Death Magnetic

Imagine trying out a new drink at a bar ... only to not find it again because it has been discontinued, but then realizing that that same drink has been rereleased, and the liquor store stocks it again. This is the feeling I felt when I played Death Magnetic, being someone who still listens to the first three Metallica releases. I must say, I was unprepared for the onslaught I experienced. This was the old-school thrash metal sound that we have been wanting Metallica to reproduce, and oh how sweet the punch! There are a few things that I think are worth mentioning,

Firstly, the guitar work is the most notable thing from the onset. This album begins with "That Was Just Your Life" with a pretty eerie and ominous acoustic intro, only to be welcomed by thrash-riffs that eventually speed up an old-school guitar work one would expect from Slayer or Anthrax. I am honestly in shock after listening to this album, because it makes me wonder why St. Anger was ever a period in this band's history. Maybe laziness? I don't know, but these thrash and speed riffs permeate this entire album. They even contain early American groove-thrash elements like in "My Apocalypse." This album alternates between thrash riffs and riffs that border on pre-death Slayer-esque riffs, notable examples of that can be seen in "The End of the Line," and "Suicide & Redemption." The bass in this album was also nicely integrated balancing the guitar experience.

Second, the drumming is close to perfection. I feared after two songs into this album that it'd suffer from what I call the "Trivium-effect," that is overpolished records that are so perfect that they detract from the experience. When an artist doesn't allow for raw pummelling and blast beats and focuses on pristine deliverance, it's almost a sure indication that you're listening to a drum machine. The fact that this album gets the rawness right, especially in comparison with "Kill 'Em All," "Ride The Lightning" and "Master of Puppets," has clean enough production but not so much that one stands in suspicion of it being an edited album. Furthermore, the annoying "pots and pans" drumming from St. Anger was removed, in the spirit of a continuation of the epic drumming onslaught we heard in the majestic prime of Metallica's career. Well done guys!

Third, the singing on this album was pretty solid. Hetfield alternates between your classical hard-rock vocals, the hardcore-thrash singing, and "Southern" country rock type singing. It blends quite well, and Hetfield's delivery is pretty sick, full of passion. You can clean hear him putting his heart and lungs into the execution of his vocals. Is it the same as their initial deliverance? Well, one could argue it is, but I feel that his voice has gone through a bit of maturation in terms of how he balances his vocal techniques. In songs like "The Unforgiven III," one hears a Southern rock combination with NWOBH-type vocals. Songs like "That Was Just Your Life" contain more of an aggressive hardcore shouting form of vocals. Damn, it's quite epic!

Fourth, the overall coherence of this album is dope. The album cover is pretty solid, and very appropriate for a 2000s metal album. This is a thrash metal album that should be played again, especially since this is Metallica's "return to glory" album. Love it!

If you haven't listened to Metallica's "Death Magnetic" release, and you want something good that is not solely focused on the "old" song of Metallica. This is new enough for it to rock your world, without breaking continuity with the Metallica sound we all love!

Remember that thing about the discourse around Metallica always being on whether or not they made a thrash metal record or not since the classic run? If there is one that we can say achieves this in full form, being completely honest with ourselves, this is it. Make no mistake, it’s sheerly a coincidence that this is the only record by the Bay Area veterans that holds that title while also being the only one I would call great; very little of this review is going to be about its thrashiness. Why? Because at the end of the day, what matters is the songwriting, and this is their only disc since Load that I only have minor complaints about and no others. Continuing the trend of releasing albums beyond the hour length, Death Magnetic is, in my eyes, the truest realization of something that could sequentially follow And Justice For All in complexity, style, hookiness, and attitude. The only real difference is that by 2008, the music was divorced from the angry youth sensations that their early efforts had. That, and the musicianship doesn’t quite lean into the more technical chops that boosted the 1988 masterpiece.

However, the repetition factor is still utilized wonderfully, and only really oversteps its welcome here and there. Many of the tracks take on the repetitive riff style due to the sheer fact that they’re super catchy and lay explosive groundwork to build superior songs off of. I would argue that “Broken, Beat & Scarred” uses rhythmic fills better than just about any song James and co. did prior, particularly with those rigorous jumps between Kirk’s fret-happy, screaming lead guitar bursts in the solo. A few spots do over do this, such as the obligatory instrumental “Suicide & Redepmtion,” one that would have been just fine cut in half, as well as “The End Of The Line.” Even that one is still structurally sound, but little effect was added from its repetitive nature.

On the other hand, suspense is pulled off in a masterful fashion, staying away from repetition; the combination of both approaches truly aided this album significantly. Opener “That Was Just Your Life” is a shining example, slowly introducing guitar passages over the beat of a heart. Moreover, the speed, clarity, and poetic flow of the vocals in the meat of the song make this one magnificent. The pre-chorus and chorus sync up like none other, and I really can’t think of a better way to open the album. To the opposite end, “The Unforgiven III” blows both of its predecessors out of the water (hot take, I know), laying down a mournful yet compelling piano lick that introduces suspense by gently placing clean guitars atop, under the same scope. And of course, we really can’t not mention “All Nightmare Long,” the bass heavy rager that shatters its security glass early on by jumping from steady rhythms into ballistic thrash driving. Like the record opener, the poetic flow on this one is ferocious and concise.

All that really leaves is the more straightforward tunes that didn’t deviate far from the thrash formula, but are boosted by loud production and refined energy. “Cyanide” is basically a classic at this point, known for its swift chorus repeated just the right amount of times. “The Judas Kiss” is like its inversion that lives on the same nutrients but channels them into angrier emotions, rather than unsettled ones; the same can be said about the closer “My Apocalypse” with its shorter runtime to send us off. If any song could have been cut, it’s “The Day That Never Comes,” only because there’s nothing on it that wasn’t achieved better in “The Unforgiven III.” The main riff feels like a “Fade To Back” rewrite, but I can’t pretend that I don’t hum this one as well, and its presence doesn’t take anything away.

Essentially, the only issue with Death Magnetic is that a few songs could have had some fat trimmed off for a sharper finished product. Had that happened, I’d likely place this alongside the ‘80s records in quality. Otherwise, it far surpasses anything Metallica has done in the last twenty-five years. The songwriting is memorable, explosive, emotional, and heavy. The loud production is not only clear, but boosts the refreshed energy that washes over the listener after five years of St. Anger being the latest. If nothing else, it’s one of the most fun Metallica efforts to talk about, and I’d be thrilled if they just put something this good out again.

Originally written for ToothAndNailed95.blogspot.com

Loudness War is a fucking plague. Yes, it's way worse than this COVID crap. It's been here ever since music became an element of popculture, or hell, even ealier. Companies demand their bands to sound louder than competition (as if it's a fucking race) and it hurts music that otherwise is awesome. And it's not even metal that ends up being the victim of that shit, pop artists and TV commercials are even more egregious. If you really think that 'Death Magnetic' is the only album that "lost" Loudness War, then do I have news for you - Slayer, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Megadeth, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Vader, Legion of the Damned, Running Wild, Grave Digger, Gamma Ray, Death Angel, Exodus, Cannibal Corpse, Dying Fetus, Motorhead, Accept - just to name a "few" that are constantly brickwalling their albums. And yes, you can still find declipped version from straight-from-vinyl rips or fan remasters (if someone bothers). But why would I have to do that? Why, oh why, do I have to look up some 24/192 version of albums on russian torrents to enjoy a good album without making my ears bleeding? Hell, sometimes it's not even possible - I still can't find 'Sons of the Jackal' rip that would actually had a high dynamic range. So there's also that.

And yes, 'Death Magnetic' is indeed the best Metallica album since 86'. God, that's been so long. I mean, I can say that because after few years I finally found a declipped version that doesn't sound muddled as fuck. Sure, Guitar Hero III version doesn't make my ears bleed, but as captain Price once said: "It's an improvement, but it's not hard to improve over garbage. Try again.". 'Death Magnetic' doesn't only mark the return to thrash roots of the 80s, but also to the successful formula that made 'Ride' and 'Master' such an engaging experience, even for people who may not like thrash (can't blame them, lot of modern acts turned it into a parody). We start with heavy and fast opener ('That Was Just Your Life'), on track 4 we get a ballad ('The Day That Never Comes'), we receive a spiritual successor of 'Disposable Heroes' on song number 5 ('All Nightmare Long'), and last two songs are instrumental and fast violent finisher ('Suicide & Redemption' and 'My Apocalypse' respectively). But just like 'Master of Puppets', the album makes its own spin on said formula - instead of title track, on song number 2 we receive mid-paced thrasher with somber moment after solo called 'The End of the Line' (okay, I guess it is a spiritual successor of 'Master of Puppets' song), track 3 is an positive thrash 'n' heavy rumble 'Broken, Beat & Scarred' and we receive a second ballad, which is kind of tradition since infamous 'Black Album'.

But this isn't all perfect, because of course it can't be. Okay, I am a bit suprised that Lars for once can keep the tempo (or that's just editing magic), although his fills are still unimaginative. Listen to what Chris Williams from Shrapnel or Paul Bostaph can produce, how people are still making excuses for Mr. Ulrich, I have no idea. It's even worse with Kirk. Despite forgettable solo in 'That Was Just Your Life', that 'Fight Fire with Fire'-ish guitar harmonic did raise my expectations for solos. Hell, maybe they can make up for those mediocre Kirk leads with some awesome harmonies like those? But... no. The only time the leads are getting good is 'All Nightmare Long', which of course is the best song on entire album. Other downsides, aside from shitty production, would be the instrumental itself, since it has 4 riffs at best and repeats them over and over. Would have been less irritating if those riffs were actually good (like in 'Call of Ktulu').

Also, were 2 ballads really necessary? I guess a spiritual sequel to 'One' was inevitable, but was THIRD 'Unforgiven' a good idea? Sure, the piano intro is cool, and it actually sounds like next 'Unforgiven' (unlike second one), but there's a good reason why we didn't get 'Trapped Under Ice II' or 'The Last Act of Defiance II' - sometimes you simply can't capture why original was so good. Or what about 'The End of the Line', did it really had to last for 8 minutes? And what's with 'Cyanide'? It has good ideas, but they simply don't work well together.
EDIT: Yes, I know Dave Mustaine made a sequel to 'Hangar 18' and it's actually good. Proving that it could be done right, since not only it's still sound like a second 'Hangar 18', but it also has its own identity. Meanwhile 'Unforgiven III' is just that - third rendition of 'Unforgiven'.

With all that being said, 'Death Magnetic' still marks a successful comeback to Metallica's glory days. While it plays on nostalgia quite much, I can't find other thrash or heavy metal bands that doesn't. Its biggest problem is, of course, production that apparently hates the target audience. It's good that people finally noticed there's an ongoing problem with CD releases. Too bad that they again stopped giving a shit instead of pressuring labels to treat its customers with some respect. Are metalheads really not caring about their hearing or good production?

I used to listen to Death Magnetic a lot in 2016 and I have a lot of good memories about it. That year was absolutely awful, and music was one of my few ways of escaping reality. For that reason, I may be a little biased towards it, and I may downplay some of its issues – the biggest problem (brace yourselves) is not the production, it’s just that the music is not very interesting, and at times, it even becomes frustrating. In Chile, we have a saying – “it lacks a gram to really be a kilo”. That’s how this album feels sometimes. There’s nothing detestable or indignantly shitty on it – it’s just that there are very little moments in which I can imagine myself listening to it for any reason other than nostalgia. I guess Vektor’s “Terminal Redux” set the bar impossibly high, but that’s a story for another day.

Metallica is a group of evidently talented musicians. I don’t find “Master Of Puppets” to be as fantastic as most people think it is (I prefer “…and Justice For All”), but I do acknowledge the fact that it is HUGELY influential, and most importantly, exceptionally creative and technical (Orion inspired me to pick up the guitar, after all). It is for this reason that I find Death Magnetic slightly irritating. The entire album feels rushed, even though it obviously wasn’t - I estimate that its writing took at least three or four years. I don’t wish to suggest that the riffing or the songwriting is underdeveloped or lazy; it’s just that Metallica can blatantly come up with something much more captivating and attention-grabbing.

I don’t think the production is a sonic abortion as many fans and outsiders alike seem to think it is. In fact, I find it decent – the guitars pack a heavy punch, the bass is sufficiently loud, and the drums are clear and crisp. What does perplex me is that the most popular and successful metal band of all time just cannot get their records produced well. The aforementioned “…and Justice For All” is too dry and trebly, “St. Anger” is “St. Anger”, and this one is unfortunately TOO LOUD. I don’t mean that in a literal sense; I’m listening to Death Magnetic at full volume as I write this, and I almost wish I could turn it up a tiny bit louder. I mean that whenever the band plays harshly or intensely (metal, anyone?) the sound becomes distorted as hell. Take literally any song off this record, listen to it, and you’ll realize that the sound is bafflingly inconsistent – everything is relatively normal, but when Lars hits a crash cymbal or James strums a power chord at the end of a riff, the grittiness of the sound will simply give you a headache. There’s a section on “All Nightmare Long” (‘cause we hunt you down without mercy!) where Lars continually rides on one of his crash cymbals, and I find that section to be a perfect example of what I’m talking about: the music gets more and more warped with every crash cymbal hit. Hell, even the intro shows this contrast – it begins with an acoustic guitar, and when the overdriven guitars come in, it all transforms into static.

Many people refer to the fact that the songs are “really long”. Well, they objectively are – the average song on this album is seven minutes long, and the instrumental track “Suicide & Redemption” is the most prolonged original song Metallica has ever recorded. However, I don’t find that to be something negative; the songs naturally evolve and develop through their running time. It feels like Metallica didn’t make these songs as long as they are for the sake of progressiveness or technicality; they simply are extensive because there are a lot of different ideas going on here, and it takes some time for them to flourish.

I wouldn’t refer to this as a pure thrash album. Sure, “That Was Just Your Life” is undiluted thrash, and the influences (it is very weird to talk of “influences” when referring to a band that helped establish the style) of said genre are undeniably present throughout the entire record, but the rest of it is simply heavy metal with a lot of 90’s-style groove thrown into it. “The Unforgiven III” is definitely the most evident display of experimentation here. It begins with a symphonic/acoustic passage and features a buildup (which is regrettably underwhelming) at around the five-minute mark. It’s the softest song on the album, and it works for that exact same reason – it’s unmistakably emotional. The vocal melodies during the main verses legitimately invoke sorrow and a devastating sense of bitterness and resentment. It’s not really enjoyable, but it works as a cog in the machine, so to speak. The riffs on “Suicide & Redemption” get seriously close to nu-metal territory with their heavy, rhythmic, and percussive qualities. The melodic interlude on that one does sound quite rushed – it’s simply boring, but I guess you must have a melodic interlude on a 10-minute song for the sake of variety.

I almost always listen to the albums I’m reviewing as I write, and in an intentionally inflammatory way, I expected this record to be more underwhelming and disappointing than I remembered (like I said in the beginning, it’s been a few years since I listened to it carefully). I have to say that I’m pleasantly surprised – it is an assuredly competent record. Sure, there’s a LOT of music out there that’s simply more memorable and congenial than this, but you could say the same thing about most art, couldn’t you?

Ah Metallica... probably as loved in the metal community as hated. Say what you want about these LA thrash legends but they sure know how create controversy. Started of as a barnstorming thrash metal machine, they helped reshaping the climate of heavy metal with all time-classics like "Ride The Lightning" and "Master Of Puppets". For many people (including me), their first 4-5 albums worked as a gateway into heavy metal, and I think it's safe to say that most of us at least owe James, Lars, Kirk, Cliff, Jason and Robert something for introducing us to heavier music.

