HiRez Poll Metallica - METALLICA (The Black Album) [DVD-A]

[drphibes]

I as well listened to my copy again. So, here’s what Ithink. I said lack of bass, relative to other Metallica output I own. I still stand by that...but, I believe the snare drum and cymbals are so screeching, they drown out the bass. For me anyway.


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One album I remember having almost zero bass was ...And Justice For All.

Best bass: Master of Puppets.

 

[edisonbaggins]

One album I remember having almost zero bass was ...And Justice For All.

Best bass: Master of Puppets.

If you want to hear bass on AJFA, 5 rough mixes were leaked, then released in the SDE. IMO, the rough mixes make it clear that the album would have greatly benefited from not only the bass lines, but the engineer's original drum eq settings.

 

[sjcorne]

Interesting spread of comments and scores on this one. This isn’t exactly my go-to style of music, but I really enjoyed this disc - admittedly, the only track I knew of going in was “Enter Sandman”.

Looking at the basic construction of the surround mix, there are quite a few similarities - to my ears - between this and what Elliot Scheiner did with Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction. Most of the action is indeed upfront - drums, bass, lead vocals, and rhythm guitars all emanate from the front left and right channels. The rears generally feature drum reverb, backing/doubled vocals, accessory percussion (I did chuckle a bit at the cowbell popping up in left rear during “My Friend Of Misery”), and even a few lead guitar solos.

I can see why they chose to mix it this way - as @Beefalo noted upthread, it’s a great compromise between maintaining the full-frontal assault this music demands and keeping surround fans happy with discrete material in the rear channels - but the problem is that there isn’t always enough going on to keep the rears active. So, much like the GnR 5.1, there are often long stretches where the rears remain strictly ambient, then suddenly spring to life with a burst of lead guitar or backing vocals. The rears are used most extensively in “Nothing Else Matters” for the orchestra and some guitar parts.

For me, the coolest part of this mix is hearing James Hetfield’s vocals deconstructed - all the harmonies, doubling, whispers, growls, and spoken word are isolated in the rears and much more noticeable than in the stereo mix. The chorus in “Of Wolf And Man” is particularly epic - “SHAPESHIFT” takes over the room and the “BACK TO THE MEANING” growl comes from the rears. There’s even some fun front/rear call-and-response bits, most notably in “Sad But True” and “The God That Failed”.

My biggest gripe with this mix is that the guitar solos often go spinning around-the-room - normally I enjoy this kind of thing, but in this case I don’t think it really complemented the feel of the album. I would’ve much preferred leaving them isolated in the rears, like Scheiner did on his GnR mix. I also thought the drums and bass were a bit too loud at times - the vocals at the beginning of “Nothing Else Matters” are slightly veiled on my system.

Going with an “8” - if you like the music, I’d definitely recommend seeking this out (though OOP prices are kinda crazy lately - there’s one for $125 on eBay right now ).

"Enter Sandman":


"Of Wolf And Man":


"Nothing Else Matters":

 

[The56Kid]

Interesting spread of comments and scores on this one. This isn’t exactly my go-to style of music, but I really enjoyed this disc - admittedly, the only track I knew of going in was “Enter Sandman”.

Looking at the basic construction of the surround mix, there are quite a few similarities - to my ears - between this and what Elliot Scheiner did with Guns ‘n’ Roses’ Appetite For Destruction. Most of the action is indeed upfront - drums, bass, lead vocals, and rhythm guitars all emanate from the front left and right channels. The rears generally feature drum reverb, backing/doubled vocals, accessory percussion (I did chuckle a bit at the cowbell popping up in left rear during “My Friend Of Misery”), and even a few lead guitar solos.

I can see why they chose to mix it this way - as @Beefalo noted upthread, it’s a great compromise between maintaining the full-frontal assault this music demands and keeping surround fans happy with discrete material in the rear channels - but the problem is that there isn’t always enough going on to keep the rears active. So, much like the GnR 5.1, there are often long stretches where the rears remain strictly ambient, then suddenly spring to life with a burst of lead guitar or backing vocals. The rears are used most extensively in “Nothing Else Matters” for the orchestra and some guitar parts.

For me, the coolest part of this mix is hearing James Hetfield’s vocals deconstructed - all the harmonies, doubling, whispers, growls, and spoken word are isolated in the rears and much more noticeable than in the stereo mix. The chorus in “Of Wolf And Man” is particularly epic - “SHAPESHIFT” takes over the room and the “BACK TO THE MEANING” growl comes from the rears. There’s even some fun front/rear call-and-response bits, most notably in “Sad But True” and “The God That Failed”.

My biggest gripe with this mix is that the guitar solos often go spinning around-the-room - normally I enjoy this kind of thing, but in this case I don’t think it really complemented the feel of the album. I would’ve much preferred leaving them isolated in the rears, like Scheiner did on his GnR mix. I also thought the drums and bass were a bit too loud at times - the vocals at the beginning of “Nothing Else Matters” are slightly veiled on my system.

Going with an “8” - if you like the music, I’d definitely recommend seeking this out (though OOP prices are kinda crazy lately - there’s one for $125 on eBay right now ).

"Enter Sandman":
View attachment 45936

"Of Wolf And Man":
View attachment 45937

"Nothing Else Matters":
View attachment 45938

Wow, Jonathan, you’re causing me to really reconsider this little listened DVD-A in my collection.

Confession time. I’ve never been a big fan of this album as it represents the commercialization and dumbing down of the classic Metallica sound for mass consumption by Bob Rock. This was a bitter pill for me to swallow as it followed my favorite album of theirs, And Justice For All. And don’t get me started with the Napster controversy.

All that aside, Randy Staub’s surround mix has always struck me as too conservative and front centered. Thanks to recent suggestions by @edisonbaggins and your insightful analysis, I will be giving this a more unbiased listen in the near future. Thanks!

 

[Robbio]

I only bought this recently (for a lot of money by the way) and wanted to point out the Stereo mix of the 2001 DVD-Audio is almost un-listenable as it is so fatiguing. It is brick-walled when compared to the 1991 cd version.
See waveforms below.