10 Perfect Rock Songs Wasted On Terrible Albums

We don’t really need any more people to discuss why an album like St. Anger is terrible. Metallica were clearly at a low point emotionally when making this album, and hearing the fruits of their labor here just sound like you’re looking in on some of the worst therapy sessions imaginable, complete with a mindless unhooked snare that drives into your brain every time you hear it. For an album that was meant to be abrasive from back to front though, they actually do a pretty decent job with a ballad on the back half of the record.

Though the song still sounds like it comes off of St. Anger, The Unnamed Feeling almost feels like a bizarro world version of their classic ballads like One and Fade to Black, always feeling a little bit out of step with the rest of the songs on the record. When you look at what the song is actually trying to say though, this is probably the most accurate version of what Metallica were trying to do on this record. With lyrics that stem from the feelings of anger and fear that come with becoming vulnerable, the music in this track actually does a great job making you feel on edge, going from slow and plodding to James Hetfield absolutely unleashing the potential of his voice in the breakdown section, almost on the verge of his voice breaking halfway through the track.

That’s not really enough to save the rest of the record though, with the song Purify following soon afterward and giving us one of the most grating choruses to ever turn up on a Metallica record ever. This might have been a different flavor of what St. Anger was going for, but when you have an entire record of nothing but painful songs, the most gentle song tends to get top billing.