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METALLICA - Garage Inc. (Electra) Release Date: Review: Mark Woodleif (December 22, 1998) It may be true, as Rolling Stone's David Fricke writes in his perceptive liner notes to Garage Inc., that the worst thing you can say about a rock band is "They just play covers." But few play 'em like Metallica, who are one of the lucky bands to realize the ultimate dream of becoming better than their influences. Garage Inc., the follow-up to 1987's The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Revisited, is a menacing two-disc onslaught that succeeds on several levels. First, it reaffirms that Metallica -- one of the world's biggest and best-selling hard rock bands -- still possess that essential garage-band mentality. They're normal Joes, as much rock fans as metal pioneers, and they have eccentric tastes -- covering an unlikely grouping of Bob Seger, Nick Cave, Motorhead, Diamond Head, The Misfits, Discharge, Mercyful Fate, Killing Joke, and many more -- just like anybody else. The group's varied taste will probably serve to open closed minds, too -- some pimply metalloid may just learn to appreciate Cave's solemn sexual psychosis ("Loverman"), or Lynyrd Skynyrd's old-school Southern boogie tenderness ("Tuesday's Gone"). Finally, Garage Inc. succeeds because it just flat-out rocks. That's never too much to ask, even from a "cover band." (Mark Woodlief) Metallica has a website check it out Next Review Mediator Index