Back to the good ol’ days of hard rock

ERNEST JASMIN; THE NEWS TRIBUNE
Last updated: November 28th, 2008 12:26 AM (PST)

And then there are those veteran outfits you want to keep it simple. Their sound is classic. You’ve enjoyed it for years, and mucking around with the formula only ruins the experience for you.

AC/DC and Metallica are bands of the latter ilk. Both are back with new albums that recall their rowdy ’80s heydays, and both will inspire much head-banging among their Puget Sound faithful in the days to come. AC/DC drops in on the Tacoma Dome on Sunday night and Metallica headlines Seattle’s KeyArena on Monday.

While Australia has bestowed us with many wonderful gifts over the years – Fosters, the Croc Hunter, “Mad Max”-era Mel Gibson, before he got all boozy and anti-Semitic – AC/DC is the Land Down Under’s greatest contribution to life as we know it.

And with last month’s “Black Ice” album, rock’s most party-hearty, double-entendre-wielding geezers picked up right where they left off. It’s as if they’ve been encased in carbonite since 2000’s “Stiff Upper Lip.”

Scratch that. “Black Ice” actually sounds as if it could have been recorded in the early ’80s. Cynical formula, maybe; since even the album’s title seems calculated to recall 1980’s high-water mark, “Back in Black.” But so what? From the opening riff of “Rock N’ Roll Train,” Angus Young’s compellingly channels “You Shook Me All Night Long”-style goodness. And at 61, Brian Johnson will still pump you up with his rawhide howl.

Check this week’s cover story for more on just how little those guys have evolved over the years (and why that’s a good thing). But Metallica, on the other hand, took the better part of two decades before getting back to thrash basics.

Sure, they’ve remained a chart-topping brand since 1991’s self-titled “black album.” But they’ve tested fans aplenty, first with a slower, slicker cross-over sound that made them MTV superstars; then with the bombastic symphonic experiment of 1999’s live album, “S&M”; and worst, with those awful, tin can drums and therapy session lyrics of 2003’s “St. Anger.”

But with September’s “Death Magnetic,” the Rolling Stones of metal finally returned to the formula that got them there in the first place; namely, sprawling guitar epics played at blistering tempos, with halcyon melodies smashed to bits by jarring, 100-megaton guitar blasts.

And the fans I met en route to their Nov. 1 show at Portland’s Rose Garden Arena echoed the same sentiment: It’s about time.

“The music on the new album is fantastic,” said Eric Schnabel, 35, of Puyallup, who took the train to the Portland show with wife, Jennifer. “It’s not like the ‘Kill ’Em All’ album. That was really, really fast and raw. But it’s probably like ‘Master of Puppets.’”

Doug Grosjacques agreed. The 30-year-old Portland resident has been a Metallica diehard since middle school.

“I play the guitar, so I appreciate good guitar playing,” he said. “A lot of their songs had some really technical stuff in ’em. And it’s better than everything that was out there at the time. It just makes you wanna get nuts and go crazy.”

Twenty-five years after it debuted with “Kill ’Em All,” the Metallica crew seems especially mindful of its legacy. The Portland set list was chock-full of many of thrash classics, like “One,” “Master of Puppets,” “Fight Fire with Fire,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and set closer “Seek & Destroy.” And some of the new songs, notably “That Was Just Your Life” and “End of the Line,” sounded like B-sides from 1988.

Also noteworthy was the way the band seemed to consciously steer clear of the last hit-or-miss decade of music. If you go Monday night, see if they don’t repeat a miscue from the Portland show (which I’m guessing was actually a rehearsed part of the show). In Stumptown, the band launched into one of its ’90s hits before front man James Hetfield called it off. “We did that on the ‘Load’ tour,” he said. “Let’s do something new.”

Metallica seemed energized, and it was good to see them having so much fun after the near breakup depicted in the rockumentary “Some Kind of Monster” a few years back.

But there was something weird and mildly disturbing about the show, too. When I hit the concession stand, I noticed that everyone seemed to be 38 or 14; aging Gen-Xers, sporting shaggy, salt-and-pepper goatees, rubbing elbows with baby-faced kids in Slayer tees.

Could it be? Have Metallica shows become the same sort of father-son rock bonding experience as, say, the Stones? That is just too weird. And I officially feel old now.

Ernest A. Jasmin: 253-274-7389

Originally published: November 28th, 2008 12:26 AM (PST)