Despite that, I think most of us can agree that Metallica has made some questionable decisions over the course of their soon to be 40-year old career. Starting with The Black Album in 1991, they started to incorporate more commercial elements to their music. This was a decision that still to this day divides their fanbase. No one can argue the importance of The Black Album. It made the general public aware of Metallica and broadened the general interest for heavy metal music. Many of the songs from the album are still being played to death on the radio and the album still remains one of the best-selling heavy metal albums of all time. However... for their longtime fans, The Black Album signaled a stylistic change that many weren't satisifed with. Terms like "posers" and "sell-outs" became more and more appearent, and that's a stamp that Metallica has lived with ever since.

It wasn't unjustified though. While The Black Album marked the beginning of their commercialization, it still had a lot of heavier elements and can at least be classified as a heavy metal album. It was with their following albums that their commercial approach really became obvious. With albums like "Load" and "ReLoad", Metallica started to incorporate styles that was popular at the time into their music, writing songs that stretched from blues to alternative rock to country. If the commercialization of the band wasn't obvious with The Black Album it definitely was now. The nail in the coffin then came when they released St Anger in 2002, one of the most controversial, infamous (and IMO worst) albums in heavy metal history. Metallica was really down the tubes at that time, and after sorting out their internal conflicts and personal issues, it was very pleasant to see this album, Death Magnetic, arrive in 2008.

To me this albums signals the comeback of Metallica. For the first time in years the band feels fresh, motivated and creative. This is in many ways a return to their thrash roots, containing songs that are fast, heavy, long and fairly advanced. It is filled to the core with memorable riffs, fantastic lead work from James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett and great songwriting. I know many longtime fans don't like this album and I can't understand why. This is in many ways a return to the style of music that they were playing in the ...And Justice For All days, and if this album had been released directly after that album, it would have felt like a natural musical step. I consider Death Magnetic to be the delayed follow-up to ...And Justice For All.

Songs like "That Was Just Your Life", "The End Of The Line", "Broken, Beat & Scarred" and "All Nightmare Long" delivers one great riff after another and gives me a feel of strength and motivation that I haven't got from this band since at least The Black Album. Finally Metallica makes me want to go out and lift a mountain again! You also get the obligatory power-ballad, "The Day That Never Comes", as track nr 4 and a streched out instrumental in "Suicide & Redemtion", which showcase the more creative and emotional side of Metallica. The fact that you get stuff like this really signals that this is a band returning to their roots since this were things that characterized their first 4-5 albums.

The albums isn't without it's flaws though. Some of the songs can drag a little bit more than what is justified. If songs like "Suicide & Redemtion", "The End Of The Line" and "The Judas Kiss", as great as they are, were trimmed down by 1-2-3 minutes, they would have left an even bigger impact and made the album even better. The most obvious problem is the production though. This album has been called a "loundess war" and rightfully so. The mix is very undynamic and compressed, making the album sound like a loud, disjointed mess. It's in fact very amateurish and that's a real shame. Considering how great the songs are, they definitely deserved a more professional and dynamic prodcution.

Despite the obvious production flaws and the fact that some of the songs could have been trimmed down a bit, Death Magnetic is still a very strong album that for me signaled the comeback of Metallica as we want them. The fact that some people don't like this album makes me feel that some people are very thick-headed and that the sour taste of Load, ReLoad and St. Anger still plauges ther mouths. This album doesn't deserve to be shitted on other than for the production. Except for that, this album is mostly stellar.

Metallica. What can be said about them that hasn't been said hundreds of times before? Arguably one of the few bands that has as many fans as they do detractors, their musical endeavours span nearly 4 decades at this point, with albums that are considered classics by many. From the violent thrashing of Kill 'Em All, to the slower hard rock they put out during the 90s, to the much-reviled St. Anger, they've done it all. Seeing though the reception to St. Anger, they decided to take a rather long break, and in 2008 they came back with Death Magnetic. It was at the time celebrated as a comeback by many an old fan and considered a return to the glory days of the band. In 2020 though, a long time after its release, I decided to write about it, free of any biases towards the music and the hype that surrounded it when it originally came out.

A slow heartbeat and an acoustic riff slowly build up anticipation, and "That Was Just Your Life" just starts blazing through with some quality thrashing riffs that immediately show us a band that has found the energy they lost for more than a decade at that point. With James singing with excitement and Hammett playing an actual solo that doesn't abuse the wah pedal. It really shows why people thought they came back stronger than ever when the album originally came out. "The End of the Line" continues in a similar fashion, and brings to mind "Creeping Death", or at the very least a slower version of it, with James' vocal cadence during the verses being the exact same. Starting off with these two tracks was without a doubt the best choice they could've made, though a tad misleading, seeing as what the rest of the album houses is quite different for the most part.

The midsection of the album houses some good tracks, and some middling ones. "The Day That Never Comes" and "All Nightmare Long" are arguably some of the best tracks on offer, and their positioning in the tracklist is quite nice as well. The former of the two is a power ballad that comes in after the first 3 and more aggressive songs here and offers a nice change of pace and its length is absolutely warranted, with the band slowly building up tension throughout its duration and releasing it at the end, with another great solo from Kirk and another great set of riffs. "All Nightmare Long" is another thrasher with a very nice intro, courtesy of Robert Trujillo, which manages to maintain interest during its almost 8 minute runtime.

Like I said though, not all is perfect in that midsection, as there are tracks that left me completely unimpressed after they ended, those being "Cyanide" and "The Unforgiven III". "Cyanide" feels like a more boring version of the track that preceded it, maintaining a sluggish mid-paced tempo and lacking any interesting characteristics to it outside of the "SOS" riff at the start, which was an admittedly good idea. Shame it was wasted on that song. "The Unforgiven III" probably garnered a lot of groans at the time, being the third (and final) song in a trilogy that started back in 1991 with The Black Album. Frankly, while I don't consider it as egregiously bad as many people seem to do (It ranks in many "Worst Metallica songs" list online), and consider it better than "The Unforgiven II", I can't say that it has the impact a finale of a trilogy should've, though it does its best to end things on an epic note, with its use of an orchestra, which is a nice touch and something we hadn't seen on a studio release (S&M notwithstanding) since "Nothing Else Matters".

Sadly, things kinda fall apart near the end, where some of Metallica's most uninspired tracks lie. "The Judas Kiss" is a one-to-one replica of "The End of the Line", with its only saving grace being the chorus, which is quite energetic and dare I say exciting to sing along to. On the other hand we have "Suicide & Redemption", which is the first instrumental the band had written in 20 years, with their last at the time being "To Live is to Die" off ...And Justice For All. The band's longest song so far, just short of the 10 minute mark, and they decide to do absolutely nothing exciting nor interesting with it, opting instead to play some boring mid-paced riffs and aimlessly move around, never reaching the satisfying conclusion all instrumentals should have. The duration of songs is a problem that sadly permeate most of this album, and not just this particular song, which should've honestly be left on the cutting room floor along with the one before it."My Apocalypse" tries cleaning up the mess the previous two songs left, being the shortest song at 5 minutes and just raging through with some high-octane riffing and not letting up for a single second, closing off the album in the best way possible.

Performance wise everyone seems to be in good form compared to what we had previously seen from them. James' voice doesn't sound as shot as it did in St. Anger, and doesn't crack as much as it did on that record, sadly time had taken its toll on it and it lacks the sheer power it had during the band's heyday. Kirk Hammett has for the most part escaped the trappings of Load and Reload, instead trying to play some solos without abusing the wah pedal, though it's not completely gone (See "The Unforgiven III"), and honestly, at this point I can't say it bothers me as much as it used to, seeing as his solos fit well on whatever track he plays them on. Robert Trujillo's bass playing is sadly underutilised and relegated to following the guitars for the most part, though he does have some moments where he makes his presence felt (the bass riff during the verses in "Cyanide" and the opening of "Suicide & Redemption"). Lars is well, Lars, playing random fills as per usual, and on occasion doing some double bass runs.

The production has rightfully been lambasted quite a bit, and is arguably where this album fails the most. Everything is insanely loud and competing for space at all times, which is a shame because there isn't anything inherently wrong with how the instruments sound, as they all sound full. The bass is just buried underneath the mess and struggles to be heard throughout most of the album's duration, and the snare is still too high in the mix, but thankfully this time it doesn't sound like someone banging on a cooking pot , which makes it slightly more tolerable.

Lyrically what we have here is James ruminating on fame and the fleeting nature of time ("That Was Just Your Life, "The End of the Line"), as well as some more personal issues ("The Day That Never Comes", "The Unforgiven III"). They're decently written, with there being some rather questionable lines on some songs, namely "Broken, Beat & Scarred" ("What don't kill you make you more strong", really?! They're supposed to be native speakers for god's sake!). I've heard many people complain about the lyrics in Metallica's albums post-AJFA, but I can't say I'm upset in all honesty. James isn't in his 20s anymore and has grown quite old, he can't rant about war and politics forever.

Death Magnetic is an introspective album, where the band decides to look back on its legacy and tries to pick some of its best moments and use them in order to create something special that is geared towards long time fans, which is probably why it was such a resounding success when it originally came out. 12 years later though, the cracks have shown and while it was a massive improvement compared to the albums that they had released at that point, it still isn't a flawless release by any stretch. That being said, it's not something fans should sleep on, since there still are quite a few good tracks that bring to mind the band's glory days.

Highlights: That Was Just Your Life, The End of the Line, The Day That Never Comes, All Nightmare Long

A new installment of Metallica returns to revive among its followers (and not so followers already) the usual discussion that have always surrounded the band´s new works for already more than a decade: "Do they sell out?" Metallica, after adding more gasoline to the fire when they publicly outdoor theirs miseries in the documentary 'Some Kind of Monster', accompanies this new release with the conviction that this time they managed to return to their origins and their golden times´ old sound.

A tentative come back to theirs roots that, although this time seems firmer and have more foundation, the truth is that after listening to their new work we discover, that despite an effort for putting out a record that wannabe sounding like their 80´s works, they have not achieved the level of their glorious years . Rick Rubin, a real guru of the musical scene that has produced several albums of Slayer (the true owners of the thrash metal´s spirit), was the elected producer and this should indicate that Metallica had put a great effort to do a huge come back to the old days... they even brought back the original logo of the band!

But despite taking care to sound instrumentally as before, something that musicians like them can really do whenever they want, we discover that it does not bring anything new and that their new compositions are not at all brilliant. They lack a lot of feeling in their new songs. The songs don´t connect with the listener and that's something that they had plenty in the past and that made Metallica became a band with a global popularity above many of the rest of the bands of their generation. Once the sound is recovered (more or less) they should worry imperiously to recover the lost feeling.

A proof of Metallica creative crisis is found by listening their new songs in which it seems that the band have limited themselves to join the first guitar riffs they happened in their mind without any order or coherence and therefore the songs show little cohesion. The point is that you can recover your sound, which is very good, but now it is necessary to recover the creativity because without that spark your work will go down in history simply as an another record more, a plain and grey album and without any interest.

If the guitars are powerful, and sometimes become very fast, the drummer appears on this record as a subordinate. Lars Ulrich limits himself to complying with his rhythmic base work being easily the weakest element of the record. He does not even follow fast rhythms in order to match the guitars´ pace. Only in the track that closes the album, 'My Apocalypse', Lars Ulrich makes a feint of recovery introducing more dash in percussion, hopefully at least he start the next album as it ends this.

The guitar solos give the impression of having already been heard on another time which is not a good indicator of freshness. To James Hetfield, and Metallica therefore, is hurting his love of country music because the way James sing sometimes sounds strange and forced. Metallica also did not forget to introduce mid tempos like 'The day that never comes', as it has always been usual in them, although this time in the second part of the song they increase the tempo and give us a powerful climax. They also include on the album the third part of Unforgiven, a very orchestrated track and, very much in line with the albums released after the Black Album.

As for the songs´ structure they recovered the complexity of for example '... And Justice For All' with several parts and exceeding seven minutes long reaching up to almost ten as in 'Suicide & Redemption'.

Making a long story short: this patient, who was in a coma, now seems to evolve favorably, hopefully the improvement will continue.

(Originally written in Spanish for musiqueando.com)

After the horrific embarrassment that was St. Anger, it was virtually guaranteed that Metallica would return to some earlier, more recognizable form of their sound as a way of distancing themselves from their recent mistake. Going off in another crazy direction after that would be enough to bury them as a massive commercial entity as music sales had dropped fast since the early 2000s and people did not want to be burned by another bad Metallica album. Seeing as thrash was coming back into vogue at the time of this album's conception and their most beloved albums were thrash, it seemed like going in that direction was the ideal thing for Metallica in 2008 to do. The resulting album was serviceable in most respects, but did have its fair share of faults.

The album gets off to a fairly decent start with a pair of thrashy songs that get the motor running. It gets you excited to listen to the rest and has you hoping for more nice, fast metal. The production gets in the way of that with it sounding very plastic. It's said that Lars wanted it this way to make it sound louder and for his drums to be more prominent. He got Newsted's bass removed from Justice and overwhelmed St. Anger with his trash-can banging. While the production job here is certainly more tolerable than St. Anger, it still subtracts from the heaviness. Metallica producers take note: ignore Lars' opinions, it's for the best. This production job hurt the songs, which actually weren't bad for the most part and that's a big damn shame because "This Was Just Your Life", "My Apocalypse", and "Broken, Beat, and Scarred" were decently written, if a bit long, and have some punch hidden in them. They're no "Disposable Heroes" or "Creeping Death", but they are certainly more fleet than anything released since the mid 90s and stand as decent bits of modern metal.

Most of the music on here ranges from good to boring and unecessary, but never diving into territories of outright bad. Emphasizing the guitars and shortening the songs a bit could help this more since James is starting to show his age with his vocals and the band does not have enough ideas to fill these on-average 7 minute run-times. You get some returning thrash energy and a sense of renewed rigor on a lot of the faster songs. The solos also emphasize speed and I welcome their ripping return. However, the ballads are where this music becomes lacking with "The Day That Never Comes" taking 5 minutes to go anywhere due to the first part of the song being very soft and low on motion, and "The Unforgiven 3" is just boring, stale, and unnecessary. If you stay away from the ballads, for the most part you have an okay thrash metal album that shows Metallica trying to recreate their old style. It's not as fierce as their older thrash output, but they partially succeed with renewed speed.

Death Magnetic is kind of what you'd get if someone had asked for a "standard Metallica album" in their modern style. It captures some of the speed and intensity with blinding solos and songs with some punch to them, but also messes the production up and gets a bit overindulgent with the songwriting. This is by no means terrible, but it is also by no means excellent and it is even slightly outmatched by the Black Album since that album sounded angrier, more evil, and more catchy than this. As a regular thrash album, it hits all the marks, but doesn't snag a lot of bullseyes or headshots at the range. The thrashing was decent, but the ballads were bland. It's no surprise people had mixed feelings about this. Metallica were moving back to their most beloved sound, but it also felt a bit odd after St. Anger's blunders and too commercially "tactical" as a result. The songs were mostly decent, but also paled in comparison to older works and didn't get a decent production job until the remaster. It's semi-decent, but suffers from too many flaws to really be good.

Two kind of people find it difficult to understand Metallica's position in the history of metal: haters and casual listeners. This opinion is not for you both. Knowing the historical importance of Metallica is, in my opinion, an essential assumption to understand Death Magnetic.

This is not an honest album. Actually, I found it quite surgical, though that does not mean it's a bad album. Nonetheless, choosing 11 songs to make the final cut with the intention of boil down a 27-year career (to date) seems to me a very ambitious, unnatural and, in a way, overbearing task. It's also for this reason that I think some songs or parts of songs here and there sound misplaced, as if they did not fit the album.

