S&M

9/10 it’s Metallica’s greatest hits

I swear to God if I get one more Metallica album in a row I'm going to find a way to bring back Napster just to spite them.

Probably more interesting if you’re more familiar with metallicas music.

This is very long, but looking forward to this kind of collaboration as an orchestra person. No vocals, which is a very cool take on Metallica. Oh JK, some vocals start in track 3, maybe I would have liked it more if it was all instrumental.
Master of puppets sounds like Doom soundtrack.

The combination of metal and classical instrumentation works really well. The fact that it's a live album with the public in the background helps add to the more theatrical feel as well. What really kills it are the vocals though. This era of Metallica isn't the best and this weird autotuned voice ruins the impact. Some tracks like nothing else matters and call of ktulu work really well, but most of the newer tracks don't.

I don't know how much the orchestra actually contributed? Good, but feels kinda gimmicky.

pandering longevity from metallica

“No leaf clover” was new for this album, and it’s a highlight for me. And I appreciate the challenge of this. But it’s not a good result.

I'm not a big Metallica guy, but I must say this was pretty well done. While it is lengthy, it's a decent musical journey.

Oh god no.
How did this make the list? Not only a live album, but a compilation (I trule hope this is not considered a greatest hits) album on top? Just no.

It's not that I hate Metallica, I just find them bland and uninteresting. I tend to like most classical music, but the combination of the two just ruins any interest or enjoyment. And why is this nonsense album so incredibly long?

I want my two hours back.

I’m not sure quite how I should rate this, given my unfamiliarity with most of the source material, the fact that I sort of zoned in and out while listening to it given its runtime, and that unfamiliarity making me sort of unsure how much the orchestra added to the actual weight of the original songs. There were points where these sort of just felt like studio recordings to me.

With that said, it’s definitely somewhere between a 4 and 5. What a enriching album in terms of that soundscape and that orchestra blended with Metallica’s style. Seriously, seriously incredible stuff here. In some sense, I think my lack of familiarity with the band is a bit of a positive; even if some songs sort of blended together, and even if my focus was a little lost at times, something about either the orchestra’s ability to keep up with them or Metallica’s inherent charm and appeal kept pulling my ear back in pretty quickly.

Are there lulls and periods of this album where you can feel a sort of rest break built in? Yes, but they don’t take away from the experience for me because they blend it super well to a point where those rest breaks are just as needed for the listener to catch their breath. I might need to give this concert at least one more listen to really lock this in, but I’m super comfortable with the idea of a 5 just on vibes, execution, and energy alone. I can’t wait to get more Metallica, mainly so I can come back to this album someday with a very fresh sense of how much the orchestra added and how well these songs were adapted to incorporate them. Either way, I’ll go for a 5. Great stuff.

Metallica isn’t really my cup of tea, but I like them more than all of their contemporaries. There are songs and performances here that I dig well enough. The length is a hindrance, though, and I don’t really need pitch-corrected Hetfield in my life. Still better than Mustaine, though.

2.5/5

Wonderful

Holy fuck. It was ok, but over two hours long. I didn’t want to listen to this, I listened to it, it took all morning, it gets a 2.

Started off too heavy for me but became less so. Lived the symphony pairing

Nach dem Album weiß man warum es beim Dorffest in Wacken so voll ist. 137 energiegeladene Minuten zeigen eine Osmose aus Hardrock und Classic. Nicht nur der Classicer “Nothing else Matter” wissen zu überzeugen sondern auch “Hero of the day” oder “Outlaw Torn” das einen guten Querschnitt des Albums abbildet.

I remember when this came out in 99, and I sat through it then. I had friends raving about it. I didn't get it then, and I still don't now. The idiotic title (wink wink, see what we did??) should tell you all you need to know without having to waste over 2 hours(!) on this. Only worth one star because the SF Symphony Orchestra is fantastic and they're doing all they can with the material.

Symphony improved everything somewhat but still managed to be a relatively boring show

This album goes so freaking hard. The strings add so much to their songs and make them even more epic. One of my favorite live albums ever.

Very cool. Made me wish I had better speakers. It is a bit long, but I still enjoyed it through the end.