by Rens on Sat Jun 07, 2003 8:29 pm
They wanted a "garage" sound. The production has it's ups and downs I agree, but I have to say it really fits the sound.
The points T. makes, are choices Metallica actually made for themselves: no ballads, raw and heavy. They didn't want to go back to the old days, they wanted to move forward in a new direction. There's still elements from Load/ReLoad in the songs, but mostly just the heavy stuff.