As a whole, the songs are good and even for the most skeptical, there are some truly brilliant moments. This is a good sign with regard to the health of the band and also the proof that they still have a small spark able to remind reminiscences of ancient times.

Individually speaking, everyone is sick and tired of knowing that Hetfield had to take singing lessons at some point in his life and that, after all, it sounded better when he could not sing, but just barked. Anyway I love his vocal performance on songs like "That Was Just Your Life", "The Unforgiven III" or "The Judas Kiss". He did a good job throughout the album. The riffs? Well ... he's a hell of a guitarist and has written, over the years, some of the fastest / most complex / addictive riffs I have ever known. Here was no exception.

As for the variety, songs like "That Was Just Your Life", "The End of The Line" or "The Judas Kiss" feature a palette of many tonalities, not in the "progressive" meaning of the term, but in a way avoid repetition, almost as in the fashion of Megadeth's "Holy Wars" (but not so good, HAHAHA! Chill out!).

I think Kirk has good taste. This is not cooking, but good taste is also very important in music. Often more easily I praise a not-so-gifted guitarist compared to some virtuoso, if he has the ability to tailor his solos to the music he's playing, if you know what I mean (Jerry Cantrell, anyone?). Kirk plays some solos that, although they are not the most complex, they manage to fit perfectly in the songs. I assume he's comfortable playing a kind of blues scale all the time, hastening it to gain the taste of metal. Skilled? No. Clever? Certainly! Unfortunately, he was unable to maintain this ability on the next album, but that's another story (and I'm not talking about lost smartphones ...). But Kirk seems to be a good guy, so if you never really cared, here are a few highlights of him: "The Unforgiven III" and "Cyanide" leads / solos.

Still speaking of the band's performance, I do not think Lars deserves to be bashed, since he keeps up the pace, doing a good job, especially, I think, in "The End of the Line." Trujillo can be heard, but I do not find his bass lines in any way extraordinary. Recalling again that idea of being "Death Magnetic" a summary of Metallica's career, this idea rests on two pillars: the build-up of some songs and the addition, on the same album, of elements that were given importance in different moments of their career, I imagine.

As for the first (and clearly I am not the first to note ...), the affinity between "Blackened" and "That Was Just Your Life" or "Fade to Black" and "The Day That Never Comes" is obvious, as well as I think the groove of the self-titled album can be found all over "Cyanide" or "Broken Beat and Scarred," which is tempered with some bits of a "modernized" type of sound (not to be confused with mallcore) and splashes of St. Anger's roughness in the crude approach to the structure of songs. Even "The Judas Kiss" can be described in my eyes as the bastard son of "Kill 'Em All" and "Load"! Can you imagine both together? Apparently, Metallica thinks so.

There are some confusing moments, though and I really do not know if the final result would be better or worse without them. For instance, "The Unforgiven III": a silly title for a good, but somewhat misplaced song. This is the kind of music that belongs to the mid-90's Metallica, but probably not here. This is a standout track with an almost irresistible atmosphere, taking the "Load" / "ReLoad" heritage and blending it with a great vocal performance and great lead guitars (plus another reviewer, am I the only one who considers this song an Ennio Morricone kind of tribute here?). However, the final impression is that Death Magnetic does not try to tell stories, it's not about creating moods or blinking for epics (by Metallica standards). Sometimes I feel like "The Unforgiven III" should exist (as great song as it is), but change its place with one of the "Beyond Magnetic" four songs.

Continuing with the same idea, they even have an instrumental ("Suicide and Redemption") - not memorable, not boring, just okay - but Metallica should not be content for just being ok. With great power comes great responsibility (WOW! That sounds good!) And as a driving force, they should know to protect themselves a little more.

This leads me to refer to their skills as composers. Oh my... don't you learn? Shorter songs and shorter albums will save you work, time, patience, money and keep your fans happier and more interested in your work. Not all the songs have to take 5 minutes or more! And if so, you have to have "juice" to fill them! This is, in my opinion, the main fault of Metallica since a long time. Apart from production, the restriction on composition could have been a kind of saving grace for St. Anger. The same here. Sometimes you are prompted to advance to the next song or to fast-forward some parts. Even being masters of hooks (and that's a big credit to Metallica), you need to know when to stop. The length of some songs ranges from "unbearable" ("The End of the Line", "All Nightmare Long", "The Judas Kiss") to "ridicule" ("Broken, Beat & Scarred", "Suicide & Redemption"). Even so, we should praise and welcome thrashers involved in a (kind of) "progressive" structure like "My Apocalypse" and "All Nightmare Long"

Death Magnetic will never be anyone's favorite album. It will never be "the" return to form (or whatever you want to call it). It will never suck entirely. It's a great bridge to the next record, where Metallica would have to face (again) one of the biggest challenges of their life: where to go when you've achieved both excellence and mediocrity in the eyes of people and still not thinking about retirement?

Highlights (but not flawless): "That Was Just Your life", "All Nightmare Long", "The Judas Kiss", "The Unforgiven III".

The year is 2008, the state of Metallica's integrity is in shambles from St. Anger, their 2003 stinker that even had the Load era fans scratching their heads. The stakes were high; could Metallica release a good album after their nearly 20 year streak of subpar material? Well, let’s dive in.

The official releases of Death Magnetic all suffer from some of the worst mixing of all time. I once read that the CIA used Metallica songs during the tortures of foreign prisoners, and if Death Magnetic were out back then, they would be spitting out information right and left. To put it bluntly, having to listen to nearly 75 minutes of this album is an assault on your ears, and I mean that in the least complimentary way possible. In fact, if you take any song file and put it in a DAW such as Audacity, you’d see square waveforms. It is truly that bad. However, fans have managed to remix the album through unusual means, some even managing to fully rectify these issues.

I’d like to reiterate that this album is 75 minutes long. This is not surprising, as that’s how most Metallica albums post-Puppets have been. Bad production and long length in tandem is usually a recipe for a rather sour listening experience, but the songs themselves are not half bad. In fact, I’d say that they’re surprisingly strong, perhaps even good enough to have appeared on And Justice for All or the Black Album. For some, the songs are bound to seem like Metallica is trying way too hard to capture the magic of their early years, and I would say that is a little bit true. But on the other hand, the music here pretty much sheds that weird hard rock image of the Load years and mostly moves past St. Anger as well.

To highlight a couple quirks, many songs do seem stretched past the length that they should be, but they don't always feel their length, (at least for the most part). Another thing someone could justifiably complain about is the sheer amount of repetition Metallica decides to indulge in on here. During the ending of End of The Line for example, the band just won't let the damn song finish! All that was required was a single, abrupt, "you've reached the end. of. the. line.", but instead, they repeat that shit like 5 times. This type of thing happens during other songs too, and it's likely a vestige of the, at the time, still pretty recent St. Anger writing process (as are the introspective lyrics). But don't let that discourage you from checking Death Magnetic out, because the highlights and even the filler songs are, in fact, pretty great.

But before we can discuss those, there's a very bad song on here, one which totally does suffer from the repetition/overlength I mentioned, and that song is Broken, Beat & Scarred. This track has some pretty cool riffs, but it is absolutely ruined by the lyrics. Other songs have bad lyrical moments, such as the bridge of Judas Kiss, but nothing on here even comes close to the thoroughly clichéd, repetitious, dare I say fatuous lyrical content from this one. "What don't kill ya make ya more strong"? Really? Am I listening to caveman Kelly Clarkson, or Metallica? If I had to make one major change to this album aside from fixing the mix, it would be to make Broken into an instrumental and to give Suicide & Redemption some lyrics.

Now let's get into the positives. Other than Broken, Beat & Scarred, no other song really disappoints. Highlights include album opener That Was Just Your Life, the flamenco-ish All Nightmare Long, the savage closer My Apocalypse, as well as their relatively successful thrash ballad, The Day That Never Comes. The first three are somewhat of a new school take on old school thrash, though That Was Just Your Life channels And Justice For All as well. The Day That Never Comes seems like a copy of One at first glance, but I think it's distinguishable from One in several ways, perhaps the most important of which being its technical and quite fun thrash section. We also have some mid-paced, groovier tracks, a rather symphonic Unforgiven sequel, (Unforgiven III blows part II out of the water), and the instrumental, Suicide & Redemption. This instrumental is not their best by any means, but it has its moments; definitely groovier than any other Metallica instrumental, though it's probably the closest thing to regular rock on here.

The guys aren't in their twenties anymore, and it kinda shows, especially in the vocal and drum departments. James is certainly adequate here, but nobody can deny that he hasn't come close to his performance on the Black Album in years. Lars hasn't really ever been an interesting drummer (other than in very specific instances like The Shortest Straw), but on here he holds it down like usual. His drumming on most of the tracks is fairly safe and simple, save for Suicide & Redemption, where every member, even newcomer Rob Trujillo, gets at least a few good instrumental moments. Kirk contributed a lot of riffs on this album, which is good. To touch on his solos, (which have thankfully been brought back), he really shreds on The Day That Never Comes and My Apocalypse. Otherwise, they're decent enough; however, his solo from Suicide & Redemption is actually pretty bad, which sucks because Hetfield's lead guitar part on that track is one of his best ever.

All in all, I'd say this album is a more than sufficient comeback for the boys. Yes, the official version is unlistenable, but it's been 8 years and there are tons of competent remixes to choose from in order to fully appreciate the album. Many say Death Magnetic is an example of has-beens trying too hard to recapture their glory days, and sure, I'm happy to concede that this album does sorta give off those vibes and is certainly not for everyone, especially those of us who wanted Master of Puppets part 2 or Ride the Lightning part 2. But at the end of the day, it doesn't matter to me if they're trying too hard or not, as long as what comes out is decent; and to me, the music of Death Magnetic, on a whole, is.

No, Matt! What the fuck are you doing? Why are you reviewing a Metallica album and more importantly, why isn't it "Kill 'Em All", "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets", or "...And Justice For All"? Well, honestly, I am asking myself that very same question. Those four aforementioned albums are definitely when Metallica was at their best, and beginning with "Metallica", they would start down a road to superstardom and would go on to become the most famous (as well as infamous) heavy metal band on the planet. When this album came out 7 years ago, I was still beginning my journey with heavy metal. "Metallica", also known as "The Black Album", was the first album I heard by these guys and while now I don't really like it that much (although I still throw on some of the songs from that album), it still holds a place in my heart. As much as I may not like to admit it. "Death Magnetic" was actually the second album from Metallica I heard and I noticed how much faster and more aggressive this album was than their 1991 eponymous release. After visiting the band's 1980s catalogue, it's easy to hear a lot of similarities within the music. This is, in fact, a modern attempt at a classic thrash metal album.

When I ask a lot of people what they think of this album, I am met with two answers: 1. "It's awesome! Sounds like a throwback to their thrash sound of old!" and 2. "It sucks." The people that answer with the latter response usually say something along the lines of "the production is terrible and it just sucks". Everyone is certainly entitled to their own opinions, sure, but I hardly ever get any logical responses from the "it sucks" people. Musically speaking, this is a cross between the lengthy and technical "...And Justice for All" and the band's launch into mainstream success, "Metallica". The songs range between 5 and nearly 10 minutes in length but still retain very radio-friendly sounding sections. This makes for an album that could be described, like "AJFA", as progressive thrash metal, but can also be played on a radio station and not sound completely out of place. There is a lot of variation going on here. "My Apocalypse" is probably the closest to pure thrash metal as well as being the album's shortest song. In contrast with that, "The Unforgiven III" is a much slower song, and "The Day That Never Comes" sounds like the band's attempt at recreating their iconic classic "One".

An issue a lot of people commonly voice when expressing their opinions of this album is the static-sounding production. I have no idea why this happened but it is a little distracting. I've listened to plenty of music with awful production and I even enjoy a raw sounding album, but this isn't the same concept. I wouldn't exactly call this raw. It sounds very loud and over-the-top but at the sacrifice of the bass. It's not as bad as "St. Anger" was but at the same time, it's not a crisp, clean sound that Metallica had pretty much always been known for. The guitars boast a largely static sound. It sounds fairly unrefined and unfinished. That being said, I've heard much worse. The actual guitar playing on this album is solid and enjoyable and even with the band members all getting "up there" in terms of age, there is still a whole lot of energy here. It's not as fast as "Kill 'Em All" was and really, we shouldn't even be expecting that at this point. This band can still thrash and that's exactly what they've done here. The solos are back from their extremely controversial absence in "St. Anger" and a lot of people were relieved with that upon this album's release. They are not the best solos the band has performed and really, I don't find them super enjoyable. Sure, they're a nice addition and add a little to the structure of the songs during the album's near 75-minute runtime, making the album's length more justifiable than "St. Anger" was, but they don't live up to the Metallica solos of old. That being said, they're still better than any solos from the band's self-titled album, except maybe "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters". They just sound forced and improvised, though not exactly in a good way. The song containing the best guitar work for me is the near 10-minute instrumental "Suicide & Redemption". It is a throwback to what I consider Metallica's "big three" instrumentals: "The Call of Ktulu", "Orion", and "To Live Is to Die". It's the longest song on the album as well as the band's longest song up to this point. The solos as well as riffs are just amazing and definitely noteworthy moments.

Lars still has to be one of the most overrated drummers in the entire industry. I just don't see any real redeeming qualities from this dude. Even back in the day, he was just decent and supported the music but nothing more. His playing on this album is probably better than anything he's done in the last 17 years, but why certain people consider him one of the "best drummers of all time" is certainly beyond me. It has nothing to do with him being an asshole, either. I just don't see what's so special about the guy. Regardless, his playing here is tight and focused, as well as being the "thrashiest" he's done in a good minute, but he is aging and that's fairly noticeable.

This album could definitely be described as "...And Justice for All, Part II" in a few ways. Like I said earlier, the songs are extremely long once again and contain that same element of progressive metal we heard on AJFA. The bass is also almost non-existent here which really, I've never been too bothered by. I like a little bass in my music but I won't bitch and moan if it's not there. I feel like this album could have benefited quite a bit from more bass. This is likely due to the iffy production value (thanks, Rick Rubin, you fuckface!). I'm not sure if the band's intention was to make an album that followed the AJFA structure so closely but they certainly succeeded in doing just that.

An album that could only be described as a modern classic of thrash metal, "Death Magnetic" is a big "eff you" to those who doubted this band after their 1990s "sell-out" albums and the appalling garage metal abomination that was "St. Anger" in 2003. The band is currently in the process of making the follow up to this album, due out next year or early 2017. Hopefully it continues down this path. I must say this is definitely the loudest album Metallica ever made although it is still flawed. Only time will tell if Metallica can become a truly noteworthy thrash metal band once again, but they're certainly on the right path.

So after managing to piss off just about everyone with "Load" and "Reload" (except me), you would've thought that the final nail in the coffin was the legendary backwards-leap that was "St Anger", but Metallica still decided to record a new album - and they decided to stick to their guns and make a thrash album harking back to days of old, when the underground was raving about such songs as "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Master Of Puppets" and the like. Well, will fans be raving about this album as well and ranking it with the older albums? Well probably.

Obviously I can't account for everyone, but I kinda like the album. Yes folks, it's a return to roots, albeit a fairly middle-of-the-road affair. You would've thought that with a title such as Death Magnetic they would have stuck to the greatness of their former 80s selves, but time is a cruel mistress, especially on James Hetfield's aging voice, and Lars Ulrich's deteriorating ability to drum, and Rick Rubin is a cruel producer. This is an album taking up another shouting match in the loudness war, and the overall quality suffers from it, especially Lars Ulrich's snare. It might have the snares on, but it's still pretty intrusive at times.

