The Metallica Vinyl Club got off to a rough start. After things kicked off at the start of 2020 the world kind fell apart and the subscription saw a number of problems and delays as it tried to get rolling. The four records were supposed to be sent over a year long period, but ended up being stretched out for around a year and a half. So far the 2022 subscription seems to be on target, so I'm hopeful that things continue to run smoothly for the rest of the year.
2020 had everyone locked down, and bands were trying to find creative ways to stay busy. A number of bands did some live Zoom recordings with each member playing remotely. It was pretty cool to see bands getting loose and just having a good time. Metallica wasn't content to just jam out one of their songs. Nope, they had to completely rework one and put a new spin on it. Honestly, I had zero interest in Metallica's acoustic version of Blackened and stayed right the fuck away from the video when it was posted to YouTube. Fuck that. So, I was less than stoked to discover that this song was going to be the first record from the Metallica Vinyl Club in 2022.
I have no problem in being proven wrong, and that was definitely the case here. I don't know why I was so hesitant to this version of Blackened, because I've always been entertained by Metallica's live acoustic stuff. In any case, while I went into this song fully expecting to hate it, by the end of the song, I was fully fucking impressed. I don't know how often I'll need to listen to this, but they still did a hell of a job reworking this song. Over on the b-side, we get a live version of Blackened 2020, plus a live cover of the Alice In Chains song Would. I typically really enjoy Metallica covers, but this Alice In Chains song is kind of underwhelming... but then again, I'm not a fan of AIC, so I guess that is to be expected.
As with all the Metallica Vinyl Club releases, the packaging and presentation has been top notch. This release also includes a turntable slip mat, which I'll never use, but is still kind of cool anyway.
Records released through the Vinyl Club are only available to those that have signed up for the subscription, and the purpose is to give the fans some Metallica songs that have never been pressed to vinyl. The only change for this year was that records would be 12 inches instead of the 7 inch format. Metallica songs tend to run a little long, so they figured that the 12 inch format allowed them a bit more flexiblity with better sound quality.
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