"I have put a lot of thought into this." says All That Remains frontman Phil Labonte during a recent interview with the Breaking the Ice podcast. Labonte pontificated on the comparisons between two bands that usually don't get compared – Metallica and Nickelback.
Namely, Labonte feels like sonically, Nickelback can be compared to any song on Metallica's Load or ReLoad. Labonte says:
“I wanna point one thing out about Nickelback that I think a lot of people know but they don’t realize they know it. Nickelback records are Metallica’s ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ sonically. If you listen to Nickelback records and you listen to Metallica’s ‘Load’ and ‘Reload,’ almost any of the Nickelback songs could go on ‘Load’ or ‘Reload,’ and almost any of the songs on ‘Load’ or ‘Reload’ could go on a Nickelback record. And just get James Hetfield to sing the stuff on a Nickelback record or vice versa, and you would not know the difference. And THAT IS NOT A CRITICISM — that is not a criticism.
“I have put a lot of thought into this. Sonically, those records are very, very close. The tones that they select, the kick drums, the drum tones… And listerally, at the time at least, they were the pinnacle of audio quality when it comes to production; there’s not records that sound better than those that came out in the same era. And the songs are all phenomenally crafted songs. So me saying that is not me shitting on ‘Load’ and ‘Reload’ or Nickelback. I just think that they literally have so many similarities that most of the songs — maybe there’s a couple that wouldn’t work, but the vast majority of them would be interchangeable and you’d be okay with it if you had James Hetfield singing [the Nickelback material].”
“Nickelback could ABSOLUTELY do ‘Fuel’ on any Nickelback record and people would be, like, ‘Fuck yeah!’ They would still be jamming along, bobbing their head, being like, ‘Yeah, I kind of dig this song. I like it.’ They’re good songs, and they’re very close. I’m telling you. I fully believe this.”
Well, I'm glad somebody fully believes this theory because I just don't hear it. Plus, there are some bangers on the Load/ReLoad era that Nickelback can't really touch. But, it's funny that Labonte does not mean this as an insult to either band but rather a compliment. Not sure many fans are going to read it that way.
