This Just In: We Can All Start Liking St. Anger Now Since Corey Taylor Does
Attention all those St. Anger fans that have been in hiding since 2003 — now is your time in the sun. Slipknot vocalist and heavy metal arbiter of everything Corey Taylor has deigned it reasonable to at least accept the album for what it is, if not enjoy it wholesale. Or something like that.
The world-shifting news came during a recent interview with Revolver, where Taylor shared how he learned to stop worrying and at least tolerate Metallica‘s St. Anger and all of its quirks.
“First of all, when it came out, I was a raging alcoholic prick. And when I listened to it, the mix kind of threw me off, and I wasn’t paying attention to the songs. I was kind of following the herd on that.
“But then [Stone Sour guitarist] Josh Rand, who was a massive Metallica fan, he got the deluxe version that had the companion DVD where they played the whole album in their rehearsal space. And watching that, I could hone in on the songs. I wasn’t stuck on how it sounded. I could listen to what was going on, and it immediately gave me a better appreciation of what it was.
“So now when I listen to it, I think a lot of the stuff’s really good, and there are some good grooves on it that I think are really underappreciated. I mean, that title track is a motherfucker, you know?”
Now, let’s be 100% up front — the album sounds like dog shit warmed over in the hot August sun. It’s just bad, so he’s not wrong in disliking it initially for that reason. But he’s also right about the DVD that came with the album. When listening to those songs in that setting, you can actually understand what they were going for. Or something at least close to it.
Over the years, Metallica has grown to accept the fan reaction to St. Anger, with the band actively joking around about the snare and accepting that their fans hate it. And hell, if you really don’t like St. Anger — which again, we’ve determined was the wrong stance thanks to Taylor’s commentary — then you can always check out the fan re-recorded version that definitely kicks ass.
