Composition: 2 Memorability: 3 Emotional Response: 3 Instrumentation: 2 Lyrics: 3 Overall Score: 13 Rank: 70 Tied with 72 Seasons Just above Fixxxer, Mama Said, and Lords of Summer Just below Jump in the Fire, Confusion, and The Thing That Should Not Be "Sleepwalk My Life Away" is standard fare Metallica: Verse-Chorus-Verse-Chorus-Solo-Chorus. While there is a pre-chorus each time, it isn't enough of a structural change to stand out from the 126 others. The instrumentation isn't very complex, but it's effective. The real stars of the show-as with most of the songs on this record-are James' vocals and lyrics. A few memorable melodies bump it up in both Memorability and Emotional Response, bringing it to a comfortable 70.

I always want to sing, "Show. Your. Scars." during the verses after the first lines.

I’m looking forward to seeing you react to Crown of Barbed Wire which is my favourite song on the album, and Room of Mirrors, which is the most creative, innovative song they’ve written in a long time and is certainly the best song in the album as a whole.

Welcome back! I hope all is well!😁 I do agree that the song's simplicity is its strength, like many of its predecessors (Enter Sandman, For Whom The Bell Tolls, Until It Sleeps, etc). Admittedly, beyond the bass intro, structurally, it is a simple and familiar formula, but it is still solid. Any song, let alone a Metallica song, does NOT have to be mind-bendingly instrumentally complicated (like Puppets or Justice-level) to be awesome. First off, THAT BASS! I think this is the loudest/most prominent the bass guitar has been in a Metallica album since Ride The Lightning. It would have been nice if the bass intro came back at some point in the song, but it is still really good. James's vocals really are stellar compared to Hardwired. I really liked the slow half-time riff after the solo, as it felt very 'woozy' or 'confused', barely conscious, and struggling to stay awake. The slow-down at the end was also very powerful. The solo was one of the better solos on this album, though Kirk is capable of more memorable ones. I do want to call out Lars's tom hits in the third pre-chorus, as they nicely illustrate someone repeatedly falling down, like when one is sleepwalking, but the falls do nothing to break their trance. At surface-level, I guess the song could just be about allowing life to slip away due to some drink, drugs, or other vice. But I personally think this song is about age, becoming physically and mentally slower than you once were, and feeling a growing disconnect between your body and mind. "Take a deep, waking breath, hope the blood will rise" could be talking about needing more energy to do what were once basic and easy tasks in your youth. "Strong is past desire" seems to agree with that, as you were once strong, but now, your strength is the past, no longer with you. It could also be talking about losing your ability to remember names and places, potentially due to Alzheimer's, hence "shouting out at the shapes of the nameless no ones", and it could mental "fog" you are trying to work through. The slow-down at the end painted a picture of someone walking down a street, mentally crying out "wake me!", while their body blindly lumbers around on autopilot, doomed to stumble through life for the rest of their days. The population is ageing, and this song really does highlight the scary thought of mentally/physically slowing down, so life becomes a repetitive, hazy, and increasingly difficult struggle. C: 3 M: 3 E.R: 3 I: 3 L: 3 Score: 15/20

Love the heaviness right after Kirk's solo, gives me goosebumps.

Guess who’s back, back again

Glad youre doing these, wanted to hear your take on this album. I think its great, possibly better than Death Magnetic....cant really tell lol

I really like that album, listen to it regularly and my kids love it too!!!

Oh i thought it was an april fools video again. Welcome back dudeee

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Intentionally posted on March 31st for that reason. I was tempted to Rick Roll again though… 😂

Ayy, I didn't think you'd continue this. Nice to have you back at it.

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Incomplete projects haunt me on the daily. I *need* to finish it!

@koutilyakaramala8702

3 ай бұрын

@@MidnightNotion On that note, you had also announced a project of sharing every song you wrote.

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

The first song from that series has been re-recorded about a bajillion times. Turns out I hate the way my voice sounds on it, so I’ve been spending some time away from it. After 72 Seasons is done, I’ll give it another try.

prechorus vocals remind me of STP

Glad that you’re back! I am your big fan! How are you? Hope you’re doing great

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Glad to be back! I’m doing well! Keeping busy, but in a good way.

@DududkaB

3 ай бұрын

@@MidnightNotionWonderful! Lots of luck!

Wow I’ve been waiting for this for a long time, awesome to be back Personally I like the song and think it’s good but it’s definitely not my favorite and it may be the song on the album I like this least. Vocals are definitely the standout, especially the verses and chorus for me, and the intro is cool (wish it had a bit more of a build though) but instrumentally and in terms of riffs nothing really stands out for me about this track. I like them but in the grand scheme of Metallica I think it’s below average for them, and since the middle section is quite long and just variations on the verse riff it kinda drags for me. Solo is solid and pretty good for modern Kirk but as you said nothing standout. Overall the solos on this album are much better than hardwired I feel and i think pretty much all of them are pretty good at worst even if he’s not like what he was on the first 5 albums. Pre chorus isn’t really my thing too much either personally but hey, that’s fine and I don’t really have a problem with the song and if someone else loves it. And yes I made it the whole way and I’m seeing them live for the first time in August (going to both nights) so im incredibly excited for that

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Nice! Where are you seeing them?

@Loris71734

3 ай бұрын

@@MidnightNotion Foxborough!

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Nice! I’m excited for you to finally see them live!

wow i really sniped the upload schedule with my comment yesterday 😂

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

Great work! 😆

Please do inamorata pls pls pls pls

@MidnightNotion

3 ай бұрын

I will! Going in order for now, but I will.