fans favourite but this album is one of the best sounding Metal/Rock albums ever made that is just a respected fact... great album.

[@willwozniak2826]

Great question...What effect pedal was used on the FIRST guitar solo of My Friend of Misery?...a Harmonizer?....you wont find that answer on the behind the scenes black album movies.

[@Huddle_House56]

Lol at 0:30 I was thinking of the “Mr DNA” scene from Jurassic Park where John Hammond keeps replicating and saying “hello John”

[@PatrickMusilek]

Chris Parker will appreciate that since JP is one of his all time favorite movies!

[@Huddle_House56]

@@PatrickMusilek can’t go wrong with Metallica and JP. One of the biggest box office hits of all time and one of the biggest albums of all time. Which still charts in the billboard 100 weekly charts and has done so every week since it was released. At least that was the case at the time I read that little factoid about a year ago. Also that near 3 year tour they did for the album is a big reason for their sea change going into the mid 90s/load era. It burned them out. Figuratively, creatively, and in James’ case literally and physically. He literally got burned by a malfunctioning pyro can during the tour and suffered 3rd degree burns. But they stopped playing songs like master of puppets during that tour because they got tired of it. The constant heavy metal. It was a bit of corporate capitulation to cut their hair and shorten the songs even more but most of what they do they do it for themselves. Cliff talked a lot about it. He said they’re not there to play 1000 mph the whole time and I think they’ve lived that up to this day. They made their own genre of music within metal man.

[@Retrorevelations]

Also also, "fast riffs with pig grunty vocals is what metal should be", is THE most metal bro take, that there has probably ever been.

[@rafamenoyo]

About the remaster, my thoughts are: why are you going to fix something that isn't broken? The sound of the black album is perfect. I have the original latin version cd from 1991 by the Vertigo label. Listening to it from cd doesn't compare to streaming stuff, audio formats or any current remasters. The difference is remarkable. Greetings from Argentina.

[@beatmet2355]

Remasters, in my experience don’t sound that much different than the original ones I’ve heard. I can’t believe they aren’t listening to the CD or vinyl. There’s too many generations added to the original mix/master to make what they’re basing their experience on have much validity.

[@nebularain3338]

I avoid remasters of 80s/90s albums, because 9/10 they sound awful. Plus, I want to hear what the band sounded like THEN.

[@travisspaulding2222]

@@nebularain3338 If you want to hear what the band sounded like then, listen to the cassette, CD, or vinyl. The original masters back then don't usually transfer well on digital formats. If I am going to listen to music on my hi-fi stereo system, then naturally, I'm going to listen to the vinyl or the CD, but when I am on Spotify or Apple Music, then I want the remaster because the original version always sounds shitty on those platforms. They remastered them for a reason, and that reason is so that it sounds better on streaming platforms.

[@stevenesbitt3528]

Best album ever made.

[@keef82]

Dude!! That comment about Hetfield’s first line always sounding the second line of the verse! Brilliant 😂

[@creepingbert]

It's funny how they all missed the cowbell in My Friend of Misery. Clearly audible in the mix. Listen closely at 2:40:47

[@jhhhfdm11]

1:58:30 and that rifffffffff yes you are right its southern. its hetfield man the whole theme, dont treat on me, of wolf and man (most epic hunting song ever, sober aggressive, perfect word choice & atmo)

[@CorinShadowblayde]

The intro of Don’t Tread On Me is lifted from on of the songs in the musical West Side Story. “Everything’s good in America…”

[@PatrickMusilek]

Interesting!

[@robertparker6280]

2:15:16 Yep! The song is literally about becoming a werewolf

[@shryggur]

Sorry I'm OFFENDED by ya'll's take on the lyrics of Whenever I May Roam. Alright, picture this. (

[@shryggur]

Sorry, almost forgot: add alcohol to the formula

[@mfree80286]

2:49:40 or roundabouts there, where we discover that someone needs to invent "zydeco metal" just for Patrick....

[@hawaii2k]

Get the 5.1 version of the Black Album and listen to it through a surround system. It's so good!

[@efwewfwef1549]

the drumming of lars was absolutely amazing on this album!!!

