‘I Couldn’t Relate to Metallica’s Early Stuff’: Black Sabbath’s Geezer Butler Shares Opinion on ‘The Black Album’

“Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ was a massive album in 1986, but I was more likely to be listening to soul or jazz”, Geezer writes in his memoirs.

Geezer Butler expressed his love for Metallica’s self-titled bestseller, a.k.a “The Black Album”, admitting he couldn’t “relate” to the thrash giants’ previous works.

We all know how amazing and influential “Kill ‘Em All”, “Ride the Lightning”, and “Master of Puppets” are, and many die-hard fans argued that, following another slice of heaviness in the form of “…And Justice for All”, the “Black Album” began a shift away from the sound that made Metallica so well loved in the first place.

On the other hand, one of metal’s founding fathers says he wasn’t much interested in what Lars Ulrich & Co. were doing before the album that gave us “Enter Sandman” and “Nothing Else Matters”.

The Black Sabbath bassist & primary lyricist wrote in his recently published memoirs:

“The modern metal bands had nothing to do with the sound Sabbath had apparently invented… Metallica’s ‘Master of Puppets’ was a massive album in 1986, but I was more likely to be listening to soul or jazz.”

Apparently, the “Black Album” impressed him so much that, as Loudwire notes, Geezer writes it restored his faith in rock ‘n’ roll.

Geezer expanded on the impressions written down in “Into the Void” during a recent interview on Loudwire Nights, where he sang high praises of the album that took Metallica to another level of mainstream recognition:

“I thought the riffs were great, great riffs. I always thought, ‘God, I wish I had written that.’

“It’s just really good riffs and something I could relate to. I couldn’t really relate to their earlier stuff.

“I mean, a lot of people think the earlier stuff is the true Metallica, but it didn’t really appeal much to me. But when the ‘Black Album’ came out, it felt more appealing to my taste.”

He added:

“[It was] one of the few metal albums I could listen to from beginning to end. I really enjoyed listening to it.

“There are very few albums of any genre that I can listen to from track one to the end. It’s one of those albums that I could listen to the whole thing and I’m really impressed with it.”

“Into the Void” is out now.