A Long-Time Metallica Fan (Me) Listens To “Lux Æterna”

Okay, time for me to weigh in on this new Metallica track that is what everyone seems to be wanting to talk about. I’ve heard (or read) everything from “They’re back to Kill ‘Em All form!” to “This is the WORST thing I’ve EVAR heard!”

Quite frankly, I haven’t been excited about a new Metallica release since I was 17 and the Black Album was released. And while I may have gotten my hopes up when hearing a cut from both Death Magnetic and Hardwired…To Self Destruct, both of which had their bright spots, but ultimately still remain albums that I rarely pull out to give a listen to.

So, here we are, with the announcement of a brand new Metallica album to be released in 2023, and with it a pre-released single to give us all a taste of what’s to come. And the buzz has been the strongest I’ve heard that they’ve gone back to their classic thrash roots. Well, I’ve heard that one before. And there’s only one way to cut through all the hype (or hate, whichever your stance is).

And if you haven’t heard it yourself, here’s your chance to play along at home…

So, here’s what I have to say about the song:

It’s fine.

Do I think “Lux Æterna” is representative of the full album that is set to release next year? Probably not. Now, do I think that they popped this song out to ride the sudden surge in popularity due to “Master Of Puppets”, a song that was originally recorded in 1986, becoming the surprise feel-good hit of the summer of 2022, because of Season 4 of Stranger Things? Most definitely.

They also made heshers sexy again…

Is the song a return to form? Yeah, if by that you mean taking NWOBHM¹ and speeding it up to nosebleed velocity, then definitely, yeah. And that was their modus operandi to begin with. As a matter of fact, the drumming pattern utilized here is taken directly from the Motorhead song “Overkill”, which is one of the bands that inspired Metallica to begin with.

Now, to all the naysayers claiming that they’re just recycling their sound from Kill ‘Em All…well, I’m afraid they do have a bit of a valid argument, as at one point in the song there’s a riff break that sounds like a direct lift from the song “Hit The Lights” from that album. Listen to it yourself. You’ll know it when you hear it. I kinda groaned a bit when I did.

And if there was any other point of contention I may have with “Lux Æterna” it’s that Kirk Hammet’s solo on this lacks the bite and utter raw power that his solos on Kill ‘Em All had. It’s very “meh”. Then again, and I hate to say this because I have admired Kirk’s guitar playing on the first five albums, but he’s steadily been declining in the “wow factor” department since the Black Album.

So, to sum things up: “Lux Æterna” is a tasty bit of retro thrash goodness from a band that most deservedly is experiencing a renaissance as of late. It doesn’t make me excited about the new album². Nor do I expect it to be a full-on retro thrash album. They’re Metallica. They can do whatever the hell they want. They owe me nothing.

Still waiting on a refund for this, though…guys?

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::FOOTNOTES::

¹“New Wave Of British Heavy Metal”…here’s a handy-dandy Wikipedia article

²and in case you somehow don’t know, it’s titled 72 Seasons for some reason, and has perhaps the worst cover art since their last release

The GAUNTLET: Ray Huse

I asked a bunch of my friends to answer the questions in the Gauntlet and discuss their thoughts on the music that means the most to them; here’s one of the responses…

Ray Huse is someone I met during my brief stint as a student at Wayne State College in Wayne, Nebraska. He initially lived down the hall from me in the dorm, and even if he wasn’t introduced to me by our mutual friend Kyle, I would have met him eventually, as this guy is the very embodiment of the cool Music Geek everyone knows about. His record collection was epic at a time (the early-to-mid 1990s) when the format was considered completely dead, to say nothing of his CD collection. He is the kind of guy you’d spend countless hours talking about music over a pint or several; I couldn’t wait to hear his responses for The Gauntlet, and he didn’t disappoint…

I’m going to preface this with the typical bit that almost all these answers – except for the first purchase – might be different on any given day, but at this moment as I flip through my collection, here’s what I’m feeling:

THE ALBUM THAT CHANGED MY LIFE WAS:

Murmur (R.E.M.)

