People who suffer from acute anxiety are often stalked in dreamland by a faceless marauder. The victim awakens breathing hard, clutching sheets wet with their own cold perspiration. Metallica brilliantly chronicles these perils in “All Nightmare Long,” the 8-minute linchpin of the metal gods’ spectacular comeback album Death Magentic.
It's similar in theme to “Enter Sandman,” from the band’s 1991 self-titled commercial breakthrough; however, “All Nightmare Long’s” sonic thrust recalls the heavy artillery majesty found on the band’s 1980s thrash classics Kill ‘Em All, Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets. On “All Nightmare Long,” a slow, foreboding intro hastily gives way to a bunker-busting assault of thwack, thwack, thwack. Then James Hetfield’s beastly growl surfaces, sounding as authoritative and dangerous as it did decades ago. Unlike the majority of today’s metal frontmen, Hetfield makes his declarations decipherable, with the pulverizing rhythm pausing as he drills home a decisive chorus like: “Feel us breathe upon your face/Feel us shift, every move we trace/Hunt you down without mercy/ Hunt you down all nightmare long.”
This article appears in Sep 17-23, 2008.