[@seelenwinter6662]

for that they put 50 mics around the drums... saw a great doku in tv last days about 30 years black album... they took weeks to create the sound of the drums and guitars...

[@felipegiraldo8100]

amazing? its simple and lazy AF, The Justice Drumming will always be his best by Miles.

[@efwewfwef1549]

@@felipegiraldo8100 its not "lazy" when it fits the songs and is iconic at some of the tracks!

[@felipegiraldo8100]

@@efwewfwef1549 It obviously fits the songs, im not speaking about that specifically, im talking in a overall metal perspective and compared with what they did in previous albums is lazy and slow af, its just weird to say its hid best drumming when its not even close, AFJA Drumming is higly praised for a reason

[@efwewfwef1549]

@@felipegiraldo8100 i never said something about his best drumming. i said "amazing" because it clearly fits the songs perfectly and that is all i want in this type of album...

[@jason.h.zager88]

those are not low harmony..all backing vocals done by Jason Newsted not computer

[@justbenelson]

I've been slowly making my way through your Metallica album reviews while at work, and I have a few comments to make here and there. The instrument at the beginning of The Unforgiven is actually a French horn, and while I have yet to watch your Death Magnetic album review, I assume the lack of French horn is addressed for The Unforgiven III. But actually, it's present at the 36 second mark of the piano introduction of the song, just not the same as the first two entries in the song trilogy.

[@bradsparling3873]

3 cool live albums that I do actually listen to are Iron Maiden's "Live after Death", W.A.S.P. "Live... in the Raw" and Dokken's "Beast from the East". All 3 bands were at the top of their game in this era. My opinion as to what makes things heavy is partly a combination of the speed and crunchy or metallic sound to the guitars but also it needs a certain level of aggression, or ominous sounding tunes and yeah like Chris said, a bit extreme. I think it can't be too happy or flippant to be heavy. That's why I can still think of something like Whitesnake's Still of the Night or Bad Boys as heavy while some of their other stuff is not. A really interesting conversation guys, I enjoyed it!

[@michaelbrown-mh1qo]

43:00 Bout made me fall out of my chair when Chris mentioned Far Beyond Driven and dude responds with “who?”

[@AaronGermaine]

I am shocked how little the bald guy knows about music production but comments as if he knows anything.

[@zachmoore4550]

Chris P. Is it bad I know the acoustic guitar bit in the Beatles/ Blue October song you’re talking about?

[@jameseaton7075]

Hey Patrick - don't know if you are interested but there is a 5.1 mix of this album that Bob Rock did. It's only on DVD-A but if you can track down a copy it's well worth a listen. Hope you are doing OK!

[@PatrickMusilek]

That IS interesting!

[@jameseaton7075]

@@PatrickMusilek I'm sure someone has put it on KZbin - a quick eBay look shows it selling for ridiculous sums of money!

[@scorpionking4012]

Great album, I like to listen to full albums in general, it’s give you a vibe of the past . I was 10 when listening to it for the first time, I loved it .

[@WFly101]

Bad about the 90s, bro. They got Green River, Mother Love Bone, Nirvana, Stone Temple Pilots, Collective Soul, Alice in Chains, Soundgarden, Madseason, and Temple of The Dog.

[@PatrickMusilek]

I dont know anything from any of those artists! When I think of 90s bands I enjoy I think of Blur, White Zombie, And One, Portishead, and only a few others!

[@ImThe5thKing]

The guitars feel wide because if I remember right, on this album, they used anywhere from 4 to 8 amps per guitar in rythym sections. Which is insane to think about.

[@fedrek01]

Also there is a synthesizer behind guitars in My Friend of Misery. If you find the multitrack.

[@pentagonoenllamas]

I never noticed that the snare drum during the intro to "Holier Than Thou" sounds almost identical to the Puppets snare.

[@schjonicus]

You guys touched on “Live” albums and it’s important for people to know there is a whole industry for “fixing” Live performances for album release. It’s called Sweetening.

[@abranzoni4815]

The unforgiven atmosphere and special sounds are all thanks to the huge influences Ennio Morricone/ Sergio Leone western scores had on the band especially James and his huge love for spaghetti westerns in general. And the ominous starting sound is a French horn played backwards.

