Metallica
Garage Inc. (Elektra)
by Martin Popoff
Lovingly forged by fans for fans, Garage Inc. reaches right into the hockey-haired brain matter perched above patched jean jacket and scoops out the well-conceived wishlist, thereafter delivering it at levels damn near perfection. Garage Inc.‘s main victory is its completeness, Metallica giving up all of the old EPs and every last scrap o’ cover they’ve ever breathed (sigh, OK Trekkies, prove me wrong, send me those emails), adding eleven new tracks for a two-disc tour de force that is a blessed thing. And the booklet rules, explaining the history of each band, and their context within metal and Metallica, adding flotsam, jetsam, trivia, and tons of pics of both the covered and coverers. Disc two is the old material, pushing for the most part NWOBHM (New Wave of British Heavy Metal) tunes through a compressed, urgent, Hetfielded, uniquely Metallica pork grinder, most slight improvements on the original, except of course for Queen’s “Stone Cold Crazy.” The Motörhead tribute tracks (recorded live for Lemmy’s 50th birthday party) kinda lurch though, Hetfield blowing the vocals, and then leaving them way too quiet in the mix to the point of distraction.
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