St. Anger

St. Anger is the eighth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on June 5, 2003 by Elektra Records. It was the band's last album released through Elektra, thus marking the end of the second-longest timespan between studio albums from Metallica, with nearly six years between the release of Reload and this album. It is also the final collaboration between Metallica and producer Bob Rock, whose relationship began with the band's fifth studio album, 1991's Metallica. St. Anger was originally intended for release on June 10, 2003, but was released five days earlier due to concerns over unlicensed distribution through peer-to-peer file sharing networks. The St. Anger sessions also mark the only time Rock actually played when the music was being recorded, filling in for the departed bassist Jason Newsted.

Newsted left the band prior to the initial sessions for the album, leaving Rock to temporarily take his place until a permanent replacement could be found. Recording of the album initially started on April 23, 2001, but was postponed indefinitely when rhythm guitarist and singer James Hetfield entered rehab for "alcoholism and other addictions". St. Anger is often recognized for being a radical musical departure from Metallica's earlier work; it features a modern heavy metal style, raw production, and no guitar solos. The artwork was created by Pushead, who had previously collaborated with the band.

St. Anger (song)

"St. Anger" is a song by American heavy metal group Metallica. It was released in June 2003 as the lead single from their eighth studio album of the same name. It won Best Metal Performance at the 46th Grammy Awards and was also nominated for Best Rock Video at the 2003 MTV Video Music Awards, but lost to Somewhere I Belong by Linkin Park.

This song provided the theme for WWE's SummerSlam 2003; the music video was also included in the pay-per-view DVD.

The lyric "Fuck it all and fuckin' no regrets, I hit the lights on these dark sets" may be a reference to two other Metallica songs, "Damage, Inc." (Master of Puppets) and "Hit the Lights" (Kill 'Em All).

Music video

The "St. Anger" video, directed by The Malloys, was shot in San Quentin State Prison, California. The band played at various locations in the area to hundreds of enthusiastic inmates. It is also the first Metallica video to feature bassist Robert Trujillo who joined just prior to filming.

The video begins with Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich starting the beat saying "En, to, tre, fire!" (taken from the live in studio performance of "The Unnamed Feeling") which translated from Danish means "One, two, three, four!" At the end of the video there's the sentence: "For all the souls impacted by San Quentin, your spirit will forever be a part of Metallica."