Rapid Fire: Metallica, Judas Priest, Black Tide

Hastily typed up Rapid Fire post time!
This time, it's all about the Metal. Three Metal albums by three Metal bands, plain and simple. I've gone for a mix of iconic "masterpiece", fan favourite and hidden gem in my selection but overall, I'd recommend all of these albums to different people for varying reasons. Objectively speaking, there isn't really a dud in the bunch although this first album is easily the worst. You'll know that's a controversial statement if you've already taken a peek at the album in question but I stand by my reasons, which you can read about below.


1. Master Of Puppets - Metallica

A lot of metalheads claim this is Metallica's best album (or their last great album, depending on how much of a dick they are). Whilst it does have several top notch tracks, I was pretty disappointed the first time I listened to this. I'd just come off Ride The Lightning (their ACTUAL best album) and had high hopes for the album that was supposedly a superior follow-up but there were several irritating little niggles I had. For starters, the tracks were needlessly long.
I accept that this is kind of Metallica's thing, longer Metal songs with a sensitive intro and a shitload of riffs, but this album goes overboard. The shortest song on Master Of Puppets is album opener, "Battery" and even that song could've trimmed some of the fat from the outro. The riffs and solos come hard and heavy but the song's so busy being angry that it forgets to be enjoyable, in my eyes. Then there's the title track, "Master Of Puppets", a song with much better riffs and a sensitive section in the middle, slowing the entire song down before a solo that blows its load too early yet simultaneously goes on too long before bringing it back around to the intro riff.
The rest of the album can be divided into three sections: short yet forgettable Thrash Metal ("Leper Messiah" "Damage, Inc."), well crafted but dull Heavy Metal ("The Thing That Should Not Be", "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)") and great but long standouts ("Disposable Heroes", "Orion"). The album is full of emotional contradictions and lacks a single solid punch compared to the previous two albums; I'm not saying Kill Em All and Ride The Lightning are perfect but they do have perfect tracks, unlike Master Of Puppets which is full of nice tries.

1. Battery

2. Master Of Puppets

3. The Thing That Should Not Be

4. Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

5. Disposable Heroes

6. Leper Messiah

7.Orion

8. Damage, Inc.

ALBUM RATING - 5/10

If you're still reading after I just pissed on a critically acclaimed album, time for a record from the band who are responsible for the name of these specific blog posts.

2. Screaming For Vengeance - Judas Priest

I was torn between discussing this, British Steel or Painkiller but in the end, I chose my personal favourite. From the epic cover to the final track, there isn't a single bad song or misstep on Screaming For Vengeance. Album overture "The Hellion" works as an introduction for the true album opener, "Electric Eye". Great driving rhythm, awesome lyrics, a sweet solo and excellent riffs throughout. The bar is set high by this track but unlike other releases by the band (looking at you, Redeemer Of Souls), it's a record that's constantly broken over the course of the album.

The album's big hit was "You've Got Another Thing Comin'" and as good as the song is if you're after radio friendly material, it's dwarfed by proper Heavy Metal B-sides. Whether you like your Metal fast and furious ("Screaming For Vengeance") or slow and melodic ("Devil's Child"), the variety presented across the album is enough for any fan of the genre. There are a few tracks that almost stray into Hard Rock material ("Fever", "Pain And Pleasure") but fortunately the band are able to claw it back.

Whilst British Steel might be preferable to those who like their Metal to contain a certain raw quality and Painkiller is easily the superior album if you're after pure aggression in music form, Screaming For Vengeance is a perfect example of how to spruce up and polish a product without ruining it by making it sound bloated and unnecessarily extravagant. The Metal is still pure and even though Judas Priest made some questionable decisions throughout the course of their career, at least they gave us this.

1. The Hellion

2. Electric Eye

3. Riding On The Wind

4. Bloodstone

5. (Take These) Chains

6. Pain And Pleasure

7. Screaming For Vengeance

8. You've Got Another Thing Comin'

9. Fever

10. Devil's Child

ALBUM RATING - 9/10

Finally, rounding off our Metal trilogy is a band who gave us an incredible debut followed by utter, utter shite.

3. Light From Above - Black Tide

Black Tide started off in their teens before being picked up by a major record label, usually a sign that the band are shit but malleable to the point that their music means nothing. However, unlike similar artists who absolutely fucking suck (like The Warning), Black Tide were at least able to give us one excellent album before changing their material to a more edgy teen-friendly sound. Light From Above can probably be considered part of the NWOTHM subgenre as it has all the hallmarks of an album from the 80s, only with better audio quality.

Album opener "Shockwave" starts things off with a bang (hurr hurr), giving us blistering riffs and solos with catchy vocals from start to finish and they don't stop there. The album contains high quality Heavy Metal without resorting to sensitive ballads or Metal operas like most American or modern Metal outfits, making it a rare treat for fans of heavy music and purists who have become disillusioned by the decline in the genre alike.

Of course, since it is just pure Metal, you're less likely to get as much out of it as you are with more progressive music containing various sections and a wider variety of riffs but that doesn't mean there aren't tracks where the band push themselves to come up with something more than your average Metal anthem ("Warriors Of Time", "Light From Above"). Plus, they do a damn good cover of Metallica's "Hit The Lights" so the band deserve some credit. It's a shame they turned into a bunch of whiny Metalcore pussies after this album but at least Light From Above still exists as a testament to why you shouldn't let record labels shit on you just because they're the ones with the money. Be more like Iron Maiden, less like Black Tide.

1. Shockwave

2. Shout

3. Warriors Of Time

4. Give Me A Chance

5. Let Me

6. Show Me The Way

7. Enterprise

8. Live Fast Die Young

9. Hit The Lights

10. Black Abyss

11. Light From Above

ALBUM RATING - 8/10

That's it for July! Hopefully August will have a few more album reviews/discussions and less video game music, as I kind of went too far with that this month.