Metallica At a point in their career when most bands would rest their laurels upon a greatest-hits package or live album, Metallica has done both, but with a decidedly loopy twist. They've recorded a double-live greatest-hits package with the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra "sitting in." Rock history and cutout bins are littered with previous attempts at a rock-symphonic fusion, from Emerson, Lake & Palmer to Deep Purple to the Moody Blues and the Siegel-Schwall Blues Band. But while previous efforts at a lowbrow-highbrow mix have mostly ended up browbeating the intended audience, S&M plays like a precarious joy ride. Set against the shrewd efforts of a team of orchestrators and arrangers, Metallica plays for their lives, undercutting their general somber tone by ratcheting up their musicianship several notches. -Jerry McCulley

Customer review from Amazon

Reviewer: jaroon7648 from Lexington, KY USA When i first bought this album, I was some what skeptical about it, can they do well playing with a symphany? Considering the poor quality of music on load and reload, I thought they had lost the ability to create good music considering thier previous album had just been of covers. After listening to the album a few times, I really like it. The two new songs, New Leaf Clover and Human are decent, but the album is still pretty good because of the new versions of their old songs. It helped give a new sound to songs that I had already like by them. My favorites that they put on this album were one, of wolf and man, battery, master of pupputs, where I may room and battery. Tje album does sound good throughout, the first to really do so since the black album came out. It also adds a little depth to this metal band.