Lou Reed & Metallica-"Lulu"

When Metallica announced that they would be making an album with Lou Reed, there was a great amount of aversion coming from the metal community. I, for one, did not even know who Lou Reed was. Considering what they did with their previous album, people like me thought the inclusion of another guy in the band was'nt going to stop their newly found momentum. Infact, there was a great amount of hope among the Metal community that Metallica were going back to their roots and that the new album would be atleast half as good as their previous one. Death Magnetic was, by far, the best thing Metallica produced since the Black album. It nearly took 2 decades for James Hetfield to understand that he was'nt going to become Lynrd Skynrd by making blues guitar solos. Death Magnetic was the answer to the countless number of insults they had been enduring for more than half of their carrier. And just when they seemed to be getting back their lost respect, Lulu came. And before Lulu came, the single, The View came. When I first heard the song, I knew, this guy, Lou Reed was just enough to shatter the hopes of Metallica becoming a credible metal band. But still, there was a tiny glimmer of hope that the rest of the album would turn out to be better.  It was announced that the album had 10 songs which is normal for a standard metallica record. But the running time being close to an hour and a half swept everyone off their feet. Who would have expected Metallica, supposedly a thrash metal band, would make songs that last for 20 minutes. The song lenghts drove everyone crazy and the resulting hype was too much. We expected too much off them even after hearing the single. 

But today, after hearing to the album in its entirety, it would be safe to say that, without any doubt this is the worst album Metallica ever made. The first song, Brandenburg Gate promises something to be expected of the album when James sings "Small town girl...". But after listening to a couple of songs, you will find that it was the only thing good about the album. Search the entire album, hear to the songs a thousand times, your efforts to stumble upon a line that James actually sings would be futile. Lou Reed has literally replaced James Hetfield as the lead singer. For fuck's sake, is this even a Metallica album? I dont know what was in James' mind when he let Lou Reed sing all the verses, but seriously, he does'nt do any better than reciting the lines. And more than anything else, the biggest flop in this album is the much anticipated 20 minute song. There is no riff, no solos, no James, no nothing. Nothing at all, except Lou Reed "talking" about his junior dad throughout the length of the song. 

Reviewing each and every song would be awfully difficult because, no one has ever seen anything like this before. Lulu is not thrash metal. Lulu is not hard rock. Lulu is not even music. If the rolling stones ever makes a list of the 500 greatest flops in the history of music, Lulu should be just beating Justin Beiber to top the list. But, being the fanboys of Metallica that we are, we can convince ourselves understanding that, this was'nt entirely made by Metallica.

Most of what is seen in this album are essentially Lou Reed. Coming to think of it, there is not even a single trace of Metallica in the record, except the occasional guest appearances by James Hetfield that makes us realize that he is still alive.

It's nearly time that James Hetfield should stop making albums trying to "reinvent" the music in him that even make the system of a down guys laugh. If he still does'nt get the point, he should call it a day. Atleast for the legacy of the first four albums.

Review By Adarsh