Metallica: 'If Darkness Had a Son' (The Amsterdam Sessions)

Amazon Music Presents continues to impress me with their special events. The most recent is the video below, which is Metallica performing "If Darkness Had a Son" in Amsterdam.

Metallica did four live performances for Amazon recently and all were released today. All four songs are below the video. While "If Darkness Had a Son" is from the new release 72 Seasons, the band also performed a couple of classics as well.

Comments

[Him]

As I said months ago, this sounds more like the classic 'Tallica. But. But.

Well, but. Does anyone else feel like these more recent (and better, to my mind) songs sound like they are leading somewhere classic and then just sorta' plod along, the suggestion being all there really is to the song? And is Papa Het (who I appreciate for regaining a version of his original vox, instead of that plaintive wail he was using for awhile) using a thesaurus to come up with lyrics nowadays, or at least a rhyming dictionary? Pallid. Salad. Squalid? Anger. Manger. Stranger. Flanger? I mean, this is not "For Whom the Bell Tolls." It's as if they have a certain degree of muscle memory, and a desire to get back to the good stuff, and then the tape gets stuck on repeat.

Then again, time marches on. Wrong. Strong. Prong. Schlong. Band a gong, get it on? At least you don't need Amazon Prime--Time, Lime, Rhyme, Thyme--to get this shipped to you.

[Mike]

I agree HIM, this new album is the most “Metallica” sounding thing they have done since the black album. Songs arrangements do feel quite long.

Track 4 “Sleeping My Life Away” is a good example, they have repurposed Enter Sandman, but if you sing along with the Enter Sandman lyrics; the verses on “Sleeping” are 4 times as long. Bob Rock obviously subscribed to the old adage “Don’t bore us, get to the chorus”

All that being said, for my money it’s Anthrax who have aged the best out of thrash’s “Big Four”; they released the most consistent (and ass kicking) albums throughout the 90s; and the last 2 releases with Joey Belladonna back on vocals have smoked ANYTHING released by Metallica, Slayer or Megadeth this century.