Heavier Than Heaven

Released in the year 1983, this was Metallica’s first album and as the name implies the record is jam-packed with head banging, lightning fast riffs and scorching solos that stunned the metal establishment.

By no means Metallica’s best album albeit “KILL ‘EM ALL” was a great debut for the future demigods of the metal world. At the beginning, Hetfield sounds like a woman who’s just got her labour contractions and the songs on the first side aren’t catchy either.

But “Jump in the Fire” redresses matters, with its fret gnawing riff-work and brain thawing solo; it is undeniably a killer by its own. The real live-wire of this record is the track “Whiplash” which was played with super fast, manic-fury and relentless riffing. “(Anesthesia) …Pulling teeth” was unleashed by the legendary bassist of the band, Cliff Burton, it is a terrific bass solo and is very famous amongst all the thrash-metal heads. “Motorbreath” is catchy, but “Seek and Destroy” is without doubt the first ever track by Metallica that made the fans scream for more! All things considered, this record was the perfect start for the band’s success as the world’s greatest thrash-metal band for the next twenty five years and is unquestionably one of the strongest ever metal albums ever recorded even to this day!

Enter the new era- Metallica shed their extremisms and entered a new era of smaller songs, more melodious riffs and radio friendly music. This was the starting of a new era and a lot of diehard fans didn’t exactly welcome the change. Yet all the tracks were straight from the top drawer. ‘Enter Sandman’ a track about bogeymen and fears was a great beginning to the most successful Metallica album of all times. ‘Sad but True’ with a pro-Sabbath like militaristic march was another great track. Next is the ‘Unforgiven’, which became a monster hit. Then came ‘Wherever I may Roam’ which was pure head-banging stuff. This is the thrashiest song in the album. ‘Nothing Else Matter’ was a very risky and soulful rendition by Hetfield. It was highly sensitive and deep. It dealt with love and is a very unusual track by a band intent on serious issues. ‘Struggle Within’ was a suitable ending to an album that took Metallica to the top of the charts and established their supremacy as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Though maybe not as defining or as complex as ‘Master of Puppets’, the Black album made Metallica known to a whole new legion of fans who didn’t exactly welcome extreme thrash.

The sister of Load, ‘Reload’ is a suitable follow up to load. ‘Fuel’ a high octane adrenaline rushing opener takes our breath away completely. Then comes ‘The Memory Remains’, another great track which deals about coping with fame and the after effects of fame. A great video on a revolving set on L.A. airport and support vocals by Marianne Faithfull made the track special. ‘The Unforgiven2’ is a worthy sequel to ‘The Unforgiven’ with great lyrics. ‘Devil’s Dance’ has become a concert favorite over a period of time. ‘Low Man’s Lyric’ a soulful Irish bar song is a real surprise on the album. Though ‘Reload’ has some great songs one can’t help but feel we had an album that were to have the best of ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ that album would have been a real stunner. Nevertheless both the videos for ‘The Unforgiven2’ and ‘The Memory Remains’ were really top stuff and the album was as good, if not better than her sister ‘Load’. The real highlight is the final track ‘Fixxxer’ which is, in my opinion, the best finishing song in a Metallica album. Polished vocals, the occasional ‘wah-wah’ of the guitar makes this album stylish. On the whole this was an under-rated album.