bmus1

This is also just for the actual distribution. Knowing GNR, I’d bet their contracts are written in a way that requires weeks of confirmations from various parties.

Wow that’s great. I think if that was what the final version was like, the complaints would be more negative towards vocals than the whole song, if anything. That intro really helps you appreciate the instrumental. When the full band kicks in, it’s 😍😍😍

Scraped might be their worst produced song in the discography, even with The General’s clipping. The synthesized elements do sound intentional and not placeholder though, you’re right. Interested to finally hear an official version one day.

Monsters sounds super unfinished after listening really closely. Drum machines, synthetic vocals, and sloppy guitar galore.

Tonto doesn’t get enough love around here for its completedness. I feel like that one could’ve had vocals done in the 2004/Soul Monster era considering the level it was brought to instrumentally.

Love to see Duff taking inspiration from the new GNR singles.

What an F'n solo.

I’ve been thinking the opposite lately, I think it’s actually all Fortus. Slash’s playing hasn’t been that delicate and low gain in any of the other new singles. It sounds more like two Fortus takes blending into each other a la Street of Dreams. what is making you think all Slash?

Yes. No. Metallica actually released an album!

Yup exactly. I’m assuming this was done pretty quietly to avoid Metallica admitting they fucked up, but I hope they quietly release the new masters on other services eventually.

Not true for The General but this is true sometimes. Death Magnetic had to be remastered without clipping for Apple Music, but all other streaming services still have the original.

People want their favorite band to sound good for an entire show.

My guy this is an insane hill to die on. What you’re describing is fidelity, not different mixes. Sure yes, the leak and the official version sound different and have certain layers slightly clearer. Again, this is because it’s a lossy copy of the final file. The only way to theoretically achieve the actual sound of the leak on streaming services is to take the lossy ass leak and re-encode it to become a 24-bit WAV, intentionally crushing the data of the file. All because the mix sounds so bad, less data = better sound

I wonder if the leaked General/Monsters was some sort of final proof for the Beltrami camp. That use case might make sense to consolidate it into one file? But that thinking makes Seven/Thyme unlikely anytime soon.

Yeah if you rip The General from YouTube and convert it to something shitty like a 128kbps MP3 it’ll sound like the leak.

Can anyone help me out with a listen?

Supposedly yes. The clipping was the other theory but clearly that's wrong now.

It's mostly because of Monsters, but I'll admit I still listen to the leak more than the official version

That being said, don't go look for something you can't hear! Lol, picking these things out always ends up being more of a curse than a blessing. Looking at you, John Bonham's squeaky kick drum.

I think it's because the high end was so lacking on the leak, and that's where a lot of the clipping on the kick drum is. It's not a low-end thumpy clipping, it's a lot of very high-end popping on kick hits, especially in that last chorus. You can hear where they are in both versions, but they stick out way more in the released version.

Yes it did.

Girl have you heard of having a job

Yeah a lot of these comments are forgetting the hype was made a lot bigger because of the parts of Monsters that were attributed to The General. Monsters is definitely one of the stronger ones out of the 5, and could beat out Atlas as the next single's hypothetical A-side imo

Agreed! Call me crazy too, but the shitty mix was complimented by the overdriven, lossier quality leak lol I've only listened on YouTube, but on there it feels thinner like Hard Skool does compared to the leaks. Sonically there's obviously no comparison that the leak is horrible quality, but given how clippy and aggressive the drums sound, it kind of works better.

If verse 1 and 2 are going to be the same thing, they at least could've peeled back some of the layers on one of them so they weren't the SAME thing twice. I'm also thinking that because I'd love to hear the verse a little less muddied up by all of those vocal parts.