This is a lot of fun and I’m going to ramble about it. We all know Metallica used to be this closed bastion around the 2000’s, more interested in pissing down on the rest of us from their ivory tower than standing shoulder to shoulder with their metalsisters and -brothers. But look: since 2016 we got a really good studio album (don’t @ me) and a magnificent live album (@ me not!), and now we got The Blacklist. Metallica is done watching down, they’re opening their doors wide open to anyone with talent to do whatever the hell they want with the Metallica material. That’s a big risk for a big band, but the result is glorious. Of course, not every track is great (Idles what are you doing?!) and some will be too far from your tastes. But for an omnivore like me, this is a goddamn treasure: from Juanes to St. Vincent, from The Hu to Phoebe Bridgers, from Ghost to PUP - the guestlist alone is a sign of good will, of a big heart in music, and I think it’s amazing Metallica gave carte blanche with their music to so many diverse artists. Kamasi Washington doing Metallica? J Balvin doing Metallica?? Mon Laferte?? Rina Sawayama??? Igor Levit???? Don’t dismiss this as a cash grab or whatever wimpy brush-off. This is fucking great!
There’s more: Aborted (death/grind from Belgium),
Hail Spirit Noir (prog/psych/black from Greece),
Inferi (tech death/black from the USA),
Replicant (death from the USA),
Chrome Waves (post black from the USA)
, Mehenet (🌶️ black from the USA)
, Lvcifyre (black/death from the UK),
Anette Olzon (symphonic from Sweden - ex-Nightwish),
Black Mass (🌶️ thrash from the USA)
, Pa Vesh En (🌶️ raw black from Belarus),
Andrew W.K. (party metal from the USA - yes fuck it we’re calling it party metal),
If Nothing Is (avantgarde from Norway)
, Teeth (death/doom from the USA),
Zaqqoem (black/death from the Netherlands),
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