Of course, I'm not going to introduce 'Metallica' to many people but this year 2020 was the occasion of a rather special release since the Americans wanted to do a sequel to the first live 'S&M' recorded in 1999 with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and at the time, it is true that the metal and the symphonic did not necessarily mix well although the symphonic metal pointed out the tip of its nose with precursors like 'Nightwish' and some bands like 'Deep Purple' already had it done, first very early in 1969 with 'Concerto for Group and Orchestra' and reissued 30 years later with 'In Concert with the London Symphony Orchestra'. But nowadays, the metal groups which perform with a symphony orchestra are numerous and 'Metallica' chose to release chapter 2 of 'S&M', 20 years later with again the same orchestra now conducted by 'Michael Tilson Thomas' and the start of the concert fully orchestral includes the first two tracks of the first live with 'The Ecstasy of Gold' by 'Ennio Morricone' and the grandiose 'The Call of Ktulu' which is magnified by the instruments of the orchestra and the second part of the concert begins with the second movement of the 'Scythe Suite' from 'Sergei Prokofiev' and with 'The Iron Foundry, Opus 19' from 'Alexander Mosolov'. The rest is of course devoted to the flagship titles of the group with the support of the orchestra which amplifies even more the imposing sound on certain compositions and the public often participates with impressive choirs as in 'Halo On Fire', the second part of concert bringing an additional symphonic dimension with a remarkable interpretation of 'The Unforgiven III', 'All Within My Hands' revisited in acoustics and the tribute by the double bassist 'Scott Pingel' to the bassist 'Cliff Burton', the concert ending in apotheosis with the essentials 'One', 'Master Of Puppets', 'Nothing Else Matters' and 'Enter Sandman'. In summary, this album is a great success for these metal giants who have been able to integrate a symphony orchestra into their discography which is not necessarily what comes us to mind when listening to the originals and, even if some fans won't not necessarily be won over and will find that the originals loose their energy, this 'S&M2' deserves our attention and, for my part, emphasizes even more the integration of the orchestra with electric instruments that the first 'S&M' version was doing. | |
