THE BEST METALLICA SONG FROM THE BAND’S BLEAKEST YEARS?

Full confession: other than the mediocre setlist, I didn’t have any real problem with the S&M experiment. Admittedly, a lot of that might have to do with the work of composer Michael Kamen (who, before he died in 2003, also did the music for such films as Die Hard, Lethal Weapon, and X-Men); at a time when it seemed that Metallica couldn’t possibly get any more boring, the symphonic touches he added to their back catalog spiced shit up again and, ever so briefly, made me think that maybe the next Metallica album wouldn’t be total drek (Boy oh boy, was I wrong on that one).

And I have contended, and will always contend, that “No Leaf Clover” is the best song Metallica released in the post-Metallica, pre-Death Magnetic era. It sounds like it could be a b-side from the Black Album, which immediately makes it 110% better than anything off of St. Anger or either volume of Load. The song is still Metallica doing pop metal, sure, but it’s not bad pop metal. Which is more than I can say for “The Memory Remains.”

Now that I think about it, the other new song from S&M, “Human,” wasn’t so annoying either. But, man, did Kamen help elevate this from total dog shit:

-AR