[@bradsparling3873]

Not reading through all the comments but the intro to Don’t Tread’ is borrowed from ‘America’ from West Side Story, specifically where they sing ‘I wanna live in America, I wanna live in America’. It’s a patriotic song from around the first Gulf War and was also the foil for James to ‘Justice’ as that was a bit of an anti American song, so Don’t Tread was his way of saying ‘Nah I actually love this country’. I agree it’s heavy and I think the guitar tone in parts probably most closely approximates Justice. Maybe you should do Megadeth’s Youthanasia as a comparison from around the same time?

[@PatrickMusilek]

Megadeath is on the list to possibly check out eventually!

[@bradsparling3873]

@@PatrickMusilek Ha ha, I don't want to be 'that guy' but Megadeth, not Megadeath...

[@bradsparling3873]

Also you mention Chris being in a band so many times, how about providing a link to some of his stuff so we can check it out?

[@PatrickMusilek]

@@bradsparling3873 I will put a link in the description of St. Anger! Also one for remote Chris' video game that he did sound design for.

[@derrickhewitt9684]

12 string bass slap on Wherever I may Roam.

[@gagadreams]

You mentioned Goatwhore from Louisiana and their guitarist Sammy Duet was in a band called Acid Bath! Listen to Acid Bath, they're fantastic!🤘

[@koalanectar9382]

As an audio engineer myself I get pretty frustrated at the misconceptions about the whole "the snare is a sample!!!" criticism of this album. Yes, they recorded several samples of the *actual snare, in the same actual physical room* that Lars recorded the drums in, so that they could layer it in subtly to bring out the snare without making the cymbals louder. It's not used on every song, and where it is used it's very sparingly mixed in. People hear the word "snare sample" and they think Bob Rock just slapped on EZ drummer or something. Not even close. Also, I think the TOMS actually sound better than the snare on this record.

[@reinbeck1156]

One is a good song that rides high for two reasons: it was the song that put Met on the radio; the video was an epic mix of movie footage and the band, with a powerful message(at a time when the video was nearly as important as the music). As a fan this album is the turn to bubble gum(full pack of big league chew). The hate and anger faded in the lyrics and the sound cleaned up so thrash/heavy purest hate on it, but you know Kashmir and going to California were made by the same people.

[@riphopfer5816]

Best live recording ever made: “on your feet, or on your knees“ Blue Öyster Cult, 1973. It sounds better than their studio recordings from the same era, by a long shot. Not to mention the instrumental performances and song compositions are far more intricate and well rehearsed.

[@chrisbenj3819]

this album is unreal. No other band has ever achieved a sound like this in my mind

[@PatrickMusilek]

For 1991 is really is great sounding!

[@amirrobe6860]

Up to the Black album, Metallica had written riffs and used more than one in a single song (hence the long tracks and the awesome transitions). In the black album, Bob Rock's goal was to simplify and make their songs more palettable to the general crowd.

[@SFR1]

whats the dude on the right doing???

[@FabioOsorio619]

I can agree, “Behind the Wheel” by Depeche Mode is a fuckimg iconic song, and from someone that considers himself a “metal head” , I fucking love Depeche Mode.

[@Trinkengine]

The Motley Crue album Bob Worked on that Metallica sited as a significant reason why they wanted to work with Bob Rock was Dr.Feelgood And yup! That guitar in My Friend of Misery IS a B bender! (They also used it on Unforgiven 2)

[@AnUnhappyBusiness]

Let me settle the “which was heavier” debate with this: a woman was being stalked by a Mountain Lion a few years ago, and to scare it away she blasted “Don’t Tread on Me” on her iPhone. And it worked. This story was somewhat sad, but true.

[@keef82]

The opening guitar line in Don’t Tread On Me is from the song America from West Side Story

[@22bryant]

The moors brought the sitar to Spain,,that's where the Spaniard got the idea from to make the first guitar we all know,,I think they used the electro harmonic effects pedal for the wherever I may roam intro,,,,

[@Godmil]

In God That Failed the chick-chick sound that Chris was wondering about could be a rifle being cocked. In the Year and a Half in the Life documentary they show them playing around with tons of bits and bobs to see if they can get cool sounds.

[@huttanamaihala2276]

2:27:18 that chi-chn thing is James loading a rifle