Let’s just get this out of the way. I’m a big fan of this band, and they were the gateway to an overall obsession with music. And while this wasn’t the entry point for me, when I bought this and put on the headphones to listen, I just knew it was a turning point. I was going from a casual listener to music junkie.

THE FIRST ALBUM I BOUGHT WAS:

Please (Pet Shop Boys)

I had bought a number of 45s before this, and co-purchased a couple albums with my older brothers. And I’m still not sure why I picked this particular one up, other than maybe it didn’t rock enough for my brothers. But I loved a good synthy hook then, and I still do now. Still a fan, and just saw them live for the first time last month in Minneapolis.

THE ALBUM I BREAK THE SPEED LIMIT TO IS:

The Muffs (The Muffs)

This album came out before Green Day’s Dookie and should have been as huge. (Fun fact: the producer is the same on both records.) It hits a lot of the same territory with a badass chick singer who could play sweet and scream in the same breath. RIP Kim Shattuck. Gone way too soon.

THE ALBUM THAT SHOULD NOT BE IS:

Metal Machine Music (Lou Reed)

Enough has been piled on this album over the years, but the tragedy is not that it’s weird, it’s just boring. I think even Lou knew he phoned it in on what could have been interesting.

THE ALBUM I NEVER THOUGHT I’D LOVE IS:

The Road To Ensenada (Lyle Lovett)

I was so anti-country anything for a long time. I blame Garth Brooks. And I wish I was making this up, but I was at a listening station in a store where you could sample new CDs. And I put this on by accident. And I thought it sounded spectacularly produced and recorded. So I bought it purely for those reasons. And what do you know, the guy turns out to be a songwriting genius? “Joshua Judges Ruth” is a smidge better, but I wouldn’t have got that without this first, and still love it. (See what I did there?)

SOMEONE ASKS ME WHAT MY FAVORITE MUSIC IS, I GIVE THEM A COPY OF:

Peter Gabriel [aka Melt] (Peter Gabriel)

This just seems like it could sit pretty comfortably next to anything I own. I tell people my favorite music is “college rock before Nirvana.” And I suppose this fits the genre along with Talking Heads, Replacements, etc. But this has some leanings into other areas I like with world music elements and spacey atmospheric stuff too.

THE ALBUM I WOULD WANT WITH ME ON A DESERT ISLAND IS:

Bitches Brew (Miles Davis)

Why? I can remember and replicate so many great albums that I know by heart and play them back in my memory. This is not one of them. It always rewards on repeated listening though and maybe I can challenge myself to figure this one out on the island.

NO ONE WILL BELIEVE I OWN A COPY OF:

Hotel California (The Eagles)

I’m fully with the Dude and have consistently professed how much I do not like this band who was somehow always worse to me than the sum of their parts. I got a copy of it for free some years ago, and I thought I’d listen to it to reevaluate the band. You know I’ve been wrong before. But I’ve never brought myself to that point yet. So it just sits there.

THE SOUNDTRACK TO MY LIFE IS:

When I Was Cruel (Elvis Costello)

I’ve been on a bit of a kick lately listening to albums some of my favorite artists made when they were about my age. I dropped this back on not too long ago, and a flood of memories from the time it came out just rushed back – good and bad. And I kind of experienced something new with something familiar. It just felt like me now and then. So maybe I just interpreted this question a little differently.

THE BEST SOUNDTRACK ALBUM IS:

Blade Runner

I Am Sam

I’m going to cheat a little here as I definitely love movie music, and I consider a soundtrack and scores as different beautiful things. My score choice is Blade Runner by Vangelis. It’s so perfectly from another world, just like its film. For a soundtrack collection of songs, It’s tempting to say The Crow but so many people – including you – throw that out there. I’ll pick I Am Sam to make up for excluding some of my favorite artists elsewhere, and it’s a fantastic collection of Beatles covers. I love a great cover tune, and the Beatles!

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