METALLICA — The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited (review)

METALLICA — The $5.98 E.P.: Garage Days Re-Revisited album cover

EP · 1987 · Thrash Metal

5/5 · 2016-03-24
Vim Fuego

Putting the five tracks from ‘Garage Days Re-Revisited’ onto ‘Garage Inc.’ was the last decent thing Metallica did for their fans. ‘Garage Inc.’ is basically an extended version of this EP, and includes much of the material there was no room for on the 1987 release and some versions of the original ‘Garage Days Re-Revisited’ contained only four tracks. While purists and collectors whine about their original mint condition vinyl copies of this much sought after covers EP being devalued, the rest of us can fully appreciate this recording for what it is - one of the great bands in metal fucking about, fucking up and having fun.

Metallica needed a break from touring after losing bass legend Cliff Burton in a bus accident in 1986, but when they were due to enter the studio to start recording album number four, James Hetfield broke his arm skateboarding. While Hetfield recovered, the band messed around playing covers in a converted garage. The band decided to record a few of them to introduce the world to Burton’s replacement Jason Newsted, and threw together this EP in six spontaneous, fun filled days.

From the moment “Helpless” kicks off, it’s apparent this is like no other Metallica album. Gone are the slick, clean studio production values of ‘Master of Puppets’. Hetfield’s famous rhythm guitar holds a fuzzier, less distinct tone than usual. Lars Ulrich’s drums sound spontaneous, and you can almost see the grin on his impish face as he flails away at the cymbals and hammers his kick drums. Kirk Hammet’s solo in the song differs from his usual fare, following the NWOBHM feel of the Diamond Head original. Jason “Newkid” is allowed some room to play a little, and pulls off a nice bass run a couple of minutes into the song. The song fades out, then back in again, as no one seems quite sure where to finish the song, in a gloriously sloppy finale.

“The Small Hours”, originally by Holocaust, has a darker, almost doomy feel to it. The main riff however, sounds like pure Metallica, a perfectly example of where the band found inspiration. The song builds and progresses through several riffs, like much of Metallica’s material from ‘Ride The Lightning’ onwards.

The cover of Killing Joke’s “The Wait” is more of an oddity. It is completely unlike the band had ever recorded before. The distorted vocals, almost mechanical percussion, and the robotic, staccato rhythm guitar are far removed from Metallica’s more organic sound, but perhaps hinted at the dry, precise direction the band were to take on ‘…And Justice For All’.

On Budgie’s groove laden “Crash Course In Brain Surgery”, Metallica were not keen on the mellow middle section, so replaced it with a drunken chorus of shouting and whooping.

The double hit of “Last Caress/Green Hell”, originally by The Misfits, shows where the spit and fury of ‘Kill ‘Em All’ came from. The deliberately offensive and decidedly dodgy lyrics were far removed from anything Metallica had ever written, but the song gave the band a chance to thrash about carefree. The Misfits were one of Cliff Burton’s favourite bands (apparently Dave Mustaine had never heard of them before meeting Burton), and the dodgy Misfits tattoo on his arm was one of his trademarks, so it was a bit of a tribute to him too. The tuneless intro to Iron Maiden’s “Run To The Hills” at the end of the song perfectly captures the spontaneous spirit of this EP.

Much of “Garage Days Re-Revisited” is poorly executed by Metallica’s exacting standards, but to this day it is a firm favourite of Metal fans the world over because of it’s spontaneity and the way it captures Metallica’s now long lost original spirit.