Liverpool Sound and Vision Rating * * * *

When the band were fresh faced and riding on the high of three hugely successful, and later considered dramatically influential, albums, Metallica could do no wrong, they were the epitome of the new breed of American Heavy Metal that had come to teach the cousins on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean that they had had their time in the sun and now was the time for the San Francisco Bay to become the epicentre of this new home, this heavier and demanding sound that struck gracious fear into those that lived and told the tale of the four horsemen of the hammer, anvil and foundry apocalypse.

Tragedy strikes when you least expect it, the tragic loss of Cliff Burton has been much documented, discussed and grieved upon, it is what came after that truly is the point when looking back at the months and decade after, the inclusion of Jason Newsted in the band, the days when The $5.98 E.P: Garage Days Re-Revisited was the first and only insight into what the band would go on to achieve and possibly the fall out to come, the requirement to become the biggest band on the planet, a desire born and followed through, and the inevitable downslide into the mess that some argue was inevitable after the absolute domineering presence of 1991’s Metallica album.

When you reach the top, it is impossible to stay there, even Elvis’s popularity eventually declined after all but in The $5.98 E.P: Garage Days Re-Revisited re-release what is clear is the struggle to come to terms with such loss, that inviting the talented Mr. Newsted into the band that was still essentially grieving for the loss of a band mate and a friend, that by throwing themselves straight into jamming sessions, the choice perhaps of old favourites of the band such as Diamond Head, Budgie and the exceptional Misfits and their brutally pure track Last Caress, was one in which the idea of conquering the world first was properly laid down.

It is a revealing set of songs to look back at from almost 30 years and an E.P. in which it is timely to remember that the band were, in the days before global success took them by the hand, the group in which you felt like you still possessed a secret hold over, the garage band of old and which would listen to outside as your bike engines purred along gently alongside with.

Whether in Helpless, The Small Hours, The Wait, Crash Course In Brain Surgery or the tremendous Last Caress/Green Hell, Metallica knew how to rage and this E.P. now reissued, is the perfect gate of opportunity between the days of the albums Masters Of Puppets and …And Justice For All, the meeting of two eras, the memory and grief rolled together in a wave of perfect raw music anger.

A tantalising re-issue, the memory of what was before the global success arguably took the band away from the fans who had listened patiently at the garage door.

Ian D. Hall