Lou's really given up even trying to sing.

I don't mind Lou . What really bugs me is the overuse of the cymbals. I find them really annoying and think the song would be much better without them

You mean the one that goes SMASH SMASH SMASH on every beat like it was programmed? Programmed by a lemur?

Without even hearing the song, my favorite review of the album is from Twitter: "New Metallica/Lou Reed is like listening to your grandfather yell at you at the laundromat."

I'm going to represses the memory of having heard this.

The first time I heard it, I felt I was in the middle of a beatnik coffee shop listening to a poetry reading with musical backing. That is not necessarily a good thing nor bad; it just is. This song is better than I expected, but not something I am going to play repeatedly. If Lou wrote all the lyrics, I'll give the whole thing a chance, but if Hetfield wrote his own lines, my interest flags.

I want to like Lou Reed more than I actually do. I used to listen to "Growing Up In Public" a lot. I listened to some of the Velvets stuff (Sister Ray, etc). I went to see him in Portland in the late '90s and came out thinking I'd be deaf forever. Seriously I think I lost a few dBs that night.

I kind of like this. I can channel it to my inner 17 year old Black Sabbath loving days. I'd listen to the rest of the album if I had the chance. But really, I could do without the dark lyrics.

I like the sound of Lou's voice more than ever, as age has mellowed it in just the right way. I'd love to hear this recitation of his with an entirely different sort of backing track, as I find this stuff utterly boring. Eyes-glaze-over boring. And honestly, kind of embarrassing: that kind of metal is just so pointless and empty, IMO. It says nothing. And since Reed's spoken rhythm has essentially no connection to the backing track (apart from their just happening at the same time) just about anything else could work, and work better. Like some Morroccan Gnawa stuff, for example. That'd be badass.

Metallica should be ashamed of themselves, but everyone knows they have no shame ;)

I generally like Metallica, but I don't like this. I lack the musical vocabulary to properly explain why not, so I'll just say it feels like it never gets its act together and decides what the tune is.