No news on the band today, but I’m gonna use this as a forum to get something off my chest. People have been hating on St. Anger since it came out in June, and it pisses me off. It was a huge seller! Not to mention a crazy new trick from these old dogs. If you don’t like this album, you’re straight up not metal. I hate hearing people shitting on Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, two men I hope to someday call my peers.



So, to prove I’m not just saying this, I’m gonna do a full track by track review of THE album of the summer, St. Anger. And bud, there are 11 tracks.



1 - Frantic - Huge track. Off the bat, those drums hit you like a kick to the solar-plexus and they do not let up. You can tell right away, this is a bold new direction. Then the vocals kick in, and there is only one word to describe them - raw. And these lyrics are straight up true. Laugh all you want, but your lifestyle really does determine your death style Go ahead, keep searchin, keep on searchiiiin for a better way to open an album. You’re not gonna find one!



2 - St. Anger - Titular and tubular. These drums are still happening, but this time they are faster. Then they slow down, and the sultry throat of Hetfield opens up and let’s it rip. Amazing lyrics in this one, such as “I’ll hang myself”, “I’m madly in anger with you” (my fave lyric on the whole album) and “Fuck it all”. No solos? No problem. Not when Kirk is making his presence known by yelling “You flush it out! You flush it out”



3 - Some Kind Of Monster - This song truly earns each one of it’s eight and a half minutes. Plus they say “We the people” again and again, so… considering everything that’s going on in Iraq, I'm pretty sure that’s a statement.



4 - Dirty Window -This track is fuckin’ heavy, man. I’ll bet years from now Dirty Window will be the track this album is remembered for. And possibly, up there in the Tallica Pantheon Of Greats with Puppets and Trapped Under Ice.



5 - Invisible Kid - We’ve all felt like an invisible kid, we’ve all felt like we’ve fallen through the grid. Hetfield takes these themes and throws them in your face. The band here is saying “Pay attention to us, we’re here! We put upturned pie plates on our drums, then filled them with uncooked beans! You can’t ignore that, we are not invisible! You can’t pretend this isn’t happening!” Really hits home.



6- My World - I don’t see why people shit on this song. It is at least as good as anything you’d hear on a mix cd released by UFC. There’s actually a part where James yells “It’s my world, suckah!”. Few bands would have the confidence to make that the chorus, even fewer could pull it off.



7 - Shoot Me Again - At this point we are over 40 minutes into the album St. Anger and they are just begging you to shoot them. Pretty fucking metal. We’ll probably do a cover of this one at our next show.



8 - Sweet Amber -Sometimes it’s scary how real a song is. This is one of those times.It features the lyric “Wash your back, so you won’t stab mine” I’d never thought about it before, but that is SO true. Like, how many fucking backs have I washed, just to protect myself? I’m sick of it, too. Next time shows me their back and a soapy water bucket, I’m gonna tell them to fuck off.



9 - The Unnamed Feeling - Can I just say one thing about this gem? It is total bullshit that Hey Ya by Outkast is getting so much attention, but The Unnamed Feeling by Metallica is barely being mentioned.



10 - Purify - I’ll admit that I haven’t heard this one before.That’s not because I don’t love this album, I do. Just, I have not made it through the whole thing yet.



11 - All Within My Hands - Another 9 minute epic.Like this whole album, it's just for the real fans. He just screams “Kill, kill, kill, kill!” for a solid minute and a half. If that’s not metal, I don’t know what is.



All in all, St. Anger is sick. All the detractors are just living in the past. Metallica is changing and growing in a challenging new direction. If you don't like it, then you're not a true fan.