Metallica - St. Anger (Remastered) (2020) [Hi-Res]

St. Anger is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on June 5, 2003. It was the last Metallica album released through Elektra Records and the final collaboration between Metallica and longtime producer Bob Rock, with whom the band had worked since 1990. This is the band's only album not to feature an official bass player, as Jason Newsted left Metallica prior to the recording sessions; Rock played the album's bass parts in his place.

Recording began on April 23, 2001, but was postponed when rhythm guitarist and singer James Hetfield entered rehabilitation for alcoholism, among other addictions, and didn't resume until 2002. The recording is the subject of the 2004 documentary film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. With an alternative metal style, raw production, and no guitar solos, St. Anger departed from Metallica's signature style. The artwork was created by frequent Metallica collaborator Pushead.

"Never underestimate the regenerative powers of Metallica. Following the stripped-down Load and Re-Load, they've returned to the raw, vitriolic savagery of their earlier canon, using 1984's Ride the Lightning as a template for St. Anger. The title track provides the psychic lynchpin of the album by combining the bombast and defiance of the band's earliest high-water marks with more deliberate lyrics and emotional nakedness. Equally cathartic is "Some Kind of Monster," a lumbering beast of a song that declares, "This is the voice of silence no more." Despite that claim, there's an economy to these lyrics; James Hetfield's raw-toothed growl only occasionally punctuates the menacing soundscapes. In fact, "Dirty Windows," the standout track here, is a shimmering five-minute instrumental that's free of the baroque trappings that sometimes clutter the Metallica landscape." (Jaan Uhelszki)

James Hetfield, vocals, guitar
Kirk Hammett, guitar, backing vocals
Robert Trujillo, bass
Lars Ulrich, drums

David Campbell, strings arranger & conductor

Digitally remastered