“As dry as could be”: The Metallica album James Hetfield felt was trying to be too perfect
Considering all the highs and lows Metallica have experienced throughout their career, it’s not entirely unexpected that some material isn’t viewed as accomplished as others. However, while many disregard songs and even entire records for being too fundamentally un-Metallica, some of these sonic deviations are less about a lack of direction and more to do with too much effort. Well, according to James Hetfield, that is.
Despite being hailed as one of the greatest rock acts in music history, Metallica have faced more challenges than most groups. For starters, they have had to face pressures from establishing the reign of their early breakthrough while following artistic directions they feel are best, all against the unavoidable expectations of loyal fans. And, on more than one occasion, they slipped up.
However, this remains relatively subjective, especially considering anything they ever put out will always, no matter what, be compared to masterpieces like Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning, which set an unreachable standard, sometimes even for them. With labels as monolithic as thrash pioneers, anything below the belt or slightly different would always irk some loyalists.
That said, while these mixed receptions peaked around the release of three specific records—Load, Reload, and to some degree Death Magnetic—one that Hetfield regards as a major turning point, at least sonically and when it came to their studio attitudes, was …And Justice For All. During the album’s creation and its sessions, Hetfield noticed one thing that had become too much: the push to create the best sound possible.
A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Hetfield told Music Radar that realising as such enhanced during Justice, particularly in response to the record’s guitar parts, which he felt fell too flat, mainly because he tried too hard to make it feel as “in-your-face and dry” as possible: “I realise you’ve got to have some looseness and character,” he said, adding: “I think the ‘anal-ness’ peaked right around Justice,” he said.
He continued: “It was like, how dry can the guitar be? I wanted it as in-your-face and dry as could be. Reverb was, you know, ‘Get that outta here, what are you thinking!’ After a while, that got to be a little lifeless and flat, so I realised there was a balance to be struck.” Incidentally, however, this quest to strike the right “balance” eventually led to two of their most divisive records—Load and Reload.
While they focussed more heavily on creating a sound that was “looser” than Justice, mainly due to Hetfield’s desire to soften his grip on creating the “perfect” album, this encouraged a more organic recording process, where Hetfield could exercise the two sides between perfectionism and enjoyment. Some might have strongly disliked the outcome, but it allowed him to exercise more restraint regarding enhanced control.
