Steel Notes Magazine January 2017 | Page 75

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represented all that . They never cared much about the music business or fans themselves . If that had been the case , why would they ever have released an album like “ Load ”? They should have just kept playing “ Hit the Lights ” forever . Instead , they kept following their heart , souls and creative stream , and were brave enough to show the world their new music every time . Pure business has driven music to a little bit of a dry place . It ’ s hard to find artists and bands that stick around for a long time . Music has become more about finding the right combination of sounds for the creation of popular songs , more than a real expression of thoughts . It feels like the magic of music has been somehow lost . The objective of selling music and concerts has overtaken the creative need of artists . It looks like the musical process has gone from an emotional one to a scientific one . Play specific chords , add a specific type of voice , mix everything in a specific way , and the likelihood to have a hit is pretty high . But the beauty , emotions , sensations , pain , love , brightness , darkness that belong to artists … those are the things that are now hard to find . Authenticity , originality , bravery of sounds . These aspects seem to matter less than the recipe for a popular music product .
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This is where Metallica members stand out . Their music evolved the same way their lives evolved . You can ’ t expect a man to always want to play a fast , heavy , angry song . People change , the world changes , nothing is the same over time . It took me some time to understand them , but I relate to them now . In my band ’ s first min disc , “ The Holy Metal ”, we just wanted to be fast and aggressive . But then with “ Walk Across Fire ” we added a groove that we would not have liked before . We felt different , so we made different music . Over time artists want to find new paths , discover new sounds , find a better musical match for their current emotions . This is why I can now say I am a true Metallica fan . Because I admire every change they made . I admire them for releasing “ Load ” and “ Reload ”, for “ Garage Inc .” and for being brave enough to play with an orchestra . They simply did what they wanted to do , which , in a schematic system
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that is our world , is pretty impressive ! After a long time , Metallica came back with “ Saint Anger ”. I saw them live in 2003 , with a completely new enthusiasm . They were a new band , with a new mem-
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