As we all know 2 albums before that (Load, ReLoad) not that really ''Metallica". The Metallica I knew was Kill Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master of Puppets, ...and Justice for All, Metallica (aka Black Album). However, this album (St. Anger) really turn the table round. Lars drumming was almost
metalcore
. Although this album does not contain any guitar solos, but the riff was fucking nice dude. Most of the bass parts were wirtten by Bob Rock as Jason Newstead left the band before St. Anger and Robert Trujilo joined the band on 2003 which recording on the album had finished. In this period, their vocalist, James Hetfield was sent to rehab for his addiction to alcoholism but returned to the band in April 2002 but was only allowed to work on the album from 12:00 to 4:00 PM.
The drums? Why the snare sounded raw? Easy. Drummer
Lars Ulrich achieved a unique sound on St. Anger by turning off the snares on his
snare drum resulting in a drum tone with far more "ring" than is usual in rock and metal. This sound received much backlash from fans and critics alike. Ulrich said, "One day I forgot to turn the snare on because I wasn't thinking about this stuff. At the playbacks, I decided I was really liking what I was hearing — it had a different ambience. It sang back to me in a beautiful way." Regarding the backlash about the sound, he stated, "It's crazy, that kind of closed-mindedness." Rock said, "I would say I've only [done something] this brutal [sounding] when I've done demos. It probably sounds heavier because it's Metallica, but really this was a 15-minutes-on-the-drum-sound type of thing."
That's all for my personal review