That's not to say the songs are bad, oh no. On the contrary, they're quite good, but only a handful of songs are truly memorable. The album opens frantically enough with the building heartbeat sound that opens "That Was Just Your Life", and the album sucks you in. It sucks you in so much that you almost don't notice the filler songs, such as "Cyanide", "The End Of The Line", "Suicide and Redemption" and "Broken Beat and Scarred", even though they do contain some pretty good riffs.

Thus, when you reach the standout tracks, boy do they stand out! I am, of course, referring to my favourites on the album - "All Nightmare Long", "The Unforgiven III", "The Day That Never Comes", "My Apocalypse" and "The Judas Kiss"! Memorable riffs galore, infectious balladry ("The Unforgiven III" and "The Day That Never Comes") and (certainly for Lars) unbridled speed, especially in the closing track "My Apocalypse". It's a mix of standout and filler in equal measure, and it's good to see Metallica back to form. Oh, and I don't think that at ANY moment is this album somehow convoluted and not "honest". Even the filler.

So despite shortcomings such as drum work that leaves a bit to be desired and brick-wall-of-sound production, I left this album feeling satisfied. I hope you do too.

The absolute first thing I notice about Death Magentic is the thrashy riffs that are more reminiscent of Metallica’s yester years. It’s obvious that Metallica tried to tap into their wild, unconventional youth, and the end result is a variety of heavy riffs that wheel in and out of several unique grooves. It’s also refreshing to hear James Hetfield’s vocal performance is as strong as ever, while Lars Ulrich’s frantic drumming is tasteful and very fitting of the music. These are some of the best songs that Metallica have written in decades, and thanks to more the complex and varied structures, any metal fan is sure to find several wicked riffs and head banging sessions during the album’s lengthy runtime.

Another notable thing about Death Magentic comes courtesy of song lengths. While their previous effort, St. Anger, recycled riffs needlessly, the song lengths of Death Magentic are more justified this time around. The majority of songs on the album are over seven minutes, but all the riffs sound very inspired and the structures are creative enough to hold your attention throughout. My only real problem with the long song lengths is that, while some songs sound more cohesive, some songs just sound like a string of riffs that were thrown together (notably the instrumental track “Suicide and Redemption”). While there really isn’t a bad song on the entire album, some songs just sound more natural than others, and sometimes the feeling of authenticity is lost during certain stretches of some certain songs.

And while Death Magentic as a whole is a spectacular, grandiose effort, there are a lot of elements that dampen the quality of the music. First off, I’m glad that Metallica has decided to reintroduce solos back into their sound, but can someone please take that goddamn wah-wah pedal away from Mr. Hammett? While his soloing is par for the course and occasionally surprises me (“The Day That Never Comes”, “Unforgiven III”), he needs that thing taken away from him. The production, while towering and dominant, sounds a bit too unrefined and the bass guitar is largely buried in the mix. And while the lengthy songs aren’t too cumbersome to listen to individually, listening to this album in one sitting can be very overbearing given the long, long runtime.

So while Death Magentic doesn’t quite live up to Metallica’s classic material, it is a very impressive effort. In the end, Death Magentic turns out to be very fun, enjoyable listen and the boys in the band sound like they really put their absolute best efforts into it.

Not gonna lie, I like this album. More than the albums that most people would say are Metallica's classics. Yeah, I can practically feel the metaphorical rocks being thrown in my direction. But hey, I think there are plenty of good thing about this album.

Let's start with the fact that it follows on from 'St. Anger'. Can't get much worse than that, right? So that's instantly a boost to this album's ratings. No, but seriously, this isn't bad at all. It has more of a heavy metal feel to it than thrash, but that's not really too bad. It's really one of the heaviest things I've listened to (kind of odd considering that I've heard a lot of death metal, which is meant to be heavier). Every track has at least some crunching riffs and plenty of drums being beat in Lars' trademark primal fashion. The hooks are solid throughout, James' vocals are pretty much how you'd expect them to be. When you hear Rob's bass it's pretty solid as well.

'Broken, Beat & Scarred' is one of my favourites from this album, heavy riffs coupled with a nice general melody to go with the pounding drums. I can really get into this type of Metallica. The solo is as good as ever as well. The length of the songs on this album are pretty long, but for once that doesn't actually seem to matter too much to me. When the music is that good, the length isn't too important as long as it doesn't end too abruptly or last twenty-odd minutes.

I also like 'All Nightmare Long', which kind of follows along the same lines of hard beating drums and heavy riffs. The opening is great as well, I like the mix of seemingly delicate guitar chords and heavy riffs. Then when the song launches into the heavy hooks that you'd expect, it just fits so well. I don't know how people can manage not to like this song in all honesty, it combines everything you need to make a good metal song. At nearly eight minutes long this song does feel like maybe it's starting to get stale at the end, but it does end in time to stop the song being ruined. Besides, after listening to longer songs that are far more boring, this one is still pretty fresh by the end.

Basically the whole album is pretty much full of the same kind of songs, from the "short" 'My Apocalypse' (still five minutes long) to 'Cyanide' and the instrumental 'Suicide & Redemption', the album is filled mostly of heavy headbanging tracks. However, there are two songs that don't follow this pattern, 'The Day That Never Comes' and 'The Unforgiven III'. Both of them are a lot slower and despite featuring heavy electric guitars they both feel slightly lighter than the other songs. They do add a bit of variety to an album that otherwise follows the same layout though, which is good.

The last song I want to describe is the only instrumental, 'Suicide & Redemption'. At ten minutes long it is the longest track on the album, and with no vocals you might think that it'd get boring. It does no such thing. The general riffs sound like they're from a classic metal or rock track track, they just have that kind of quality about them. Then the solos that haunt the song also have that kind of feel about them. Really, if it had lyrics to it then I'd have thought it was one of the most well-known tracks from the eighties or nineties. You can't help but join in with the song in some way, whether it's tapping your feet or headbanging or playing the air drums.

Really, the Metallica haters should listen to this album. They can say what they want about 'St. Anger' or any other of their mediocre albums (I'm going to leave that up to you to decide which ones fall into that category), but 'Death Magnetic' is like they've been reborn better than before. The whole thing is an excellent example of why not to write a band off after a bad album. Five years later, they might come out with something like this.

The return of Metallica to their thrash roots with Death Magnetic was a widely debated event. Some claimed that the album was fantastic, and the best thing they had done since their glory days. Others said that it was drab and lifeless and should have been aborted before it was even released. Criticisms listed were the stale production and the fact that the songs are far too long and that James Hetfield's vocals have lost all the edge they once had on classic releases such as Master Of Puppets. I do not really believe that either opinion is wholly correct, however, as Death Magnetic has good points and bad points about it.

This album is indeed a return to the band's thrash days but only halfway, and this is a major problem with it. Death Magnetic just feels like the band is meandering around trying to incorporate elements of both their older sound and their more commercial sound, by having choruses that are supposed to be catchy and sing-along friendly amidst a sea of thrashy riffs. The one song that is pure thrash from start to finish, My Apocalypse, is one of three that actually work on this album all the way through. It is fast paced and straight to the point, with a lot of aggression behind it and James' vocals are quite tolerable, and it even has a moderately catchy section with the words "MY A-POC-A-LYPSE" shouted by James. Many of the other songs lack this feeling of being consistently enjoyable, with tracks such as Broken Beat And Scarred in particular sticking out as being just too mixed up.

It also has a distinct lack of originality and the feeling of having been here before. The Day That Never Comes is the worst offender here, coming across as a carbon copies of songs such as One and Welcome Home (Sanitarium). It follows the same path as those two ballads from their earlier works with quite a soft opening that builds up toward an aggressive finish. This song is a great track but it feels unoriginal as any fan of the band has already heard this song twice before, just a little bit shorter on their early works and more to the point. James' vocals are an issue that needs addressing and on this song the problems with them really start to show. For the most part he attempts singing, which is clearly a bad idea as Reload and Load showed off, but it is his shouting that gets irritating. He literally sounds like a constipated bullfrog for the most part.

The instrumental work for Death Magnetic is a mixed bag. Many of the riffs are very fast and angry, such as on the opening track, but at times they dip in quality, such as on The Unforgiven III (most unnecessary sequel song ever, for gods sake, Metallica, just kill this series already). The drumming is at least aggressively played again but is completely dull and boring, and Lars can not do double-bass anymore whatsoever. His drumming is intense on tracks like the aforementioned opening song, That Was Just Your Life, but he just does not vary his drumming enough and it feels too simplistic. The one section of the instrumental performance from the band that really does shine is the soloing, which is a good thing after the solo-less St. Anger album that was released five years before. The Day That Never Comes in particular shows off how good Kirk is at soloing for those who had forgot how good he was on their earliest releases.

The production is arguably worse than that of St. Anger here. On that particular album the main problem came from the rattle effect on the drums and whilst that is missing here thankfully, everything feels too compressed. Take the guitar tones of And Justice For All and the abysmal production job of their debut and that is essentially what this sounds like. The drums are too loud in the mix and the instruments all have rough sounds to them that makes this feel more like a demo tape than an actual full length release. This is something that will irk you throughout your listen to this and will most likely make you want to snap the CD in frustration. Quite why the band can't just go back to the crisp production jobs of Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets is beyond me. Hell, I'd even take a too-glossy production such as on their self-titled over the garbage $10 production job here.

Death Magnetic is something of a shallow return to their glory days, but only glimmers of grandeur really show through. For the most part this is just an uninspired, tepid re-hash of their earliest material minus and of the ingenuity that carried those albums.

They’re trying. Every song on Metallica’s newest album, Death Magnetic, will require Hetfield and Co. to concentrate in order to perform it live…and likely break a sweat. Of course a higher degree of technical difficulty does not mean that the songs actually warrant the furrowed brows and grimaces they will elicit from the band to pull off in the live arena, but the album is undeniably dense and filled with ideas. The production is arguably the best they’ve had since the blazing guitars sound of debut Kill ‘Em All: the guitars are rich and the drums are thick and roomy with a nice amount of distortion on the snare (kind of opposite the snare sound on the last one).

Assuming that everyone (intelligent) reading this magazine prefers 80s Metallica to the “stuff” that followed, the contrary thing to point out is that Hetfield has continually improved as a vocalist. Even though the Black Album, Load, Reload and St. Anger songs are composed of riffs that sound like reheated Danzig, Kid Rock or post-makeup Kiss, Hetfield continued to develop his voice. He became a crooner with a rich voice and often excellent inflection. (He had to do something while playing one riff for five minutes...) On Death Magnetic, Hetfield’s vocals sound good, but perhaps because of the complexity of the music— or maybe just a lack of good ideas— he comes up with far fewer memorable refrains than he did on St. Anger or the Black Album. His best singing is unquestionably in the album’s two most somber tunes, “The Unforgiven III” and the album zenith “The Day that Never Comes,” and he has other nice moments (“Broken, Beat & Scarred,” the bridge of “The Judas Kiss” and the chorus of “That Was Just Your Life”), but it is clear that this singer’s best ideas are when he is Sensitive Hetfield or Melodic Hetfield, not Tough Hetfield or Forcing-the-Idea-That-Doesn’t-Work-Ah! O-Yeah-ah-ah! Pirate Hetfield.

The album features the return of Lead Guitarist Kirk Hammett (as opposed to Standing-On-Stage-Bored-As-Hell Kirk Hammett), who was very missed on the St. Anger (and very needed). He does a fine job stomping his wah-wah/bluesy shredding when given his space, and his big solo in the later part of “The Judas Kiss” (around 6:00) takes a lot of very interesting and creative turns— it’s his best lead since “Dyer’s Eve.” Drummer Lars Ulrich continues with his expressive, deep groove, surprise-accent style of playing that—whether you think he’s a douche-bag or not— helped shape the genre. Though his playing has flaws (even after digital correction), like Carcass’ Ken Owen, I prefer his performance to many more perfect players: His instincts are great and he distinctively pulses the music without getting in the way (unlike that Tool drummer everybody loves who often makes their music stagnant by omitting necessary snare hits). Good, musical and thoughtful drumming throughout the album.

Unlike the other “return to the hard” album St. Anger, Death Magnetic focuses on the guitars: This is unquestionably the first time the band has put riffs first since …And Justice For All. Unfortunately, the riffs are largely okay groove, sludge, stoner and bar rock licks played with more distortion and the errant triplet or chugs to make them seem more active/metal. There are some genuinely good riffs— “The End of the Line” has one at 4:20, “My Apocalypse” has several (1:59, 2:58, and the bridges) “Broken, Beat and Scarred” has the best riff on the album at 1:00 and “The Day that Never Comes” has several good ones in the second half— but mediocre riffs outweigh the good ones by a big margin. This is the ultimate achievement and limitation of this album: Metallica metallicly puts the guitars in spotlight, but the ideas are not quite compelling enough to hold the stage. The vocals and synergistic details, and by this I mean stop-starts and drums/riff interplay, do help buoy things and make it functional metal.

Death Magnetic is a dense and way too long album that shows the boys can still play tough music well and passionately…even if the ideas are of varying caliber. “Cyanide” and “The Judas Kiss” are duds, “My Apocalypse” is a fun stab at “Damage, Inc.” but with a weak verse section, “Broken, Beat & Scarred” is quite good, “The Day that Never Comes” is almost great and the remainder of the album is pretty good— okay riffs bolstered by interesting arrangements, good details, synergy, strong performances and great production.

They’re trying…and succeeding to some extent.

Nobody seems to be able to approach this album without an obvious biais in favor or disfavor to Metallica's most recent work. It seems that we all need to refer to their previous work to try and analyze this. We see it in many various forms. Some say this is Metallica's comeback or not, while others say this is a failed attempt to try and go back to their roots. Generaly speaking, people disliked St.Anger. Some people however loved the album and have defended it through all the shitstorm it went through. My case is particular. I was not huge on metal music back when I first heard the album and I wasn'd displeased with what I heard. It's later that I've digged more into metal and got around to actually listening to the early albums of the band. So if St.Anger isn't one of my favorite albums, it never dropped on my head like a brick like it did to the fans who saw this un-Metallica record released.

Consequently, I didn't approach Death Magnetic thinking "Will it be a comeback or will it fail ?" or maybe "Will they be able to return to their roots ?" I picked up the album like any album I came across. Not pretending to be a hundred percent unbiased or objective here. But I approached the album without trying to find the old-Metallica in it or ways to perceive elements of St.Anger in it.

And with that approach I must say I kind of like the album. It's no thrash metal masterpiece, but it's definitely enjoyable. Sadly though, all the tracks don't share the same quality. Metallica tried with this album to experiment with longer songs, maybe somewhat like they did with ...And Justice for All but with a very forward and straight to the point feel like on Kill 'Em All or Ride the Lightning. Which is cool. But some of the tracks just come out as generic. It doesn't mean they aren't enjoyable, but kind of forgettable. I'm talking about tracks like My Apocalypse, Suicide & Redemption or The Judas Kiss. All of these have well-built riffs, cool thrashy solos, nice vocals, etc. But they do seem to come out as very standard thrash metal tracks. On the other hand tracks like All Nightmare Long, Cyanide and especially That Was Just Your Life and The Day That Never Comes have all the right hooks at the right places, solid riffs, good choruses and manage to be memorable mostly becaue of this.

