Ege Özgün (PHYS/PhD)
ozgun@fen.bilkent.edu.tr
I have always hated the situation where a person or an entity receives credit just because they did something significant in the past. This, of course, also applies to musicians and bands. This week, I am going to complain about such bands.
The phrase “Big 4” is used for the proto-thrash metal bands Metallica, Megadeth, Slayer and Anthrax. They are among the creators of the genre, and through their contributions, not only did thrash metal became popular among listeners of the metal genres, but thrash metal bands also had a chance to have their videos aired on MTV in the late 80s/early 90s. All four of them are still continuing their musical journeys, so let’s take a detailed look at their earlier and current musical directions, which will help me point out more precisely what I am complaining about.
Metallica
Metallica’s 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All” was one of the first thrash metal albums, along with Slayer’s “Show No Mercy” (1983), Voivod’s “War and Pain” (1984) and Anthrax’s “Fistful of Metal” (1984). “Kill ‘Em All” was followed by “Ride the Lightning,” “Master of Puppets” and “And Justice for All” (AJFA). These four albums are masterpieces, containing not even a single filler song. But before the release of AJFA, Cliff Burton passed away in a tour bus accident, and that became one of the biggest turning points in Metallica’s career. He was replaced by Flotsam and Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted. Newsted is in fact a great bass player, but Burton’s death deeply affected Metallica, and after AJFA, the albums they released never shared the same spirit that imbued AJFA and their earlier albums. Even their self-titled ’91 album (aka “Black”)—which is their best of the post-AJFA era—lacks this spirit, in my opinion. Their later releases “Load” and “Reload” are mediocre albums, and their nu metal experiment, “St. Anger,” is terrible beyond words. “Death Magnetic,” like “Load” and “Reload,” is no more than mediocre. Then came “Lulu,” an album they made with the late Lou Reed, which is, I think, the best thing Metallica has done since AJFA. I can understand why it was hated by both critics and fans, but for me, this two-CD experimental work is stunning. First of all, its production is great. It is the first time since “Black” that we have been able to hear decent guitar sound. Yes, I admit that the album is experimental beyond the usual limits, but I really appreciate that. Releasing such an album was a very brave move, and unlike “St. Anger,” it was done without much publicity. This year Metallica released a new song called “Lords of Summer.” As far as I can tell, they are trying to go back to their roots. The riffs suggest that, but with the song’s awful production, they sound to me like a high school band practicing for the talent show. So to make a long story short, in my view Metallica has been dead since 1988, with the effort they made to resurrect themselves with “Lulu” shown by “Lords of Summer” to have failed.
Slayer
Starting with their ’83 release “Show No Mercy,” Slayer made five great albums: “Hell Awaits” (1985), “Reign in Blood” (1986), “South of Heaven” (1988) and “Seasons in the Abyss” (1990). After that, they started to experiment. Their experimentation in those years was better than Metallica’s; they even released a punk-oriented record. This year, they released a new song called “Implode.”
With this song, Slayer seems to have followed the same trend as Metallica, trying to go back to their roots. Well, to be honest, they have been more successful than Metallica, because their new song has a much better production, but it is still far from being even mediocre. It gives you the feeling that they attached some old riffs end to end with glue, hoping they wouldn’t tear apart. So I would say that Slayer left us in 1990, joining Metallica on the other side.
Megadeth
After getting fired from Metallica, Dave Mustaine started Megadeth and released great albums one by one. The first three records define for me the original Megadeth era: “Killing Is My Business…and Business Is Good!,” Peace Sells…but Who’s Buying?” and “So Far, So Good…So What!” Then they stopped using punctuation marks in their album names, and that’s the point where they moved away from being the original Megadeth. Of course this is just a joke, but every joke contains some truth in it. The truth here is that with “Rust in Peace” (RIP), Megadeth changed their direction. This is mostly due to Marty Friedman’s advent. RIP is a great album, but in my view it does not have the original Megadeth spirit. Then follow the less complicated “Countdown to Extinction,” “Youthanasia” and “Cryptic Writings,” which are decent albums but in my opinion reflect the weakening of Megadeth’s sound. The band then released “Risk,” which indeed deserves that title but is musically empty. The latest release by Megadeth is “Super Collider.” It is on a par with the other post-“Cryptic Writings” stuff they have done, which means it is boring and full of filler songs. So for me, RIP becomes the cause of death for Megadeth, and so I say R.I.P. Megadeth.
Anthrax
After their energetic debut “Fistful of Metal” with singer Neil Turbin, Anthrax hired Joey Belladonna to replace him. With Belladonna, they released four magnificent records: “Spreading the Disease” (1985), “Among the Living” (1987), “State of Euphoria” (1988) and “Persistence of Time” (1990). After that, Belladonna left his place to John Bush, and Anthrax switched to a more groove metal-oriented sound. They released four albums in that vein. These are good albums, unlike the efforts of the Big 4’s other three during the same period. Anthrax’s first release after an eight-year hiatus (they released “The Greater of Two Evils” in 2004, but it featured re-recordings of their old songs) was “Worship Music” (WM) in 2011. Also unlike the other members of the Big 4, Anthrax never did filler albums, and WM is again a great album. It celebrates the return of Joey Belladonna on vocals. Its production is very consistent and not “digital”-sounding at all, which is surprising, because unfortunately metal albums today are shifting to a “digital” sound (production-wise, not in the sense of a genre) more and more. The guitar sound is reminiscent of their ’90 release “Persistence of Time.” So just as in the name of their ’87 album, Anthrax is among the living.
After going through the musical careers of the Big 4 in detail, I want to conclude by saying that past successes are never enough to save any band from dying. If they want to live, bands must stop hiding behind their memories and carry on. Stay connected to music.