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A couple days ago I happened to hear some kids gushing about the utter coolness of Metallica. It never ceases to amaze me the incredibly positive reaction this band gets. Even if one was just a fan for a short period in their life. I’d never really analyzed their music, so I started wondering exactly why this was. It has to be more than image, any band can wear skull T-shirts, snarl at the crowd, and play in a minor key. Other bands can play fast and sing about death too. I was in my car yesterday and they spun the song Leper Messiah on the radio, and I carefully listened to it. Metallica has got two things in their sound that really compliment one other, and give them their unforgettable sound. Can anyone guess at these? Remember these two musical factors compliment each other.
Ok. Number one is the incredible tone they have to their rhythm guitars. Some of their songs have the best Rock rhythm guitar sound I’ve ever heard. James and Kirk have chemistry on rhythm. Number two is the unique singing of James Hetfield. The thing is here he really compliments the rhythm guitars with his aggressive voice, while staying in tune with them, and it all forms one unified bombast. That’s it. Kirk is an adequate soloist (and one of the nicest guys on the planet), but I find some of his solos to be odd, and a few even irritating. I’ll admit Lars is a kick-ass drummer, but if you really think about it he is ancillary to their larger success. (Especially if you don’t count lawsuits.)
Modern equipment helped: like 80’s guitars, double humbucking pick-ups, tremolo systems, effects, and amps. (All to the chagrin of a new guitarist who realizes he’ll have to spend serious cash for that sound.) But other bands had access to the same equipment. Metallica’s effects package set them apart, at least for a while. It sounds like their own blend of overdrive, reverb, a subtle delay (probably a flanger or chorus set low), compression sustain, and equalization. It’s a full rich tone, trying to stay just shy of washing out the signal. The natural, artificial and resonant harmonics sound awesome. Does anyone know exactly which effects they used?
Hetfield speaks for himself. A great Rock singer is the hardest dude in a band to find, and like it or not, he is Metallica. He’s taken a lot of crap the last few years for various things, but as long as he keeps his gear, has Kirk around to double his rhythm parts, and doesn’t catch on fire, it’s all good. And how bad could a guy who used to put a sticker on the headstock of his guitar with the saying, “Kill Bon Jovi!!” be anyway?
Ok. Number one is the incredible tone they have to their rhythm guitars. Some of their songs have the best Rock rhythm guitar sound I’ve ever heard. James and Kirk have chemistry on rhythm. Number two is the unique singing of James Hetfield. The thing is here he really compliments the rhythm guitars with his aggressive voice, while staying in tune with them, and it all forms one unified bombast. That’s it. Kirk is an adequate soloist (and one of the nicest guys on the planet), but I find some of his solos to be odd, and a few even irritating. I’ll admit Lars is a kick-ass drummer, but if you really think about it he is ancillary to their larger success. (Especially if you don’t count lawsuits.)
Modern equipment helped: like 80’s guitars, double humbucking pick-ups, tremolo systems, effects, and amps. (All to the chagrin of a new guitarist who realizes he’ll have to spend serious cash for that sound.) But other bands had access to the same equipment. Metallica’s effects package set them apart, at least for a while. It sounds like their own blend of overdrive, reverb, a subtle delay (probably a flanger or chorus set low), compression sustain, and equalization. It’s a full rich tone, trying to stay just shy of washing out the signal. The natural, artificial and resonant harmonics sound awesome. Does anyone know exactly which effects they used?
Hetfield speaks for himself. A great Rock singer is the hardest dude in a band to find, and like it or not, he is Metallica. He’s taken a lot of crap the last few years for various things, but as long as he keeps his gear, has Kirk around to double his rhythm parts, and doesn’t catch on fire, it’s all good. And how bad could a guy who used to put a sticker on the headstock of his guitar with the saying, “Kill Bon Jovi!!” be anyway?
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