S&M

The first and final few tracks are excellent, the middle feels repetitive.

Metallica at their most self-indulgent - and that is saying something.

2+ hours of Metallica is a chore, unless you're a superfan. And I don't really think the orchestra setting adds a lot here, unless you're one of the above-mentioned superfans. So yeah, not really essential for the casual listener. Almost redeemed itself at the end, finishing with One, Enter Sandman and Battery, but just too much overall.

more enjoyable than standard issue Metallica is to me, honestly, although I found myself wishing this had come out after St. Anger to see how bad that shit sounded, even with orchestral backing. a bit too long, felt like I was listening to this album all day. the orchestral sound seemed to waver between Bond Theme and like an Egyptian leitmotif? like Prince of Egypt soundtrack. the track name "No Leaf Clover" and the ending of Battery where he shouts out the conductor with a huge Hetfield YEAHP had me cracking a smile. these guys are unintentionally goofy as hell. didn't completely love it but didn't hate it. glad I heard this strange thing.

The name is Hetfield...James Hetfield. Kind of sounds like it should be part of a Bond movie soundtrack.
More cacophonic than symphonic.

overdose 6/10

The type of Symphonic Metal that I do like!
This is decent, the faster, thrashier songs with the orchestral back up are brilliant, but the slower numbers DRAAAAAG. Makes me feel like I’m listening to Pearl Jam or something, and I’m not a Pearl Jam fan.
If this was half the length and cut the fat, I’d consider a higher rating. Probs a 3.5 for me but has to on here be 3 as I can’t quite give it a 4. Sorry fellas :/

It's an incredible album, probably my favorite album by the band. It was a great example of how a live album should feel different from studio recordings, but it sacrificed nothing in audio quality. This was one of a small book of CDs that I kept in my first car.

Det føltes som en evighet, så sjekka jeg hvor langt jeg hadde kommet. Ikke halvveis i første disk engang. Måtte ta med meg lytteøkta på bussen hjem, ble selvbevisst og håpet at ingen hørte hva jeg hørte på. Hetfield høres ut som han er på autotune hele veien, det er helt jævlig. Orkesteret og bandet høres ut som de er på to helt ulike innspillinger. Ikke et vellykket sjangermøte. Høydepunktet var Ennio Morricone. Plata minte meg på hvorfor jeg er Megadeth-fan istedet

This is a tough one to rate. There are BRILLIANT moments here ("Of Wolf and Man"), but also a bunch of songs from the album "Load" that are better off forgotten.

It's not a bad listen, but at 2h15, it's too long and too filled with skippable songs. Your mileage may vary, but you'll probably end up going back to the original records anyway.

"Ride the Lightning" deserves a spot better than this.

It's fine. 2 hours of adequate music. Never good nor bad.

Way too long

A whole bunch of bangers sang live, what's not to like?

I generally dont feel live albums should be on a list like this, but there are a few exceptions (see Nirvana unplugged). Metallica also get a pass on long song moan, as their light and shade approach to these mean the song actually progresses.

Somehow adding a symphony orchestra to Metallica just makes sense. A lot of their material like One and for Whom the Bells Toll, lend themselves to such augmentation. However this generally works across the board, even allowing a live version of their traditional wall on music (theme from the good, the bad and the ugly)

So I'm going to get the negatives out of the way first: it's verrrrrrrrry long, it takes ages before you actually hear James Hetfield sing (which, to me is one of the main draws of Metallica), and I have to have my standard "it's a bit guitar noodly in places" complaint as I'm not a big 'extended solo' kinda person.

However, it absolutely works. It's seems so unlikely that you could mix an orchestra with metal, but its great (I shouldn't be too surprised given I love a prog band who once took an orchestra with them on tour). It's like Metallica made a Bond soundtrack and also improved it 200%.

4/5

I watched the video version of this album. Rock music and orchestras go very well together, in my opinion. In this case, neither overpowered the other.The orchestra could be heard clearly over the songs and added enhancement to the base songs. Additionally, I liked watching the crowd singing along and seeing the band enjoying themselves. There were a lot of musicians and this looked and sounded like a lot of work went into it. I thought it was very impressive and it was easy to immerse myself in (but I generally like live albums and interesting mixes).

Decent enough live album. Hetfield doesn't sound at his best on this album (Too clean of a voice, making him sound like a 2000's butt rock band singer). Weirdly Lars is pretty solid though.

The orchestra trades back and forth between being a good addition and sometimes being too much.

That said, it's tough to point out a less essential record on the list (Although there are a few. I'm looking at you Electric by Cult). This should not have even sniffed this list when Ride the Lightning exists (Or the myriad other records that are left off the list despite them deserving to be on).

Michael Kamen and Metallica’s full-length collab results in some impressively ornate orchestral renditions of many classic tracks. While there’s some slight intrusion of popular songs with resulting orchestrations that feel less fleshed, most are deliberate and pumped up as a result. The two new originals, “- Human” and “No Leaf Clover” (one of the band’s best songs ever) are both amazing.

I started really bad when I noticed that it was more than 2 hours long then there was this ridiculous introduction. I'm bored already.

OK I get the appeal of mixing orchestral music and metal, but come on it does not have to be so long. Metal groups need to be kept on a tight leash or they are doing long songs for the sake of it ; this is an instance of it.

JUUUUST a bit outside!

This was a missed opportunity. Feels like the symphony was pasted on. This idea just didn’t work.

Важливий для мене альбом, який я знаю от і до. Чомусь так вийшло, що саме S&M я почув чи не першим у металіки, ще у далекому дитинстві, а також цей концертник чомусь любив мій Папа. І тому в мене був диск, який я слухав часто. Знаю, що чомусь цей запис хейтять, але я дуже люблю, особливо кайф що вони зіграли тут Outlaw Torn - дуже недооцінена пісня металіки.

4.5