In the end, the album is kind of too long, but this is because of very lenghty songs. It wouldn't seem to long if the longer tracks would have stood out more. The Judas Kiss and Suicide & Redemption for instance are the two longest tracks on Death Magnetic, and they feel like fillers to me. The good tracks however are just perfect when in the lenght department. There is also a good use of slower tracks on this record. As all the tracks except for two are straigh-forward tracks with a pretty similar formula, having two slower-paced tracks on the album kind of help to change the mood. The first one comes kind of late on the record, maybe a little too late for my state, but it's a very good track... I'm talking about the single The Day That Never Comes. Very solid track. The second track comes at the end of the album and is supposed to be the third part of The Unforgiven. I don't see much connections between this The Unforgiven III track and The Unforgiven, but whatever. The track has a slow build, reminding of One, but it's never has good as One was. The track in itself is ok. Just ok. I don't particularly like it and it will most likely not end up on my top 10 Metallica tracks list, but it's pretty cool to have a slower track on there to close the whole album and it helps keeping a little variety on the record.

Bottom line : I enjoyed the record. It's a good album if you look at it as a whole. Yes, there are too much fillers on Death Magnetic, but some tracks manage to be quite memorable and very thrashy. If Metallica had to build on something for the future, I think it would be Death Magnetic. No point in trying to recreate the early albums, and no point into digging any deeper in the kind of strange rock/heavy metal genre they attempted with Lou Reed. We have with Death Magnetic solid roots to try something new.

With “Death Magnetic”, Metallica heavily tried to satisfy many fans from the old days that were disappointed with the more experimental records the band had done before. This album goes back to the thrash roots of the band and could have been the successor of the band’s masterpiece “…And Justice For All” but it ultimately isn’t. The only comparable basis of both records is the bad sound and production but they also differ in this point. While “…And Justice For All” had a very thin production with a bad drum sound, “Death Magnetic” sounds overproduced and is a perfect example for the loudness war trend.

The band simply isn’t able to go back to the power, originality and authenticity of the early days. Most of the songs are still enjoyable but offer nothing we haven’t heard in a similar and often better way before. The riffs feel worn out, the song structures are predictable and the pieces themselves are often too long and miss the point. The second half of the record is slightly more experimental but not in a good way. “The Unforgiven III” is absolutely unneccessary and can’t catch up with the previous two parts at all and “Suicide And Redemption” might be the worst instrumental track the band has ever done and is artificially stretched to an unhealthy length of almost ten minutes. The experiments are missed but at least the band still knows how to write good thrash metal songs.

After all, there are some highlights in the first half of the record. The first single “The Day That never Comes” sounds like a modern copy of “One” but as I liked the original track, I also like the new one that mixes a very melodic first half with an energetic thrash shredding passage in the second half. I can understandthe low rating of the song as it isn’t very original but I must admit that this track is catchy and very emotional and convinces with its traditional charm.The best track immediately follows with “All Nightmare Long”, a great thrash song with a lot of energy that never gets boring in comparison to many other overlong tracks on this album. The song has some really sharp riffs, amazing guitar solos, fast and energizing drum parts and a very good vocal performance even if James Hetfield even adds more than before some “ehh’s” and “aah’s” to his words. Even if this has somewhat become a trademark I would like “James-eeh Hetfield-ahh” to stop this as it sounds quite silly on a full album. The third and last highlight of the record is the next track called “Cyanide”. It’s a slower track with a nice pumping bass line and a groovy feeling and an intensely menacing atmosphere that copuld have fit on the records of the nineties as well as on the records of the late eighties.

In the end, Metallica offer nothing new but throw in some solid and catchy thrash metal tracks where the band goes back to the roots. This record is a decent effort and surely has its moments. Most of the the songs are energizing and work very well in concert, too. The record has a great flow and clear line and might please to a larger fan basis than the previous albums. On the other side, the band though threw almost all experimentations and variations overboard and can neither surprise the fans nor catch up with their first four records while the modern loudness war sound ruins a certain charm that this record could have thanks to the overrated Rick Rubin.

Luck....Runs....Out....

For almost two decades, all was not well in the Metallica camp. I won't be kind to them, They produced some of the most mediocre, boring and unnecessarily overlong albums ever. Their only saving grace was the covers album they did. 'Garage Inc' showed some signs of life, but it wasn't even their material. Even their live performances were unconvincing, with Lars drumming like a one-handed handicap, Kirk screwing up his own solos left and right and James slowly losing his once great voice.

But enough of all that, I for one was pleasantly surprised when 'Death Magnetic' came out. The year was 2008, slowly but surely all the once great bands were showing clear signs of returning to playing fast metal again. Metallica's 9th album is not a thrash metal album, but a max of heavy, thrash, groove and rock. There are clear influences taken from Load and Reload, as well as their older stuff. Heck even the lyrics are very much in the vein of 'St. Anger' released in 2003. This could have been a really great album, and to some extent, it is, but it has it's problems.

The first song I heard was "That Was Just Your Life", and boy was I pleased. James Hetfield was once a mighty rhythm guitar player, but after '...And Justice For All', he's barely put his skills to good use. "That Was Just Your Life" is a pretty effective opener, just what they had to do kick things off, if only just for the nostalgia of hearing them play fast again. I wouldn't call it a thrash metal classic but the main riff is simplistic but aggressive and catchy, reminds me of their classic 'Battery'. The lyrics are a continuation of the themes from 'St. Anger', more or less. Hetfield's vocals are almost nothing like himself from the first five albums, but definitely the best he's sounded since the 80's.

"The End of the Line" is a disappointment, especially considering this is the 2nd track. The second position is usually reserved for their best material (Just look at their classic albums). It sounds like a St. Anger outtake updated to fit in with the more 'metal' feel of this album. The lyrics are pretty bad as well. "The End of the Line" is a good example of a song that goes nowhere, it's bearable but not worth repeated listens. "Broken, Beat and Scarred" is similar, but has some surprisingly fast grooves. If Metallica had released an album between '...And Justice for All' and 'Metallica', this song would fit right in. Think 'Holier than Thou' from the Black album with the tighter playing of '...And Justice for All'.

"The Day That Never Comes" came as no surprise, this song is basically a modern version of 'One'. The song has an extremely similar buildup. However, compared to 'One', this song is more overtly melodic and overall, less heavier, the lyrics are more sentimental. Despite the fact this is basically Metallica just re-imagining and re-writing their proven classics, "The Day That Never Comes" is pretty good, the first part of the song may drag a bit, but the second part has some memorable riffs and multiple melodic guitar solo spots, while not technically mind blowing, Kirk Hammett does redeem himself on this album, it's what you expect from him and what he does best.

"All Nightmare Long" is a personal favorite, and is about as thrashy as this album gets. Even at nearly 8 minutes long, there's barely ever a dull moment. Riff after riff after riff, all mid-paced, rock-tinted thrash metal riffs and killer grooves. Brings back memories of "Disposable Heroes". The guitar solo is also pretty cool. I really dig the old-school flavor of some of the riffs, especially the really fast picking sections. The chorus and the pre-chorus parts are really long and infectious, and hard to forget, and even harder not to sing along. "Cyanide" is a misunderstood song, It sounds like a mess at first, but if grows on you with every listen. It's not a classic Metallica song, nor one of their best ever, but it has a few great moments and at least "Cyanide" sounds least like anything they've done before.

You'll either love or hate "Unforgiven III", I think it's surprisingly decent, even though it's a song that I don't feel like listening too often. "The Judas Kiss" is another one of the faster ones and has a pretty kick-ass set of riffs. Certain parts remind me of 'Master of Puppets', mostly the long-ass chorus part and the lyrics, Bow Down!, sell your soul to me!, sounds familiar? and other sections fit right in with the 8 minute long groove/thrashers of this album like "All Nightmare Long". "Suicide And Redemption" is sadly, a waste of time, It has a bunch of good riffs that could have been used in other songs with lyrics. Hetfield's guitar solo is also pretty good, but the bad parts overshadow the good ones. Not to mention, this is their most tedious and uninspiring instrumental song ever. "My Apocalypse" is like the 'Dyer's Eve' of this album, It's not one of my favorites as it just doesn't flow together that well. The mid-section has a solid old-school thrash riff that makes this song worth listening.

"Death Magnetic" is certainly not an all time classic or even one of the better albums of it's decade. It's more like an inferior version of Metallica's first five classic albums. "Magnetic" is a really good effort, some songs are good, others aren't. The production is awful, If you're the kind who listens to music on headphones, well, this album may just hurt your ears, it's really that bad. A solid effort and a return to form, but, unfortunately other bands have 2 or 3 albums that are as good as this one. One more problem, every time I hear a song from this record, I just feel going back to their older, better albums.

Man, I can't remember the last time I got compelled to write a positive Metallica review. I'd have to think hard on that one. So Metallica released an album after St. Anger. At this point anything from them would be considered an improvement. You know, Metallica are a band that can release turd after turd and still sellout shows. Just based on their first 5 albums they will carry that name to sold out arenas around the world until they quit.

I must admit when I heard 'This Was Just Your Life' I was pleased to hear them sounding revitalized again and sounding somewhat like the band that made them great. It's weird you know? When you almost think they sound better these days as a hard rock band than a thrash metal band. But that's what Metallica have been most comfortable sounding like for the last 15 plus years. They haven't done a thrash metal album since 1988 and outside of their live shows they stay clear from it. These guys worked so hard in the 80's as a "working man's band", a "people's band" and they were like us, struggling and hungry for success. The band on this album sound something like those days. Revitalized and reinvigorated, no mental breakdowns from the St. Anger sessions lurking about.

But the songs are average to be honest. Unforgiven 3 is forgettable and can we please just kill off the Unforgiven series once and for all? As we've all progressed listening to different bands, different styles and so forth. We've all moved on and advanced. Whether your taste is Nevermore, Lamb Of God, etc. Metallica have become stagnant, derivative (creatively speaking). A band who have been passed on by time. They are not cutting edge or even current. They haven't set the bar in decades now and they aren't the "hot" band for almost as long. In a way 'The Black Album' was their pact with the devil. Millions of dollars, millions of new fairweather fans, the good life, mansions, expensive cars all at the expense of true diehard fans and creativity.

Because in a way their creativity has suffered ever since. The game has passed them by, they're the kind of band if you're over 30 you say "I used to like them in high school" or if you're 19 and under you say "my dad used to like them when they were supposedly great." Kirk Hammett finally let's loose on this album and shows off his skills again. 'All Nightmare Long' has the thrash back on it, maybe it's just me but I'm tired of James' patented "ahhh". At this point I feel he's doing it because he's known for it and he's overdoing it on purpose. The metal version of Michael Jackson's "shamoan'd" or "hee hee".

Cyanide is also a nice track. But on the whole this album feels "forced". They knew they fucked up big time on their prior album and they needed to re-trace their steps back about 20 something years and copy it. These guys ran on cruise control the entire 1990's after their "big" album that they made releases that were done with their eyes closed and cashed in regardless. I give them credit for trying to make a good album. It's possibly the first time they tried and succeeded in 20 years. On their prior album it sounds like they tried, but forgot how to make metal music again and had failed miserably. They were walking on the mainstream and hard rock bandwagon for so long that I think they didn't even recognize their younger, hungry selves.

I can listen to the album and not cringe, so in that sense this album is a victory for them. For the younger kids out there, there's so many other bands out there to be excited about that do this faster and better. For the older crew this album shows promise and perhaps the band heading into the right direction. What worries me though is that this album does not sound effortless at all. You can tell they really dug deep to sound like a shadow of their former selves. Diehards will say this is a victory against the naysayers. it's more of a small victory. While you can't say Metallica are dead, this album keeps them on life support for a bit longer. At least until the next album 5 years from now.

So, here's the second Metallica album of the decade; boy, these guys are on a roll with their productivity. Yes, despite only putting out an album once every five fucking years, Metallica are still just about the most talked about metal band everywhere, for better or for worse - but seriously, there's such a thing as coasting on reputation, and then there's Metallica. I mean, it genuinely pisses me off. This kind of thing seems to happen with a lot of really huge bands and artists - new albums only once every half-decade, or worse in the case of Guns n Roses, for example. It's lazy and it doesn't make any sense.

But that's not why we're here, is it? No, we're here to talk about how good Death Magnetic is, so let's just dive right in. For a normal band, one that, oh, I don't know, sticks to a higher level of quality material and spiritual peace, it is usually expected that an album released after five years will be of a reasonably high quality, given the amount of time the band should have had to write it under normal circumstances (Human Fortress notwithstanding). However, for Metallica, expectations were significantly lower due to reasons that you can probably guess, and for that, I think the band did a pretty admirable job at meeting-slash-surpassing them.

Death Magnetic is the sound of a band sobered up and ready to get back to business after their wild, drunken night of streaking across a populated football field in St. Anger from 2003, and it's nothing if not adamant. The basic sound is heavy, angry modern rock/metal that doesn't really swerve off its linear path at all in its hour-long duration. The songs are generally very long and drawn out, although really, the main draw behind this album lies in the manic, bashing anger and vindictive enthusiasm the band put into it. This whole album may be a cop-out for the fans after they didn't like the band's previous direction, but I'll be damned if it isn't done with some real flare. The riffs here might be a little substandard at times, and the songs tend to drag on a little - okay, a lot - but this is just so cathartically delightful in its heavy, rocky riffs and aggressive shouting, and it is a lot more listenable than St. Anger at that. No, that isn't a good reason to praise this album, just on the basis of being better than its predecessor, but come on! "That Was Just Your Life" is a snarling, gritty ball-buster that just rocks out without pretension, and I dig the unbridled rage on display here - simple, bashing payback time at its best, this one is the soundtrack you'll be using the next time you go out for revenge against your enemies. Even the lyrics follow suit, being professionally trained babbling of the highest order. It's like they just made this shit up on the spot in order to sound as menacing and angry as possible. It's like how a bully would talk to you while he's surrounded by his buddies and you're all alone cowering in the corner. It doesn't matter what he says; he's just talking shit in the heat of the moment to make you piss yourself even more than you already had. Sure, it's a jumble of incoherence, but it gets the job done and sounds cool.

The whole album is kind of like that. "The End of the Line" is along the same lines (ha-ha), with James Hetfield's dry, Southern-twinged voice belting out vocal lines that are nothing if not completely infused with this blood-red desire for vengeance. Even the stomping "Broken Beat & Scarred" and the catchy groove-fest "Cyanide" have their charms along those same lines, with infectious hooks to boot. "All Nightmare Long" is the best song on this thing, simply because it takes the elements that were good about those other songs and amplifies them tenfold, with a prowling tempo and a headstrong set of riffs that always remind me of the movie Predator for some reason - it's just the general atmosphere of the thing; it sounds like Hetfield is about to load up his gun and go down into the marsh to fight off the alien. The groove here is just sinister as hell, very cool stuff.

And yes, I don't despise "The Unforgiven III," as it is actually one of the better vocal performances I've heard out of modern Hetfield - yeah, his voice isn't so good these days, but he put some real feeling into this one, and it manages to sound quite good despite the introductory pianos sounding like something out of a soap commercial. The music isn't always interesting, but the song doesn't turn out to be anything despicable.

"The Judas Kiss" is good, but too long, and "The Day That Never Comes" is fun at first, but quickly gets old, especially for the fact that it's basically the same thing as "Fade to Black," "Welcome Home" and "One." "Suicide and Redemption" is the only truly bad song on here, an instrumental that jerks itself off for nine minutes straight and leaves no real impression. There are some strange, out of place guitar effects here that don't sound right with the primal caveman thunking of the rest of the album at all. It's like an endless prelude to a climax that never comes (or a day that never comes, ha-ha), and by the time the short thrasher "My Apocalypse" rolls by and ends the album, you just don't care anymore. Cut this shit out next time, guys, and give us an album that doesn't wear out its welcome. For that really is the biggest flaw with Death Magnetic: it's just too long, and thus some of the bruising, pathological anger is lost in the fray of the elongated song structures.

