One of the things that makes Metallica great is that they understand that music is about the rhythm. I respect them from afar, since heavy metal music rarely does anything for me. But I can see why this group is a standout in their field. Their distinctive rhythms really get the body moving in a genre where rhythm is often considered a second-class vocation.
Rock music lost its rhythmic centerpiece in the late 70s. It became increasingly about the melody and the intensity, but lost the groove. Look at all the hair bands of the 80s and on through heavy metal music, and you can see this trend. People today may find it hard to believe that the driving beat was the foundation of rock and roll, not guitar solos or soaring vocals. It had a beat that moved your body.
When you lose the rhythm as the focal point, it leaves you without your primary palette to work on. Without rhythm, your music is like a body without a skeleton--just a pile of flesh and chords on the floor (the manager of Goose Acres Music in Cleveland once told me that).
Without rhythm, the only way to communicate strong emotions (or any emotions at all) is to simply play louder and faster. Harder. Heavier. You have to be more sensational than the last time. There are no other options. This can be fun for a while, but it is a trap. You get put into a box where your only tools for communicating emotion is loudness and speed. There is a limit to how loud and fast you can play, and it doesn't take long to find that apex. It is also incredibly burdensome to be forced to play this way all the time.
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