Last night I watched a documentary on Metallica titled "Some Kind of Monster". It followed Metallica down the troubled path to the completion of their last album, "St. Anger".

Metallica has been around since 1981, with their first studio release, "Kill em All", a thrash metal album. That album was made of testosterone, and guitar solos. This formula worked so well for Metallica, for so many years... and then came St Anger.

Some say that the shift came with their self titled album (AKA The Black Album). There is a noticible difference between that album and anything before it, but the heart of Metallica's music was still intact. St. Anger was equivalent to a heart attack. The sound was completely different. Kirk Hammet's awesome guitar solo's were all but completely gone. Their guitars were suddenly tuned down to Drop C, and Metallica's sound more resembled that of Limp Bizkit than Metallica. What the hell happened?

In "Some Kind of Monster" the reason for the drastic changes are explained in full, but there is one thing in particular that I would like to elaborate on. Bands, later in their career, start to feel that their sound is getting stale, and that it is time to refresh it, with some more modern riffs, guitar tunings, effects, etc... Basically they change the entire structure of their songs to fit the time period. Sometimes this is the right thing to do, but in this case it was F&$*KING stupid. They have sold almost 100 million records since they debuted. Sales have never really slowed. Records are probably still selling quite well (with the exception of St. Anger I'm sure.)

I sincerely hope that their next attempt at an album (due this Fall) will prove to be the return of Metallica, as I know and love them. According to some statements made by Metallica, and the record's production team, the album is shaping up to be exactly what I am looking for, a return to the past. Good ol' fasion heavy hitting Metallica. Lars has even said himself that this album will not be a "St. Anger Part II".

Also, the first single from this new album will be released on Rock Band, before the actual album is release. What a great marketing tool Rock Band can be.

Which brings me to a final point. Metallica needs to take full advantage of Rock Band. They love money, and we Rock Band players love playin Metallica songs, and have to pay money to play them. I hope to see a bunch of their albums released for Rock Band in the future.

BUT NOT ST. ANGER... piece of shit album.