Metallica is an American heavy metal
band formed in October 1981. With over 100 million albums sold worldwide, they
are the most commercially successful heavy metal act in history. They are also
the seventh biggest act in America. After building a following through its role
in the development of heavy metal in the 1980s, the band broadened its audience
in the early 1990s. Accordingly, the band stood as the most commercially
visible example of the metal genre for most of that decade. However, with
vastly increased commercial success came stylistic changes that arguably
abandoned their classic thrash metal roots and fostered accusations of
"selling out" by some long-time fans. Many also feel that Metallica's
1999-2001 stances against Internet file sharing deeply damaged their
reputation. In spite of this, the band has continued to be tremendously
commercially successful.
In 2003 Metallica released their 8th studio album, entitled St. Anger, a
collection of the most aggressive music they had written in a decade, to deeply
divided critical reviews and comparatively mediocre sales figures, though their
2004 "Madly in Anger with the World" tour in support of the album
remained very successful. Metallica's next album, Death Magnetic, was released
on September 12th, 2008, to some positive feedback. While few would say that
Death Magnetic highhandedly brought Metallica back to their thrash metal
origins, many would agree that the album combined elements of their newer
releases with cues from their classic albums. Unfortunately, the album was
marred by poor production; how ironic that their "comeback" album is
best appreciated via digitally pirating rips from the better sounding Guitar
Hero audio tracks.
------ Md Ana Nabin