NICKELBACK Bassist Says It’s A ‘Compliment’ Being Compared To METALLICA

Metallica Nickelback

Earlier this month, ALL THAT REMAINS frontman Phil Labonte talked about METALLICA and NICKELBACK, noting that metal giants’ ’90s Load and Reload era sounded pretty similar to the Canadian hard rock act.

Labonte said: “I want to 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.

“Just get James Hetfield to sing the stuff on a NICKELBACK record or vice versa, and you would not know the difference,” he continued. “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,” Labonte added. “The tones that they select, the kick drums, the drum tones… And literally — at the time, at least – they were the pinnacle of audio quality when it comes to production.

Now, NICKELBACK bassist Mike Kroeger says that it’s a “compliment” being compared to METALLICA.

Kroeger said on 95.5 KLOS (hear audio below): “I read [what Phil had to say]. I’m a fan of their band [ALL THAT REMAINS]. I guess it’s a compliment. I don’t think that’s anything negative, really. I’ll take that as a compliment, for sure.”

“It just seems to be, I think, one of those cases where familiarity breeds contempt,” he continued. “This thing didn’t come out of nowhere, so I feel like that’s probably what it is. People became so familiar, or felt like they became so familiar with our band that they had to start throwing shade at it, I guess.

“Everybody knows from our time that this happened to BON JOVI at the highest part of their career, it happened to METALLICA at the highest point in their career. So I guess it’s a good sign.”