I really do like this album, though, for all its faults. It's the big, bumbling drunk brother who comes to crash at your place after running from the cops. He's mean and he's rude, and he disrupts any sense of logical flow your evening may have had, but you can't turn him loose; he's your goddamned brother, and he is a lot of fun to play Nintendo with despite the fact that he's putting you in the line of trouble, too. Death Magnetic is, yeah, pretty much like that. When you get down to brass tacks with this scruffy and unruly customer, it really is an enjoyable album. It's got catchy choruses, heavy riffs and a nice, attitude-filled groove, and that is enough for me to endorse this. Metallica, good luck to you on your future endeavours, and we will see you again in 2013. Now to go wait for the next Iron Maiden album and grey my hair some more.

PS, isn't it lovely that they released more than half of this album as singles for those of you who already bought the album and wanted more? Delightful.

If there’s one thing I hate about a new Metallica album coming out, it’s the ridiculous amount of scrutiny that it’s going to fall under. More so than other bands that have the status of “incredibly well-known,” every aspect of a Metallica album will be pored over by their legion of listeners: from the fanboys, to those that have hated everything since the 80’s, to those wavering in between. And no album more than this one, the hotly anticipated followup to the disastrous St. Anger. Entitled Death Magnetic, the album aspires to be (as did St. Anger) a well-received return to form, with several introductory claims to back it up: long-time producer Bob Rock is out, famed producer Rick Rubin is in; the defanged logo is out, the old logo is back with a vengeance; the cover art is cool as shit. Certainly a band of Metallica’s stature would be able to live up to such claims…right?

My first impression of the album prior to listening to it (based on buzz and the early singles) was of a shallow return to form. Metallica, after all, are notorious bandwagon jumpers when it comes to trends. When thrash was no longer fashionable, the band jumped ship to hard rock for Load/Reload. When nu-metal was at its peak, they released St. Anger. Now, with a modern resurgence of technical heavy metal (thrash included), Metallica claim that they’re ready to strap on their boots and kick us square in the ass like they haven’t since ’88. Anybody who wasn’t skeptical at this was surely naïve, as they’ve promised this before. And after hearing Kirk Hammett claim to have been influenced by Trivium (he sucks Matt Heafy’s dick all through an October ’06 Guitar World interview (not literally, of course)), I naturally feared for the worst.

However my fears were a bit unfounded. Truth be told, Metallica have never strayed from form; they’ve merely reshaped that form to accommodate their current needs. At times this has produced less than desired results (Reload, St. Anger, “I Disappear”), but the material produced is nonetheless distinctly Metallica. As such, the first and most important thing I can stress about Death Magnetic is that it is distinctly Metallica. Aspects developed throughout their entire career surface here, from the devastating fury of …And Justice for All, to the compositionally solid, hook-laden metal of MoP or the Black Album, to the infectious groove of the Load brothers, to the dense, abrasive spatter of St. Anger, and occasionally even to the raw energy of their earliest material.

And so, being distinctly a Metallica album, it follows what has been historically the band’s primary directive: variance of style. There are several categories of songs on Death Magnetic and just as on past releases, they sometimes conflict with one another. Of course, it is the return of the thrash songs that are of most interest. Opener “That Was Just Your Life” is total “Blackened” worship, but damn is it refreshing. It is the first taste of the album as a whole and Rick Rubin’s production job, which is pretty good. The guitars are out in front and they’re fucking lethal, with abundant, vintage Metallica harmony passages returning to good measure. Vocals are the next focus and while they aren’t ideal for James Hetfield (to get that, you’d have to travel back in time some twenty-four years), they’re tolerable. It’s kinda like the more aggressive Black Album vocals with none of that “keep searcANNNN” bullshit from St. Anger. The drums are the third significant instrument in the mix. This is also good, as it maintains the album’s energy and gives the listener plenty of opportunity to hear Lars Ulrich’s signature drumming idiosyncrasies. People bitch about how they still lack definition; I say they resemble the strict, battering drums that sounded on …And Justice. Would you prefer the trash cans from the last album?

But anyway, that first song fucking slays. Easily the best track on the album and one of several throwbacks to the …And Justice For All album. One can go online to find some forum jockey point out far more coincidences than I could mention (ignoring “The Unforgiven III,” the tracklists synch up pretty well), but the diminished bass sound is certainly among them. Though not to the degree of Justice, there are few occasions where Rob Trujillo’s bass operates independently of the guitars. A shame if you ever heard him with Suicidal Tendencies, it’s one of but a handful of complaints I have against Death Magnetic. The others? In due time.

“The End of the Line” and “Broken, Beat & Scarred” represent the mid-paced contingent and upkeep the image of the album as a return to form. Lots of riffs, harmonies, and soloing to be found. Kirk Hammett still uses his wah pedal much more often than I’d like, but it’s no more than he did on the old records, I suppose (at least he solos at all). You hardly notice the guitars are down-tuned either, so pure is the riffage.

Indeed much of the album sticks to the heavy format, with closer “My Apocalypse” being the other speedy number and most of the remaining songs at least keeping an energetic pace. Of these, “Cyanide” is the grooviest number, a sort-of throwback to the Load era. Sort-of because it’s still pretty damn heavy and littered with harmonies and shit. Of course, there are a few one-offs present; it is a Metallica album you know. Firstly is “The Day That Never Comes,” the single that probably convinced most people whether or not they wanted to get the album. One of the “Metallica ballads” also consisting of “One,” “Fade to Black,” and “Sanitarium” (start mellow, get heavier, end heaviest), it probably wasn’t the best first taste for the consumers (that intro riff is misleadingly mallcorish). Here the drum sound convinced me that the song would not suck on the whole and it doesn’t, even if Hammett’s solo is a little contrived. “Suicide & Redemption” is another throwback, this time to the super-long instrumentals of old. It’s about as good as any of them, though I’ve never been particularly fond of the past ones. Just a bit too much of the same thing (this is mere seconds under the ten minute mark).

“The Unforgiven III” is probably the most out of place here. My second thought while listening to this song was of furious stylistic bigots racing to their keyboards in order to see who could bitch about it first. My first thought was that the song fucking rules. The piano intro, the string layers, the slow Load-ish tempo: this track shows that Metallica can still write with a little bit of feeling when the need arises. Honestly, I don’t think it should have arisen here (it’s the weakest song on the album), but it’s listenable. A sort-of interlude from the heavier remainder.

Overall, the album proved to be a surprisingly rejuvenated metal album, if not exclusively thrash. The only other big flaw I can find in the album is the lyrical content. Now while Hetfield was never exactly a poetic genius, he at least managed to deliver some clever wordplay and a relatable discontent. Death Magnetic keeps away from the personal crises of St. Anger, but it’s brash, death-centric lines come across about the same way. Obtuse or spastic at best (“Scorch….kill the light, Incinerate celebrity, Reaper….butchery, Karma amputee”) and downright retarded at worst (“What don’t kill ya make ya more strong”), the listener will find Death Magnetic’s lyrics to be far less….well, cooler than those of the past. It’s also a bit long to listen to in one sitting, clocking in near the 80-minute CD limit. I guess when you take several years to arrange and record an album, you feel obligated to cram as much music into it as is physically possible.

But shit, man, it’s relativity here. It’s the best Metallica album in the last two decades and, having given myself plenty of time to listen to and digest it (despite my initial post-St. Anger pledge of never again purchasing a Metallica album, I had it the day after it was released), it stands the test of time. Those waiting for the band to sound exactly like they used to will have to keep waiting ‘cause it ain’t going to happen, this is probably as close as it’ll get. Whether or not the album is a truly honest effort will be forever debated, but fuck it, I can listen to this album and actually enjoy it. Which is something I didn’t think I’d ever be able to say about a new Metallica album.

Whether or not you will like Death Magnetic depends heavily on what kind of metal head you are. For instance, if you think Metallica has not released a good album since Ride the Lightning, this album will only reinforce that conviction. (Same applies for people who think that Master of Puppets was Metallica's last good album.)

Let me break it down: If you like everything up to and including ...And Justice For All but nothing else, you probably won't like this album very much. However, if you love everything up to and including ...And Justice For All, and think that the Black Album is OK, but nothing special (like I do), and think everything else is garbage, odds are you will kinda sorta think that Death Magnetic is OK. If you only liked Load and ReLoad, this might be OK, but it's probably too heavy for you. If you liked St. Anger...I don't really know what you were thinking. In the end, the only type of Metallica fan this album will truly please is the die-hard one, the kind that will worship whatever the band does (maybe with the exception of St. Anger) no matter what that may be. Fans who have already been alienated probably still won't be changing their minds any time soon, although this album does seem to be creating some buzz.

But let's put aside what we already think of Metallica and review the album for what it is: a piece of music. And for what it is, Death Magnetic is decent. It's definitely not thrash, as many fanboys like to claim. It is definitely NOT a return to thrash. It's heavy metal at best, hard rock at worst, and only very occasionally devolving into St. Anger-like confused riffing (I'm looking at you, My Apocalypse).

Before I get into any specifics about the music, I would like to point something out about the production. It's terrible. At least one aspect of it. At first I thought it was a lame attempt to sound raw (I had heard that they cut this album to tape like the old days, instead of using Pro Tools), but I found out that it was really a lame attempt to sound loud. Apparently there has been a war going on in the music industry to produce the "loudest" album. So, yes, all of the tracks on Death Magnetic have been brick walled to the point of distortion, occasionally getting very annoying, and it definitely reduces the audio quality a great deal. It is especially noticeable on the drums.

Now let's get to the music. Much to my relief, Hammett's solos are back, and most of them are very good. Some of them go on a bit too long, and recycle a bit too much, but for the most part they add a nice touch to the songs.

The problem with most of the songs is that they sound forced. It's obvious that Metallica wanted to make a return to their glory days, but just couldn't. Many of the riffs are reminiscent of old ones, not in a good way, but in a that sounds a little too familiar way; indeed the entire song "The Day That Never Comes" sounds as if the band tried to rewrite "One" (albeit more in structure than riffage, with only one blatantly obvious self-plagiarizing riff). The song is actually a highlight of the album, as it would turn out. The second rhythm riff sounds like it could have been the child of "Fade to Black", although the song should have ended a little sooner, with the end soloing/instrumental part dragging on too long for it's own good.

Most of the songs are good for an occasional listen, but I don't think I'll be going back to them as often as I will to Master of Puppets or ...And Justice For All. "The Unforgiven III" is strangely unsimilar to either of the previous Unforgiven songs, the only commonality being the heavy verse/clean chorus song structure.

I was excited when I learned that an instrumental track would make an appearance on Death Magnetic, something the band hadn't done since 1988. I was ultimately disappointed, however. "Suicide & Redemption" isn't a bad song, but it doesn't capture the intensity or complexity of "To Live Is to Die", "Orion", or "The Call of Ktulu". "Suicide & Redemption" sounds like more of a jam, which is nice in that it is fairly progressive in some ways, but not polished enough to live up to its predecessors.

James Hetfield's vocals leave much to be desired. His affection for a more melodic singing style remains, and just doesn't fit the musical style or lyrics. I don't think anyone ever thought Hetfield was a good singer, but he used to be a very good vocalist. The growls that can even be found on most of the tracks on the Black Album would have suited this album much more. The lyrics are even worse, often ridiculous. Too often brutal for the sake of brutal. While singing about mangled flesh and rotting corpses might have suited Slayer, the lyrical themes just don't go well with Metallica now, and never would have.

Really, though, none of that matters. Unless you are new to Metallica, you probably knew what you were going to think of this album before you bought it, didn't you? Such is the way of fans. Neither extreme of opinion is really right. It's not terrible, and it's not a return to thrash metal godliness. It's pretty good music but it's not really good metal. It's not a step in the right or wrong direction, it's just a step in a direction. And since it doesn't compare to anything else they've put out before, what it really boils down to is whether or not you like this new direction.

Metallica’s newest record, Death Magnetic, is a rip-roaring return to classic form, and re-establishes the band as the reighning kings of commercial Heavy Metal. Impressive guitar work, progressive song structures, and lyrics dealing with themes of death and redemption are elements that echo the late 80’s ‘golden’ era of Metallica. Specifically the progressive thrash classic ‘…And Justice For All”.

Since their landmark commercial smash “The Black Album” in 1991, Metallica have been caught in a creative and popular decline that has lasted over a decade. This trend reached its climax with the disastrous St. Anger in 2003 and the release of an all- too revealing documentary titled ‘Some Kind Of Monster’ in 2004.

In The years since, old school metal has experienced a major resurgence in popularity. This can be attributed to the appeal of bands such as Avenged Sevenfold and Trivium, both of whom consider Metallica to be their biggest influence. Another factor in this phenomenon are the video games Guitar Hero and Rock Band, who introduce hordes of new fans to the music of hard rock and metal bands everyday.

The public’s newfound interest in heavy metal prompted Metallica to dig themselves out of the creative grave and redeem themselves with a record that brings new life to the monster. In September 2008, they released the incredible ‘Death Magnetic’. Tracks such as ‘That Was Just Your Life’, The Judas Kiss’, and the album’s frantic closer ‘My Apocalypse’ are all evidence that Metallica still possess the thrash metal chops that made their first three albums masterpieces within the genre. ‘Cyanide’ and ‘The End Of The Line’ are a bit more mellow and rocking songs, but are just as effective and memorable, having melodic and fluid verses that flow into catchy choruses that sound larger than life.

Perhaps the greatest song on the album is the incredible ballad ‘The Day That Never Comes’. Beginning with a touching vocal line and lyrics dealing with lead singer and guitarist James Hetfield’s troubled youth, the song picks up near the end, before evolving into an all out assault complete with an impressive guitar solo from lead Guitarist Kirk Hammet. The song is similar to their grammy award winning epic ‘one’, which appeared on ”..And Justice For All”.

The album isn’t without its flaws though. ‘The Unforgiven III’, while not a terrible song, doesn’t quite live up to the power and beauty of its predecessors, ‘Unforgiven’ and ‘Unforgiven II’. ‘Suicide and Redemption’ is a ten-minute long instrumental that seems overlong and plodding in some areas, but still features marvelous guitar playing from James and Kirk.

Redemption plays an important part in the lyrical and musical themes of this record. The advertisements promised Death Magnetic to be ‘The Return Of Metallica’, the record that would rescue Metallica from the grave they dug themselves into over the years. That’s exactly what this record represents, the redemption of Metallica, the rebirth of their creativity, and the hope for new life and music to continue in the future.

Overall, Death Magnetic is an exhilarating dose of Metal that seems custom fit for the changing culture of the new millennium. It is the true return to form the fans have been waiting for, complete with thoughtful lyrics, riffs, and actual guitar solos. With a running time of 75 minutes, this record reveals new secrets with every listen, and never grows dull or old. With a North American tour planned for this winter, the future seems bright for Metallica, fans can only hope it doesn’t take another five years to produce a follow up.

Metallica's "Death Magnetic" was always going to be one of the hottest topics in metal - even in music in general - of 2008. After the roundly-criticised "St Anger", there were legitimate questions about whether a band which had once been a defining influence on the entire genre had finally succumbed to age and artistic irrelevance. Of course, it wasn't an overnight process, this fall from grace, and every man and his dog has a different theory about precisely when the band jumped the proverbial shark, theories I don't propose to discuss further here.

