The Metallica Blacklist Review pt - 1 "Enter Sandman"

The new tribute to the Black Album called the Metallica Blacklist, is a collection of artists each covering a song from the band's biggest selling work. To review this as a whole would be a daunting task since there are 5 to 6 artists covering each.   So I broke this down by song,  So you are getting an installment of this review for each song. 

Alessia Cara a Canadian pop singer is first to take a swipe at the song. It reminds me of the trailers you hear a pop singer doing a minor key cover of a classic rock song for Millennials who never heard the song in the first place. The riff of the original does occur so there are some rock elements to this one.

Then we have slacker singer songwriter Mac DeMarco taking a more accurate stab at the song. His impersonation of James is pretty decent when it comes to the phrasing , then solo is also spot on, so while I do not have any complaints , I am not sure this is the best introduction to who he is.

For Ghost to show up and act like a bunch of pussies by turning it into a piano ballad for the first verse is suited. They do stomp onto the distortion pedals, but then make the chorus way too happy,  Which given how terrible they are is a given. Journey covering this song might have been a better option. 

Ghost's version is not the worst that dishonor belongs to Columbian singer Juanes whose version is unlistenable. Rina Swayama is soulful in her take, the beat is more dancey, it reminds me of if Wicked Wisdom had given this a try.   

If I had to place my bets on who was going to do the best version of this song given the choices at hand my money would have been on Weezer. While River's does not offer the most aggressive vocal approach which might do to DeMarco, the overall sound is punchy like a band of actual musicians who had been slugging it out on the road for years much like Metallica themselves .  So Weezer wins their round for "Enter Sandman"    

 

Weezer : "the Teal Album"

 I liked Weezer's first two albums , then they sold out and went pop and not in a good way. I from time to time will check back in on them and see if there is any hope. Their last album was not re-assuring. So they put out a cover album. I guess if you really had to cover Toto's "Africa" then they did it justice. I am more invested in "Everybody Want's to Rule the World". I was guessing the problem with this one would be the the vocals . The Tears For Fears version was sung with resonate emotion and we are getting Rivers , just kinda whine through it. They do capture some of the sounds right and play the right notes, it just doesn't have any feeling behind it. They continue to get the sounds right, but lack any feeling with "Sweet Dreams" . Really after Marilyn Manson did we need another cover of this ?

They do a better job with "Take on Me" . He comes close enough to hitting the falsetto part. "Happy Together' doesn't really capture the subtle melancholy on the verses, but they haven't put much feeling into any of the songs so why should this be different. "Paranoid"  is good due to guitarist Brian Bell taking over the mic to do a better Ozzy than Rivers would be capable of. "Mr Blue Sky" is one of ELO's secondary hits. I have no investment in it and it's too happy of a song for me.  TLC's is a much better choice, as his dead pan white boy voice creates the needed sense of irony. Hopefully this version will be the years's gay anthem.They once again capture the needed sounds for "Billie Jean" . He is singing more like a Weezer song which works.

They close the album with "Stand By Me" . I feel like they could have made a better choice here, but they seem to make the best of it. I'll give this album a 7 as it feels like while they capture the sounds they rarely are invested in putting any feeling into it. It's better than the last album of originals , so that is worth something I guess.

Weezer : "the White Album"

This is actually a self titled album, the band's 4th self-titled album so now they are being reffered to by color. This is the band's 10th album and they should have chosen another color as their can only be one "White Album" and this is far from the ground breaking double album by the Beatles. The only Weezer album's I've either dug or owned were the first two which were pretty great. Expectations for this one could not be lower. I mean if people how launched a petition to put together 10 million dollars for you to stop recording in order to not further smear your legacy then Houston we have a problem. River's and the boys have more than likely kept this going to spite them. I'm shocked how much they have changed under the guise of staying the same. The guitar tone pretty much sounds like every other indie rock band that they paved the way for in the 90s. When it does come in it lacks conviction and leaves the bass layer to carry the song. 'Wind In Our Sail" is where things take a more shocking turn, the chorus reminds me more of the Shins. The vocal melody and how the vocals are produced suggests that this might not be by accident and makes me want to listen to the Shins more than this song, though if I never heard the Shins I might think this was genius.

Things get real silly and poppy on "Thank God For Girls". The lyrics are clever and the pop beat works wells and the chorus is pretty infectous and finds somethings that have changed actually working. "(Girl We Got a ) Good Thing" finds them back in Shins mode mixed with a little Ben Folds and some rock tossed in for good measure. This is a little too happy for my tastes, but above and beyond it feels like they just threw a bunch of ideas at the wall to see what stuck. My favorite song on this album is "Do You Wanna Get High", it comes the closest to reminding me of a band I once liked. "King of the World" has a party rock feeling, with River's personality coming through in a way that makes this passable as a Weezer song. This is one of the album's stronger songs, but years back it would have been their filler. They give a wink to the Pixies on "Summer Elaine & Drunk Dori". This is another song that works for what the band does but if you were to compare it to any song from the first two albums it would fall short.


"The Happy Days" era of 50's pop still influences the band on "L.A. Girlz", though even with wittier lyrics it's not as tightly written a song as the air tight "Buddy Holly".  A tad of auto-tune  might lurk on the falsetto notes in the song's build up. River's voice is generally on the better side of decent, though the production is so slick on this one it's hard to tell where it ends and he begins. The beginning of "Jacked Up" works for me, even as piano heavy as it is. This is much more pop than what I would call classic Weezer, but still has it's moments. The falsetto accents and generally frolicking of this song is more pop than rock.The closing "Endless Bummer" is a mix of folky pop with Beach Boys like intervals in the layered vocal harmonies. It sounds good, but has all the substance of cotton candy. I'm expecting too much from fun pop music, you say? Go kill yourself, these guys are making a living making music so just dialing it in doesn't work. If the entire album sucked then I would say"OK, those guys lost it a long time ago." But that is not the case. This album has some songs that are actually worth listening to but is weighed down by half ass bloat and expect more from these guys , this is good enough for a 6.5, which is better than the bulk of what they have done post- Pinkerton.