My sign of the times – 85%
mambocat, May 12th, 2026
Written based on this version: 1991, CD, Elektra Records
The 90s. The final decade of the 20th century presented itself as enigmatic and chaotic, with a future that seemed blurry and none too kind to humanity. No one knew what would become of the world after 1999, and now, looking back, perhaps those years don’t seem so bad after all. Those were the days of Jurassic Park, Terminator 2, the USA ’94 and France ’98 World Cups, the Balkan War, the Japanese anime invasion, oversized clothes, flannel shirts, fast food, the Super Nintendo, and the irreverence of MTV.
Personally, I was transitioning from childhood into my teens, and that was when I began to discover and delve into the world of rock and heavy metal. The 90s have the distinction of having spawned three albums that are essential to my musical upbringing; they were the gateway, and after them, things were never the same. I’m talking about Nirvana’s Nevermind, the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Californication, and Metallica, better known as the “Black Album”. The band’s fifth album was released in 1991, but it reached me a few years later, when I was moving through other musical styles dominated by alternative rock and Brit-pop. For me, Metallica is the gateway band to heavy metal. I don’t know a single metalhead who would deny his or her love-hate relationship that is developed in this record. I remember the first time I heard the aforementioned Black Album was at the house of a cousin who was already immersed in heavy rock and was also taking his first steps into this beautiful pleasure that is rock music. Tracks like “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” or “Sad But True” became part of the musical landscape of my daily life, to my delight and perhaps to the martyrdom of my poor aunt and uncle.
Musically speaking, Metallica is a radical shift from the style the band had been practicing. We must remember that this was my first introduction to Metallica, so I was ignorant of their thrasher past; it would be a couple of years before I started investigating their prolific and diverse discography, where I was captivated by the energy and passion of Ride the Lightning and surrendered to the outpouring of talent in …And Justice for All, which would ultimately become my favorite album by the band. In the Black Album, I wasn’t going to find blistering riffs and crushing drums, nor convoluted guitar sections with baffling rhythm changes or long compositions—and perhaps that’s what hooked me about it. Raw thrash metal and experimentation had given way to heavy metal of polished craftsmanship, pristine sound, and an irritatingly commercial structure where everything seemed coordinated, scripted, and rehearsed to the millimeter to achieve the perfect heavy metal album. It is a record to be enjoyed from start to finish; it has a mix that is much friendlier to the listener, and although the drums are still saturated, you can finally appreciate the bass accompanying the rhythm section. In the guitars, James’s attack is much more measured, but it doesn’t lose its punch; the riffs feel more thought-out and elaborate, and there is a great variety of them throughout the album. Kirk Hammett is brilliant as a soloist. He really makes the most of his skills, and in the mix, you can appreciate all the resources and gadgets he uses to make his instrument stand out.
Certainly, it’s not a perfect album—it has its flaws. At times it becomes repetitive, and some tracks feel like filler. “Holier Than Thou” never quite takes off, and “Of Wolf and Man” feels like a halfway between ideas already heard in previous tracks. And let’s not even mention that bland closing with “The Struggle Within”; for me, the album’s perfect closer is “My Friend of Misery”. However, there are true gems amidst all of this. “Sad But True” owns a dense and solid riff, a tracks that delivers you to their previous and best thrasher era, filtered through a sieve where Jame’s anger hasn’t evaporated and the fury of Lars against the drum kit hasn’t been tamed. “My Friend of Misery,” my favorite track on the record, is an excellent composition where for the first time we can appreciate Jason Newsted’s full talent, allowing his bass to breathe in a song where his instrument takes the lead. “The God That Failed” owns one of the best solos on the entire album, where Kirk’s guitar truly transmits that feeling of pain and agony.
The entire record is a collection of massive hits: songs that are eternal an a part of an era. “The Unforgiven” is another brilliant piece, beautifully crafted and featuring great guitar work that highlights the shift in dynamics, moving from a soft verse to a chorus where James explodes with all his rage supported by a wall of distorted guitars. The guitar work is also seen in “Wherever I May Roam,” with a catchy chorus that shows how the band began to move toward compositions aimed at a wider audience. This is another important factor, something that would define Metallica’s career and eventually mean gaining thousands of detractors worldwide, being labeled as “sell-outs” and “traitors.” And here I must be objective: Metallica chose to pursue larger stages and transcend into popularity simply because they hit their creative ceiling, and the band was becoming too small for themselves. The biggest and most popular band in the world was hungry to take over the world, and to do that, they needed to expand their horizons and ambitions.
Metallica abandoned the rawness and the speed to deliver a polished heavy metal, solid as a rock but molded chord by chord, with songs meant to be chanted by an audience that wasn’t just composed of their most die-hard heavy metal fans. The thrash metal that evoked wars, nuclear disasters, and social issues gave way to introspective and personal themes. They aimed at religion, interpersonal issues and childhood fears. This demonstrates a step forward in their evolution. The surprise is, then, to find a heartfelt ballad such “Nothing Else Matters” in a band like Metallica. Far from being their best work, the track stands out for its emotional weight in a simple but beautiful chord progression. With this, the band rose to the very top of the scene, embarking on massive tours, headlining festivals, and leaving for the posterity, images like those of Monsters of Rock Moscow 1991, where they performed before near a half a million people in the final days of the Soviet regime.
For all these reasons and more, I hold a fond memory of Metallica and their Black Album. Perhaps it isn’t the best record of their career; in fact, it was the one that drew a dividing line between the most caustic fans and more varied music lovers, but the truth is that it’s an album that marks a “before and after.” Not just in Metallica’s career and the global heavy metal scene. It’s a record that opens a door, and once you cross that threshold, you never go back as you enter the vast and diverse world of heavy metal. The 90s are far behind us now. Every so often, I look back at that solid black cover and transport myself to a different time, when we weren’t so absorbed by the internet, hyper-connectivity, and artificial intelligence. I go back to a time when there wasn’t much to think about, the future seemed far away, and worries were reserved for our parents. The notes of “Enter Sandman” begin, and I remember how Metallica—just as it happened to millions of teenagers like me—became the soundscape and the soundtrack of our lives.
Highlight tracks: “Sad But True”, “The Unforgiven”, “Wherever I May Roam”, “The God That Failed”, “My Friend of Misery”
Deixe um comentário