So what matter of album is "Death Magnetic"? Well, as a great many reviewers have pointed out, it's not a classic along the lines of the band's early great work. To expect that would be misguided in the extreme. One of the major flaws in the much-touted "thrash revival" going on around us at present is that it seeks to emulate a world in which the last decade or more of musical evolution hasn't taken place. Had Metallica attempted such a project (were it even practically possible without sounding silly), the result would have been greeted with knowing smiles from those who remember the bad old good old days and reservations would have been made for them to open for the Rolling Stones on their next "farewell tour". In short, it would have been a disaster, but a much more charming one than the last disaster.

What "Death Magnetic" is, then, is a very good album, and possibly even one of the best of the year depending on one's personal tastes. It can definitely stand up against the early classics, but only on the condition that it isn't seen as a pale copy of any of them. The album achieves its goal of salvaging Metallica's reputation, even if it disappoints those who were expecting it to burnish said reputation.

The majority of the tracks here are surprisingly strong, particularly when we consider that the songwriting genie seemed to have left the band alone on their previous outing. There are choruses which are just made for singing along to, even if the lyrics are slightly peculiar ("All Nightmare Long", for example), but of course Metallica aren't the kind of band I listen to for deep and meaningful lyrics. That said, brickbats for the rather generic chorus of "Cyanide/I've already died" in "Cyanide".

James' voice also seems a lot more present than in "St Anger". It's hard to explain it better than that, but the effect is that he seems to care more about what he's doing than he did on that album. That characteristic bark of the band's earlier glory days is back in full force, even though he occasionally seems to be getting stuck in lyrics from their mid/late 90s period. While "All Nightmare Long", as mentioned earlier, features rather odd lyrics, they're definitely given spirit by James, whose declaration that "Your luck runs OUT-AH" speaks volumes about a return to form whenever I hear it.

Musically, everyone's back on the same page as well. As others have remarked, this album sees the return of solos - which are duly inserted into every track at least once. It's also an album which is played fast for a reason, rather than being played fast because the band feels it has to. There are mellower moments, "The Unforgiven III" is one such, but in general the band finds a rattling pace and sticks to it.

One of the real highlights here, in fact, is the instrumental "Suicide & Redemption". From my perspective, this is one of the clearest indications that the band likes what it's doing again, as there are all kinds of interesting riff and solo ideas thrown out here by both guitarists and the nearly 10-minute length of the track zips by in a moment.

Yes, there are some rather generic riffs thrown into some of the songs, too. It would be foolish to think that everything here is an absolute winner, and some riffs patently are not. What matters, though, is that the good outweighs the bad with interest.

Have Metallica released another bona fide classic? Of course not. The torch has been well and truly passed, and rewinding the past decade and more is something we can't do, even if we want to. What they've done with "Death Magnetic" has been to demonstrate that there's still life in the old dog yet. In years to come, this will be an album people can look back on and recall as yet another important signpost on the road this band has travelled. I'm sure I'm not the only one hoping that it points in the direction of increased relevance, rather than being a detour.

The release of Death Magnetic is like watching a new, good sequel to 1986's Aliens. Like the band's Black Album, Load and Reload, Alien 3 was good but not without its share of faults, and Alien: Resurrection, well, my putting it as the equivalent of 2003's St. Anger speaks for itself. However, should James Cameron put out a new sequel to his sci-fi action masterpiece, it would be like Death Magnetic – nostalgic, refined and entertaining. Death Magnetic truly proves that Metallica is still a very alive metal band, ditching the sound of their albums since 1991's self-title blockbuster and creating what could have been released just between 1988's heralded …And Justice for All and 1991's aforementioned hit.

Just as told by Dr. Phil Towle, who accompanied the band's recording process of 2003's trashy St. Anger, their newfound appreciation of life and each other comes forth on display on this next release. And, although it's been five years since we've heard any new material, this one was well worth the wait. It's a more mature, very hungry addition to the band's "four masterpieces", taking elements from both their 80's stunning achievements, blending them with a bit of Load-ish elements right here and there and creating an all-together half-fresh, half-nostalgic sound that's more pleasurable than anything they've put out in twenty years.

Some of this can be attributed to James Hetfield feeling that, what he's learned from the recording of Load and Reload, is that he'd rather create an album with nine or ten excellent song than two albums with thirty songs, putting all of his expression and creativity into a denser, more concentrated album with absolutely no filler material. Speaking of Hetfield, the riffs on this album are incredible. The E-chug might be back with a vengeance, but that's the signature Metallica sound and that's a sound that hasn't been released as new material for twenty years. His playing is tight and intense, and the riffs themselves heavy and enjoyable.

Another part of Death Magnetic's success can be attributed to long-time sleeper Kirk Hammett finally hitting the metal notes again on every song on this album. Gone are 2003's solo-empty snorefests – on every song on this album Hammett plays a solo, and he's all over it. His fast style is back, for better or worse – those who have never liked his style won't be turned over by his work here, yet those who do appreciate his emotional playing will be caught with a grin from ear to ear smeared all across their face.

The most predictable thing on this album is Lars Ulrich's drumming. I've never been a fan of Ulrich's playing and, just as with Hammett's solos, Death Magentic doesn't change a thing. Besides some interesting tempo changes and crazy beats on songs like The Judas Kiss and Cyanide, Ulrich's playing is almost wholly monotonous and uninteresting. Unfortunately, the presence of Robert Trujillo on bass is only rarely felt, to no fault of the band's. The gang was in Europe when Death Magnetic was mixed and mastered, and the result is a bit painful. Everything is very loud and epic, but the loudness war has been lost here – everything is so loud that at times the album sounds a bit fuzzy and the bass is sometimes inaudible. However, most times the album sounds just fine and huge, and the music is so good that moments of bad production can be overlooked, just as with the band's very own Justice album.

Death Magnetic features ten tracks, sharing a structural similarity to Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and …And Justice for all, starting and ending with fast songs fun to bang your head to, a ballady track as track #4, an instrumental right before the end, and this time, another ballad thrown in somewhere in the mix. The opening That Was Just Your Life would probably be the most grin-inducing moment for a fan since Blackened. Hetfield's rapping, aggressive vocals sound more like they did in the 80's (as well as the guitars, which are tuned back to E standard) and the chorus is violent, melodic and explosive, just as you'd expect from a Metallica song. The vocal hooks, excellent riffs and Hammett's solo set the stage for the solid, consistent experience that is Death Magnetic. The beauty of it is that this opening track is the perfect representative of the experience that you're about to have when you pop that white CD in. if you like it – you're in for a rush. If you don't – stop right here.

From this point onwards, the album keeps its momentum and has so many moments where it shines, the mind of a Metallica fan might boggle. It could be the Fade-to-Black-meet-One feel of the intense The Day That Never Comes, the surprisingly middle-eastern All Nightmare Long (featuring one of Metallica's best choruses thus far) or the odd rhythms of The Judas Kiss. It may just as well be the incredible, subtle orchestration of The Unforgiven III or Hetfiel'd amazing lead guitar through the mid-section of new instrumental Suicide and Redemption. – every song has something to it that sets it apart from its album brethren and even from the entire Metallica back catalog, whose inspiration on these song is clearer than the sun on a summer day.

There are elements throughout the entire album that are so in place here, like the middle-eastern influences, Hetfield's combination of melodic and angry singing, amazing harmonizing guitars, fucking with structure and just experimenting with the old and the new, that simply make Death Magnetic a new, instant classic. Admittedly, the album is at times so sophisticated that you can't take all 75 minutes of it in just one listen. You'll have to give it time to grow on you, and grow on you it will if you just let it.

It's also cheap and has very fancy, interesting packaging, and the lyrics have the name James Hetfield written all over them, talking about death, betrayal, different inner struggles, confusion and suicide and featuring some of his lame puns that we've all come to expect ("the son will shine"). Just as anything else on this album, if you've never been a fan of Metallica's discography, Death Magnetic won't do anything to change that.

At the end of the day, Death Magnetic is a rousing success. Everything that Metallica tries to do here, they nail it. They go back to the E tuning, the dirty vocals, the fast guitar solos, the sophisticated structures and mix them all with what was good about the Load era (I'm one of the believers that Load and Reload had some excellent moments) to create the sound we've all been waiting for. It's a new metal album from the biggest metal band in the world, and their hunger seems just as it does upon listening to Master of Puppets. Mix melody with heaviness, pour a handful of amazing guitar work and add a grain of bad production and you get Death Magnetic – an instant, if slightly flawed, masterpiece. Two thumbs up for Metallica for this incredible release. Way up.

Metallica - Death Magnetic hit the stores in 12.09.2008 which I had waited for a long time already. I knew I'd like the album so of course I went right away to buy it. I have followed this new 'Tallica CD session very carefully for several months, so carefully that only the people on these forums would know more about this situation than me. Yeah I'm kind of a Metallica fanboy because they were one of the first metal bands I heard and anyway their albums have always had at least some good stuff on them. Even Load & Reload had a few good songs and St.Anger, while really weird and different, was still actually pretty good for what it was meant to be (I'll review it some day if I feel like it). So it's no surprise I was expecting Death Magnetic to be good, especially when there was all that comeback hype around it.

However, then the first songs leaked. "The Day That Never Comes", "My Apocalypse" and "Cyanide" in said order. And let me tell you, after I heard the 2 first ones from those I was completely convinced that Metallica has actually returned to their roots. "The Day That Never Comes" being exactly like "Fade To Black", "Sanitarium" and "One" and "My Apocalypse" having the real "Damage, Inc." thrash esque in it. More songs were leaked through radio and at the end Metallica put the whole album on their website for free listening. All this happened before the actual release date.

But damn I love this album! These songs are long, the riffs sound cool, the choruses are catchy and solos brilliant (not always though). Death Magnetic has been called "a mix between Master Of Puppets and St.Anger", "the missing link between And Justice For All and Black Album" as it has also been hailed to be Metallica's return to thrash. Well, what's sure is that this album is actual METAL, not mainstream hard rock like Load & Reload nor is it nu metal influenced like St.Anger. Death Magnetic is fucking metal. And very good metal too. There's quite a few songs that are clearly thrash fucking metal like the first 2, All Nightmare Long and My Apocalypse and there's also some half-way thrash songs like Broken, Beat & Scarred, The Judas Kiss and even Cyanide. Then we have an instrumental and the 2 ballads which are The Day That Never Comes ("One" worship) and The Unforgiven III (guess what this one worships). Some of the song names and lyrics are pretty random but no one really listens to music solely for good song titles and "meaningful" lyrics....fuck that shit.

One thing different to St.Anger is that Metallica has finally allowed Kirk Hammett to play some solos! And he proves very clearly that even after Metallica's hard rock years he still has it. He still likes to use that wah-pedal but surprisingly he has reduced it a bit, like some solos on this album (The Day That Never Comes) are completely void of any wah-pedal use. Very catchy solos can be heard on the album, especially in the instrumental song "Suicide & Redemption".

Oh and the riffs. Fast paced tremolo picking and palm mutes can be heard as well as quite many cool power chord riffs too. Some are complete headbanger stuff (the first track, when that fucking riff kicks in....definitely one of the coolest single noted thrash riffs in history) and some are more melodic. There's clear choruses in every song and they're made catchy as hell, my favorite would be the one in All Nightmare Long...this one's straight out of the fucking 80's man!

Oh yes and like I said, there's also an instrumental track on this album (their old records had one so of course they had to do it here too). This song ”Suicide & Redemption” is an almost 10 minutes long mid-tempo song and includes lots of enjoyable guitar solos as well as good bass solos too. It gets pretty boring after some time especially when the whole album is so damn long too, but it's still pretty good for occasional listening (although I'd recommend you to play Call Of Ktulu, Orion or To Live Is To Die instead of this one any day).

It's not all the way trying to be like this band's old stuff though, some moments on this album sound a lot like the Black Album and even Load. For example, the song ”Cyanide” is the closest thing to Load since....uh...Load. But unlike Load, this song is still metal and not complete hard rock. It's all well put together though and makes this album very enjoyable. There's so much the old 'Tallica to it, yet there's still new. It's like they revisited their entire discography and then threw in some completely new ideas as well. For example the song "The Unforgiven III", there is piano and some symphony in it. Only time I can think of Metallica using this stuff before is Nothing Else Matters (and of course S&M but that wasn't a studio album) and that's why this song really surprised me. Starting with a piano intro then adding some violins into it and violins can be heard in the chorus too. And then before the solo kicks in you can hear how the heavy symphonic part kicks in. I definitely haven't heard them doing anything like this before and it's great that there's something like this on the album. The symphonic part gives this song a heavy as hell atmosphere and reminds me of the keyboard moments Iron Maiden has been using in their latest albums. Hell yeah, I enjoy this album so much.

Now let's move on to James Hetfield and his singing. He certainly sounds different here than before. Yeah, we know Hetfield got his puberty a bit later (lol) but there's more to it on Death Magnetic. James' singing is now more shout-like and similar to Tom Araya (from Slayer) and that makes him sound way more angry than ever before. On St.Anger he was mostly yelling and grunting angry as hell but there was also those off-key parts (like on The Invisible Kid "oooooh what a good boy you are") which sounded just ridiculous and stupid (and even I can't excuse them). But now there's none of that here, it's all just straight forward aggression non-stop. The clean vocal parts (like the whole intro to The Day That Never Comes) are still mellow and soft but when he gets really going...

Yes and then we have Lars Ulrich and his drumming. Drum sound isn't bad although it's not the best either. There's no klonk klonk snare like St.Anger but it's still pretty damn loud. As for the playing itself...now we all know he's not technically very talented, but he has actually improved a lot over the past few albums. He got really sloppy in Metallica's huge infaous sell-out era for some weird reason but on ”Death Magnetic” Lars surprisingly sounds pretty much as good as he did in his old 80's days. Good fills here and there, decent speed held up and some nice double bass parts can be heard (check out All Nightmare Long for some serious metal drumming). Seriously it's like everyone in this band has now improved and pushed themselves just to sound good on this record.

I also need to point out these "new songs" Metallica played live in 2006. These were two punkish untitled songs which actually never found their way onto a studio release, except the intro from the first "new song" used in "The End Of The Line" (because The End Of The Line is definitely BETTER than that weirdo song).

Then one thing we gotta talk about is the production. It's not as garage like as St.Anger and the haunting SNARE is now gone but instead Rick Rubin did something else to this record that can get to some people's nerves. Death Magnetic is mixed REALLY LOUD, everything is mixed high as if they tried to put EVERY instrument on the top of the mix. The amps run at full power and the gain is turned to maximum. There's so fucking much clipping on this record that some parts sound so distorted and clipped that you'd almost think there's something wrong with your speakers. Take the ending of the first track it sounds like everyone in the band is just trying to be fucking louder than hell. Lars beating the fuck out of his snare with crazy double bass all over the place, guitars strumming power chords and James Hetfield yelling on the top. Yeah Metallica won the loudness war....now what?

The production can get annoying when listening to this whole record but it's still not the end of the world or anything. You can still get past the mixing like I did because the music itself kicks so much ass. Besides the production here isn't weak like Justice and doesn't reduce the power of the music at all, if anything it actually enhances the force. Even if it goes quite a bit over the top. The loudness factor also makes this record sound pretty garage-like but I like it that way. Raw and uncompromising sound is always better to me than that sterile and stupid crystal clear Roadrunner production that every modern band (even some old ones like Cradle Of Filth, Megadeth and Testament) loves so hard to use these days.

All in all, Metallica is back. Death Magnetic is easily the strongest Metallica album since "Justice" and it succeeded to restore my faith towards these guys. Not that I had lost my hope for them completely but to know that Metallica can still do what they did in the past 80's makes me feel really good. It also makes me very glad that I bought this album the exact day it was released.

