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10 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Very well done...not too over-the-top, July 19, 2007
There was a time when the mere suggestion of this would have seemed like a sacrilege to me. I guess I've matured to the point where my deep love of the Beatles (and Metallica, too) allows me to accept, and enjoy, the idea of someone trying something new with the music.
It helps that this is exceptionally well done. It's not merely a metal band doing Beatles songs, nor is it a band doing Beatles songs in the style of Metallica...it is a carefully crafted homage to both bands and their songs. Yes, the underlying songs are mostly Beatles songs, however they manage to incorporate so many parts of Metallica songs fairly seamlessly into them. The lyrics are also altered considerably, with a suitably metal edge (lots of mentions of beer, too). They have fun with it, not taking it too seriously (but not to the point of flippancy).
Believe it or not, there are a lot of fairly nuanced references here. Some Metallica flourishes executed perfectly and merged into the songs so naturally that they are, for all intents and purposes, brand new songs. There are also a lot of Metallica 'cliches' in here as well...the heavily reverbed, twinkling acoustic guitar in the slower passages, the Hetfieldesque "UuuAH!" at the end of nearly every verse, the wild bass solo here or there, etc. There are also Beatlesque touches, with excellent backing vocals on some songs (which call to mind Kings X as much as the Beatles). There are also a few great little straight Beatles lifts...like the 10 seconds of perfect Ringo drumming in "...And Justice for All My Loving" (followed shortly thereafter by a section with pounding double-kick...I love it!).
So, does it all work perfectly? Well, there are a few awkward moments, but no more than a few. There are some places where the lyrics are a bit...stretched (Helvester of Skelter?). But, for the most part, it really, really works well (and again, the awkward moments are mostly lyrical, not musical). Again, it's only because they execute it so perfectly that it works at all...just doing the Beatles songs plain in the style of Metallica wouldn't have worked nearly as well as the way they work in lyrical and musical Metallica-isms.
So far, I've listened to this disc fairly closely 3 times. Each time I am discovering new musical and lyrical references I missed before. No doubt, I will continue to find more. It's also holding up well to repeated listening...something that couldn't really be said of Dread Zeppelin (which people insist on mentioning with this), which was far more 'novelty' than this.
Best song so far, for me..."Ktulu(He's So Heavy)". "I Want You" was pretty, well, 'heavy' to begin with, so it really lends itself to this treatment. But they do this SO well, with all of the multiple parts of the Beatles original suitably Metallica-ized. The soft bridge in the middle, done in that reverby acoustic style (think "One"), is especially great.
Pop and metal haven't sounded this great together since the "Gretchen Goes to Nebraska" era of Kings X. If you love the Beatles and Metallica, you will find a lot here to interest you...if you are more fan of one than the other, maybe this will picque your interest in that other band. If you don't like either, well, you'll probably find a lot to ridicule (but you'd be wrong).
I got it because I thought it might be interesting. I will listen to it again and again because it is just plain good.
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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Disclaimer, April 2, 2008
You really need to understand both bands and have a near-encyclopedic knowledge of their work to get into this. If you worship the Beatles but have only a passing familiarity with Metallica, few songs outside of "Taxman", "A Garage Days Night" and "Hey Dude" will interest you. Likewise, before I really appreciated the Beatles, "Blackened the USSR" and "For Horsemen" didn't really add up in my mind.
If you love both bands, however, this CD will be an endless source of amusement.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great Songs, A Bit Overproduced, May 6, 2009
I've seen this band live, and they're loud and lots of fun. They used to self release their music as mp3s on their website, and I thought all of that was great. I went out and bought this cd once it FINALLY became available (lots of red tape) and was a bit disappointed that the guitars were set so far back in the mix. The vocals hit you first and everything sounds way too clean. It feels too much like pop production than production that should be on an early Metallica, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest album, which is how the band has always felt live to me.
Having said that, these songs are quite clever, and the fact that they have been able to fuse Beatles and Metallica together in a way that doesn't feel forced and is actually a lot of fun is amazing.
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