After the release of the St. Anger album, fans views varied, some did not like the album that much whereas others loved it but they all agreed that St. Anger sounded different compared with other Metallica albums. In my point of view, there are two kinds of devoted fans, there's a fan who believes that the band must adhere to the early-days style, the band started with, that the band mustn't go out of their way exploring something new, the other type is a devoted fan who would not mind the change as long as the band maintains their identity, it's like you play ur music but somehow differently.

Despite I resist changes as we all do but I am kind of the second type, I believe a change is a must sometimes. There are actually benefits, Metallica gained out of St. Anger. They are the benefits, any band may get out of a well-studied and planned change, benefits are as follows:

• Competing with the new music trends (I would not be surprised if a non-metallica fan bought one of the album singles and maybe the album who knows, and this is by itself a gain).
• Gaining a new spectrum of fans (it may establish new Metallica fans who love this kind of music trend, so you are actually adding fans onto the band list).
• Helps as a break 2 gain momentum for further works (sometimes a band has to go out of their way, exploring new ideas, new way of playing their music, new way of performing, so they could make succeeding works better).

I myself loved Metallica's early works, Kill 'em All, Master Of Puppets, Ride The Lightening and the Black Album. When Metallica released Load and ReLoad, the band continued their wonderful streak but maybe to some Metallica fans, the music sounded a bit different. As for me, the band managed to maintain their identity and both works were fine. Honestly ReLoad was one of Metallica's best works ever, I know some may disagree with me but a work containing a masterpieces like The Memory Remains, Unforgiven, Low man's lyrics and Prince Charming, I would straight say it is a wonder by itself. The band went on exploring new techniques and as a result, Garage Inc. and (S & M concert) came along the way and in the latter, as they incorporated San Francisco Symphony with the Band on stage, the result was awesome and in my view it was worth trying.

Going back to St. Anger, post releasing the album, it hit number one in many countries but despite this fact, some fans did not like it, yes it was different it was heavier, it lacked the ballads and the solo guitar but despite all that, St. Anger came out to be some experience, I, as a Metallica fan, really appreciated and loved the work. Below, I may quickly go through the main four points related to St. Anger, or let me say these are the highs and lows of St. Anger:

1-Theme (+ve):

This is what's it all about. Without a doubt, a great theme, it is. The idea based on which, all the songs are, is how to manipulate your anger and make something positive out of it . The album title was discussed thoroughly by the band (as shown in Some Kind Of Monster's movie) and there were some suggestions to call it Frantic but in the end they all agreed on St. Anger which truly represented the theme of the album. James Hetfield is the example, his recovery from alcohol and his rehab experience, how he at a point of time was angry at himself but managed to handle and manipulate his frustration and anger to come back better and stronger. Album songs like St. Anger and Frantic clearly reflect this thought. James is an just an example. There's a great theme guys which is:

Anger could be a weapon you destroy your self with or could be a useful tool to help you face whatever grief and disappointment, life may bring you.

2-Music (+ve)

Songs of St. Anger are heavier. Guitars are stronger , drums are overpowering sometimes, vocal tone is louder. They had the riff right, as they like to call it, but I guess this is the new thing about the album, it is the same Metallica but heavier and louder, same Metallica but new performance. Yes guys, the album could be characterized by two words, heavier and louder.

In my point of view, some songs like St. Anger, Some Kind of Monster, Unnamed Feeling; they are all have this relatively-slow n' heavy beat, whereas others like Frantic, Dirty Window and Sweet Amber are examples of what it's called fast n' heavy. This diversity gave the album a unique nature that makes it distinguished from other works.

3-Solo Guitar (+ve):

The album is lacking solo guitars. This issue had been discussed by the band as seen in the Some Kind of Monster film. And the idea of not having solo guitars in the album, whether it is because it's a sort of trend or because it matches the album character more, there's definitely, a point. The band could have incorporated a heavy solo guitar in one of the songs, fans would have loved it.

I don't see it a bad idea and would not consider it a negative point but I would love it if one or two songs in their forthcoming album contained a solo guitar performance.

4-Ballads (-ve):

There is no ballad in the St. Anger album. That was my only disappointment. If we refreshed our memories with great ballads like, nothing else matters, mama said, low man's lyrics we'll easily figure they added such beauty to the their albums, moreover, they served as a relaxing and soothing factor among the heavy tracks in the work.

In St. Anger, (All Within My Hands) was a real candidate, it could have been a nice ballad, it had the potential rhythm-wise to be so, but the band saw otherwise and just copied and pasted the heavy n' loud spirit into the song. I guess Metallica owe us, their fans, a real cool ballad in their next work that is due on early 2008.

That was all folks, hope I did not annoy you with such lenghthy hub, excuse my English since it is not my mother tongue and of course typos if any.

Thank you ...