Sunday, December 19, 2010

Slow mixed with heavy

Metallica had a great idea with throwing their ballad tunes in the middle of the album. Of course a metal album's got to start strong and stay strong. You've gotta rock hard and start with lots of balls and maintain the energy. But the listener of metals usually needs a break from breakneck rocking after about two or three songs.

The problem with a lot of metal is that it's not that good. Just loud and not good. With bad metal, one needs a break after five seconds. But with some badass, confident shit like Metallica's "Ride the Lightning" and "Master of Puppets" and "...and justice for all", three songs is great. Totally listenable. Then when they're done rocking you, they throw the ballad in there! It helps that those ballads are kickass. "Fade to Black," "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)," and "One" perfectly break up the albums they inhabit.

But when I think of Megadeth, and "Rust in Peace", I realize that that formula only works for some metal bands.

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