Metal, Hardcore, Indie, Rock
Eicca Toppinen of Apocalyptica was asked about his thoughts on Metallica’s contentious “St. Anger” LP in a recent interview with Pipeman Radio, as per Blabbermouth. “St. Anger” was released in June 2003 at the conclusion of a turbulent two-year period for Metallica, during which frontman James Hetfield spent a long time in rehab, bassist Jason Newsted left the band, and the band as a whole threatened to disintegrate. Many of the group’s fans did not enjoy the album’s raw, lo-fi production, lack of guitar solos, and unconventional sound; they still frequently refer to it as Metallica’s worst release. Despite the fact that fans have typically not warmed up to “St. Anger” in the 23 years since its premiere, the film has sold over six million copies worldwide.
I think it’s a great album. It’s a really great album. I got to know the songs before I heard the album, because when the album was coming out, we did some stuff with Metallica. They came to Europe first time with Rob [Robert Trujillo], and we were scheduled [to appear at the U.K.’s] Download [festival] to play on the tent. It was an Apocalyptica slot. But the secret plan was that it’s actually Metallica who would play there, but we would start, and then they take over… We rehearsed with the guys there [but] we didn’t end up doing it… But at that time, I heard ‘Frantic’ and ‘St. Anger’ live many times.
And I was, like, ‘Oh, these are awesome songs.’ And then, of course, the album was difficult to approach. But now, for example, three years ago, when we were working on the [‘Apocalyptica Plays Metallica, Vol. 2’] album, I really listened [to ‘St. Anger’] because I knew that there is something, that there’s something on the ‘St. Anger’ album that we should record [for our album], and I really listened to it a lot. And once I got used to the sound, I was, like, ‘Fuck, this is awesome stuff.’ It’s so angry. It’s so passionate. It’s so honest and true.”
What I’m saying to the audience when we play [the] ‘St. Anger’ [title track during Apocalyptica shows], because we made a version of that [for ‘Apocalyptica Plays Metallica, Vol. 2’], which, I think, the version is really cool, and it’s doing really justice on how good song it is. Today I always recommend people to give it a new spin now after the time because in the sound where we live at the moment, everything is over-polished and hygienically nice. ‘St. Anger’, actually, the production sounds fucking refreshing. So whoever is listening to this, take ‘St. Anger’ and listen to it. It’s a wonderful album.
Toppinen continued by saying that, given how different “St. Anger” sounded from Metallica’s earlier releases, he wasn’t shocked by the initial reaction to the album.
I understand that people have had difficulties with ‘St. Anger’, because the sound was not approachable,” he said. “[Like] black metal — it’s not meant to sound nice. Original Norwegian black metal, it’s all about how shitty you can record things to make them honest, raw and brutal. That’s how black metal is done originally. And that’s what ‘St. Anger’ has. It’s an honest fucking [slice] of anger. That’s what it’s about. And people were expecting something nice and smooth. And fuck that. Metallica is a metal band. But at the same time, I have to say, I like some songs on ‘Load’ or ‘ReLoad’. I think they are great songs. It’s a different quality.
Eicca claims that what ultimately makes Metallica’s music so intriguing is the band’s unpredictable nature.
That’s what I always appreciated in Metallica so much, that the guys have been always honest to themselves, they changed the style, the direction, because they felt that they had to, for their sake, taking the risk that people will not follow them. If you think about how many bands of [Metallica’s] age still play [and tour the world], they would not need to [keep touring and making music]. They don’t need the money. They don’t need to do it for other reason than they fucking love to do it. And the only way to keep that passion alive for over four decades is that you have to follow your heart. You have to go where you have to go.
The same with Apocalyptica. We have to change all the time. With every album, we have to find an angle to challenge ourselves, to go somewhere where we don’t know for sure how we gonna make it, because that’s the beauty of being creative. You try to figure out something that you don’t know. I think that’s a core function of creativity. You try to materialize something that doesn’t exist, and if you just become a factory, you just do it as you used to do it — I think I’d rather do something else than make music, because I don’t see any point in that. Where is the excitement?
