



I think it’s fair to say that most things you could write about Metallica have already been written. Selling 125 million albums and being the biggest band to ever come out of our world does end up causing that. Their story is now burned into the consciousness of every metal fan and at this point, it’s difficult to find what more to say about them.

That’s not gonna stop me from trying though, is it?





At some point I do plan on writing about the personal impact the music of the greatest band to ever pick up guitars has had on me (anyone who knows me outside this blog will know I am rather fond of them) but I realised they would be a great starting place for my new feature. In the Best of the Rest, I talk about some of my favourite bands and put a spotlight on some of their lesser known or appreciated songs.





Metallica’s back catalogue right up to the end of the 90’s is, for my money, the greatest and most consistent run of albums by any band. Yet in the eyes of the mainstream, people only seem to talk about the quality of the first five albums (or the first four, depending on who you ask). Even then, certain songs on those albums can end up being overshadowed by the Creeping Deaths and Enter Sandmans that live alongside them.

So I’m taking my chance to share some of my favourites with you now. Here is the Best of the Rest for Metallica.





The Struggle Within - The Black Album (1991)

The last track on Metallica’s first true break into the mainstream,

The Struggle Within closes the Black Album with anger, venom and a driving chug from the rhythm guitars that rattles your ribcage for the whole 3 minutes and 54 seconds. Hetfield is pulling no punches lyrically and while he himself has talked about the struggle (pun very much intended) to get this song and the lyrics finished in the last few days of recording this album, it almost benefits the frenetic nature of the song. This is classic Hetfield at his finest - fast paced, angry and unrelenting. Perfectly matching the music backing him.













Dyers Eve - ...And Justice For All (1988)

Keeping on the subject of aggression, here is Metallica at their most furious.

The last entry in 80’s era Metallica, the only era in which Metallica can truly be labelled a thrash band, Dyers Eve feels like the perfect full stop to that. The pace that this song moves at, only enhanced by Hetfield’s most personal and introspective lyrics yet and arguably Lars Ulrich’s greatest drum work, is a thrash metal masterclass from a band already beginning to distance themselves from that scene entirely. This was Metallica’s full stop on a genre they helped create and pioneer, and they do it by firing on all cylinders and leaving everyone else in their dust.













Loverman - Garage Inc. (1998)

Garage Inc. is an album filled with world class examples of how to take cover songs and, without meaning to go full Louis Walsh on X-

Factor, truly make them your own. One of my favourite examples on the album is the cover of Nick Cave’s 1994 single Loverman. Having never listened to the original before, I used this project as an excuse to finally check it out. Amazingly, I think there are parts of the original that far outweigh Metallica’s version in terms of darkness, anger and heavy sonics. Nick Cave’s delivery is a huge part of this, quite obviously coming from somewhere deep inside him and intensely personal, something that I feel can only truly be reached when it’s lyrics and music of your own creation.

Despite this, Metallica’s version is still a brilliant interpretation of the original. Far more metallic in sound (who would’ve guessed?), stripping away some of the more experimental and noisy elements of Cave’s original and replacing it with low tuned, brooding evil.











Bad Seed - Reload (1997)

God, I love Load and Reload. I love them so much.

Metallica’s mid-90s dual album releases are in my opinion the most underrated albums and era of any band. And while Reload is the least consistent of the two, it still contains hidden gems like this. With a sledgehammer lead riff; greasy, bluesy licks from a Kirk Hammett on top form and a groove to both dance and bang

your head to, it pains me to call Bad Seed a hidden gem. As a guitarist myself, I’m pretty sure I’ll never write a riff that can be as bouncy and, dare I say, fun whilst also having a detuned, biting snarl to it like any of the riffs in this song. And yet here this one is just hidden away on an album that most people seem to disregard as a whole.

Their loss, I guess.











The House That Jack Built - Load (1996)

I talked before about Dyers Eve, the last track on ...Justice and one of Metallica’s most furious ever. Now compare that to only two albums later, and The House that Jack Built. The difference in sound is startling in nearly every way. One thing that doesn’t change for me however, is the quality.

If 80s Metallica can be best represented by speed and technical prowess, 90s Metallica to me is best represented by a low, brooding darkness that hangs in the air like fog around you. Songs like Bleeding Me, Outlaw Torn and show this off brilliantly but in terms of songs not given their due, The House that Jack Built is the best example.

The use of effects in this song, as well as its slow and lumbering pace, is what I feel contributes to this atmosphere the most. Walking home late at night with this in my headphones has me feeling like I’m being followed, and even when just sat at home in my bedroom gives me a feeling of unease and unrest. With wah-laden lead licks dancing over rhythm guitar chugs and Hetfield

evoking Layne Staley with his ethereal backing vocals, the song progresses slowly over use of repetition and layering to give a real sense of darkness and menace. Metallica prove two albums on from making a progressive thrash metal opus that you don't have to use speed and aggression to be heavy, dark and outright evil.