Ran out of words here...I think I'll just go listen to some Metallica again.

I’m going to open this review up with the usual Metallica apologist line- Metallica have (almost) never pandered to anyone. Black Album aside, there’s been a series of albums that have been somewhat adventurous and annoying to many a fan.-Whether they were getting bigger and bigger prog-thrash boners, or going down a strange, experimental mix of shitty hard rock and awesome balladry, or dropping the particularly irregular shaped turd that was St.Anger, Metallica haven’t tried to please anyone. Well, except for the black album (which is really messing this intro up, oh well).

But see, said integrity was starting to grate pretty hard. I loved the Loads, but St. isn’t something I look back on with a good deal of fondness. Luckily for us, then, Metallica have decided to take a bit of a left turn with this release. They’ve sold out, they’ve pandered to the market, they’ve whored themselves to their fans. And damn, it’s about time.

Yeah, this album is the “hey we’re really sorry about the last few albums guys, have a blowjob” sort of thing that I would’ve considered a bad idea if it just didn’t sound so good. There’s a bit of every Metallica album here- these guys have tried to cater to every different fan, and I think they’ve done a pretty good job. Whether it’s the groovy, hard-rocking and Load-ripping Cyanide (far better then any of the lame rock tunes on that album), the dyers/damage clone of My Apocalypse, or the balladry scattered around here, it’s all completely unoriginal and it sounds totally terrific. Hell, their’s even the occasional bit of St.Anger here, particularly in End of the Line. Move over Trivium, there’s a new (and remarkably accurate) Metallica rip-off band in town!

Seriously though, this stuff is pretty damn cool. It’s not very original, with the possible exception of the new Unforgiven (bit of piano and strings; first time since NEM if I recall right), but fact remains is that this has James Hetfield writing heavy riffs and Kirk Hammett soloing his ass off, so it’s going to be good. “Broken, Beat and Scarred” is a decent enough summary of this album- it will probably get a lot of hate as it’s groovy and has a lot of stupid lyrics, but regardless it’s still a sickeningly anthemic song, with some excellent black-album-esque riffing and a fairly complex, AJFA-ish arrangement. “What don’t kill you will make you more strong” isn’t some sort of Shakespearian refrain, but I haven’t heard Hetfield this pumped up in a very, very long time, and the pre-chorus/”Show Your Scars” bit is crushing- in terms of “riffs that make me go absolutely nuts” this is a hard one to beat.

The catchy Black/AJFA/Load thing continues throughout and for most of the time it sounds great. I’ve mentioned “My Apocalypse” already but it’s worth mentioning again; a fairly weak verse and chorus is made bearable by an epic mid section that any thrash band would love to have. Fast, catchy and super heavy - and with a sizeable debt to Slayer, not something you’d normally hear from Metallica but welcome nonetheless. The first track is also excellent in all of it’s AJFA-ish epic scope and mid paced thrash/heavy perfection. No one likes a track by track review, so I guess a simple “tl;dr” summary of most of the tunes are that there’s almost always a horrible intro and terrible lyrics (less “metal” style lyrics, James, you’re heading down the self-parody road) but that’s made up for by killer riffs everywhere else, a catchy chorus/refrain/shouted word, and an overall inspired, energetic feel. (“Yay, we’re finally writing songs that people will let us play live!”)

Indeed, the whole band sounds tight and like they‘re having fun. Lars’ drumming has gotten more and more simple but it’s fast, straight forward, enthusiastic and fairly on-time. Generally those requirements are enough to suggest that Lars is an adequate drummer, so why knock him any more? No awkward fills, just straight ahead drumming with a bit of extra snare abuse. Trujillo’s somewhere in the mix adding a bit of rumble, but (as with basically any Metallica album) the real joy to be found is in the two guitarists. Kirk- possibly the best wah-abusing guitarist with philippino ancestry ever- is in good form, whipping out some fairly shredding moments and not overstaying his welcome.

But it’s James that makes this album as boner-inducing as it is. Granted that’s a bit of a given; St.Anger excepted old Hetfield’s been fighting it out with Goku from DragonBallZ and Jesus for the top spot on my “Most awesome dudes ever” list, and this record may just put him on top. He’s spoofing riffs all over your face (and in your ass? Maybe?), he sounds angry and passionate again (despite my early claims about this being an obvious sell out, it’s hard to say that when you hear him sing) and overall he just reminds everyone that there’s a damn good reason why he’s one of the most recognisable frontmen ever. Again, most of his lyrics (Unforgiven III being the main exception, I guess) will likely get you cringing, but it’s just good to hear the James we all love and know back- not really singing, just shouting quite tunefully and with that awesome burly-man tone that he does so well.

It’s not all perfect, James-lead awesomeness, though. The Judas Kiss has a killer chorus but will likely be remembered as the tune with the most awkward intro ever; Unforgiven III is probably a little bit too much of a confessional, and could use a few better riffs here and there - but it‘s got some decent lyrics and James sounds pretty soulful, so I can‘t really dislike it. However, Suicide and Redemption is a real turd of a song; no memorable riffs, and the first four minutes (some seriously uninspired riffery, here) was probably the longest four minutes of my life. Uninspired mid paced stoner trash, it really screams “Hey, the fans demand an instrumental, let’s put one on!”

And the fucking production! I’m not a big fan of cussing in my reviews, but who the fuck mastered this? Merzbow called, he wants his square waves back! Constant clipping every time a snare hits, no dynamics whatsoever; this makes ‘Californication’ sound like an old classical recording by comparison. (Those not sure what I’m talking about would be advised to wiki “Loudness War”). It’s fatiguing, headache inducing and makes the whole album (which is not a short listen) a real struggle to get through- it’s a shame as the mix and recording, while a bit dry, is quite acceptable.

But hey, perhaps the stupidly overloud mix was the one part of the album where Metallica did not want to take your load in their/it’s (no idea if you refer to a band as singular or as a collective) mouth(s). Referring back to my introductory spiel- this is a huge sell out, but if the band wants to bend over for me then that’s fine; ‘tis better to give then to receive like we all did with St.Anger. It’s a career-spanning retrospective with not a lot of real daring or innovation; but despite that (or perhaps because of it) it’s a killer, super entertaining thrash/heavy/hard rock album that pretty much anyone will enjoy.

Just as anyone expecting a second 'Painkiller' by Judas Priest this year, people crossing their fingers in hope for anything remotely sounding like Metallica's four earlier 80's works in 'Death Magnetic' will be disappointed to say the least, even more so after all the hype that was built around this release.

'Death Magnetic' sounds like a cross between 'And Justice For All' and 'The Black Album', with some good pinches of all the crap they released since then thrown in and stirred. Rick Rubin has done miracles and improved the band's sound - no trash can lid snare, as it has been mentioned - but some things can't change or come back. Hetfield still seems to believe he can really sing and annoys everyone with his post-1990 vocal style. Lars never ceases to surprise us by showing what an actually poor drummer he is, especially when compared to other drummers in the genre, in a performance that inspires pity and not awe. Hammet is soloing again, which is a relief, but he just doesn't seem to have the genius or creativity of older days, with very few truly memorable moments. Trujillo plays the role of bringing us a Metallica album in which the bass can be heard, which is a feat in itself, but doesn't do anything special, which brings the word 'waste of talent' to mind.

What about the songs? With repetitive and 'groovy' riffs, although heavier than anything the band has released in the past 20 years, and long songs surpassing the 7-minute barrier neeedlessly, it is impossible to call 'Death Magnetic' a thrash metal album, save very rare and brief moments. The first three or four songs follow this formula, without forgetting long introductions in an attempt to build up momentum. The lyrics are poor and with some political content here and there, and the attempt to do something in the vein of 'Damage Inc.' with 'My Apocalypse' is valid, despite not coming even close and the horrendous chorus, just as instrumental 'Suicide and Redemption' doesn't come even close to anything like 'Orion', sounding more like a riff they had no use for and thus decided to turn into this song. 'The Day That Never Comes' tries to be 2008's 'One', despite Lar's incompetence. 'All Nightmare Long' has the best intro, taking us back to the 80's for the first time - and sounding a bit like Slayer in the process - but the riff soon breaks down and turns into more of the same, not helped by Hetfield's voice, which comes in and ruins everything with no aggression or balls. 'Cyanide' is the total garbage track on this album, since nothing can be saved on this one, unless you're into halfassed quasi-pop riffs and vocals, while 'The Unforgiven III' comes as a surprise, since it is actually better in many ways than its predecessors. 'The Judas Kiss' is just heavy rock with more lame vocals and no appeal, pretty tiring overall.

Compared to 'St Anger' this is a magnificent CD, but that really doesn't mean much for anyone truly into thrash and who's been listening to these guys since the early days. One can't blame it on their age, for many bands from that era are still around and making great music. The bottom line for me is I still do not like post-1990 Metallica, and you're lucky if you do, although this album is superior to the previous ones and to 80% of what has been glorified in the media lately... In terms of thrash, better stick to Slayer, Exodus and Kreator, or one of the new bands, for Metallica's millionaire uncles just can't pull it off anymore.

Usually ‘great’ bands are automatically subjected to more rigorous analysis from critics than their mere mortal peers. Metallica, the usual (mainstream) critic’s choice for ‘metal band I’ve allowed myself to like, so stop bothering me about that genre please,’ has basically been the exception to this rule since (approximately) the 1997 release of Reload. Prior to that record, and the band’s subsequent vacation from actually composing new material, Metallica were the subject of credible criticism that demonstrated the potential to really dig into where the band were as artists, and where they might go. Some of the most interesting metal criticism I’ve read dates from this period, when it seemed Metallica might finally drag heavy music back to legitimacy. Since then, mainstream critics have simply lost interest in actually interacting with this music. Each new Metallica album is greeted positively and then forgotten, forgotten so thoroughly that by the time the next Metallica album arrives these same critics describe it as a comeback and significant improvement over the previous one, and then proceed to give it virtually the same grade the last received. Where then, does one go for legitimate Metallica criticism? Embittered metal fanzines? O’ poor babe in arms, for there be the realm of the depressingly literal-minded, the lunkheaded punter wolf in an academic’s woollen smoking jacket. Hardcore Metallica fans? An unbiased view, nowhere in sight.

And somewhere, twixt the reviews-by-rote and the riff-counts-in-review-form, arises the new Metallica album, Death Magnetic. One might assume from the first paragraph that I’m planning on doing some kind of self-important master-class lecture to show how criticism of Metallica ‘ought to be done.’ Not so! For this album is the first since the self-titled to be exactly as it appears. There is none of the intriguing collision of personality that made Load and St. Anger so fascinating, no experimentation that reveals itself gradually over many listens, no question as to what the intentions of this seventy-four minute marathon are. Metallica have simply been kicked in the teeth so many times that, finally, they have acquiesced to the begging of their fans and gone somewhere they’ve already been before. Your bitching has finally broken them and, at times, it does almost seems like a good thing to have a new Metallica album to pop into the player and just listen to without feeling challenged to find reason (or even justification). It’s familiar ground, with that Metallica smell you’ve known since puberty, something like cummy sweatsocks, incense and vodka. But alas, such familiarity is a breeding ground for the blackest of contempt.

Metallica have waxed and waned in ways both subtle and profound since they last cut a thrash record, and with Death Magnetic they’re playing to strengths that have atrophied significantly in the past twenty years. It was unfair to compare Load to Master of Puppets because in every respect they were meant to be different records; Death Magnetic so adamantly slots itself in next to their original masterpieces that it’s impossible to judge the album in vacuum. Where classic Metallica songs were often long, it was because each track was stuffed to the brim with ideas, ideas paced to perfection, seldom overstaying their welcome and each inspiring headbanging satisfaction like few other bands ever could. Death Magnetic songs are long because old Metallica songs were long, and people really like old Metallica songs. Songs as swollen as Ulrich’s prostate are the order of the day here, the chugging amelodic “Disposable Heroes” seemingly being the primary template for interminable bores like “The End of the Line” and “Broken, Beat & Scarred”. I’ve heard it said that every song here feels two minutes too long, and while that’s not always true, on an album this long that’s probably accurate as a rough average. And God… look away from “The Day That Never Comes”, one of the most baffling choices for a single 2008 has yet seen.

It’s easy enough to draw further analogues to the length issue in every aspect of this record. There were instrumentals on old Metallica albums because the band had compositional ideas that were ill-suited to conventional song formats, so they wrote pieces that were almost classical in scope and construction. The new one has an instrumental because they always used to do instrumentals, and as a result the battery-drained “Suicide & Redemption” winds up a bigger waste of ten minutes than anything they've previously coughed up, in spite of some Hammettian heroics. At least “All Within My Hands” and “Invisible Kid” were fascinating car wrecks. Hetfield’s lyrics used to be angry because his life was in turmoil, a turmoil caused in part by the grating falseness of ‘80s popular culture. By now, you can guess why the lyrics are angry on Death Magnetic. This piffle isn’t the work of the lyricist who so memorably blossomed on Load; it’s that same lyricist twelve years later, denied artistic relevance and reduced to lines like “Searched the seas of gold/How come it’s got so cold?”. Hell, even the overly loud, bass-less production might be some kind of perverse throwback to their earlier work.

There are bright spots, however, and virtually all of them can be found on the second half of the record. Kirk Hammett absolutely lights it up every time he steps up to the plate, blistering highlight coming midway through the otherwise uneven “The Unforgiven III” (which, as an aside, sounds at times like what the original might’ve been, had it been on Countdown to Extinction instead of the Black Album) and generally reinstating himself as the king of shredders with limited chops. “All Nightmare Long” sports a truly infectious chorus and some monster truck rally riffing and “The Judas Kiss” borders on the tech-thrash mania of old, while unfairly maligned advance single “Cyanide” is a masterpiece of late game hurry-up offence, a decent groover that tightens up into a righteous Egypto-thrash rave-up. Most remarkable of all is “My Apocalypse”, not because it’s the best song on the album (though it’s close) but because it’s really the closest Metallica come to sounding like they used to. It’s not significantly worse than, say, “Damage Inc.”, and it’s also more pointedly traditional thrash than anything that has come out of the big four this past decade.

But if the most remarkable moment on a Metallica album is the fact that it happens to be thrash, the experience (for me at least) becomes rather hollow. Is this better than St. Anger? Probably, but I won’t listen to Death Magnetic half as often as I did that record. Bereft of the adventure Metallica’s previous modern-era efforts have promised, the potential that even the most disastrous of songs could grow and appreciate, we’re left with a record that is all style and no substance. And so, maybe this will unite the mainstream critics and those fans just looking for a record that isn't hiding any nasty surprises. For me though, I’m struck by the feeling that, for the first time ever, Metallica don’t care if they’re advancing. Excellent though it was, …And Justice for All found the band beginning to hint that everything was becoming thrash-by-numbers, and to their credit they decided to make a change. Twenty years ago they knew they didn’t want to make this record. And now they have.

Stand-Out Tracks: “All Nightmare Long”, “My Apocalypse”, “The Judas Kiss”

We finally have the new Metallica record that will supposedly show the world that they are back and on top of the metal heap, which is what I'm sure the fanboys and clueless music media will proclaim. Well Death Magnetic is more metal than they have been since the Black album, and it’s not terrible, but it’s not great either.

There are some good riffs here and there, some good solos, and the drums are better than on St. Anger at least. The bass is mostly lost in the horrific production. This is a poster boy for the loudness wars. Songs like That Was Just Your Life try to channel the old Metallica power but come up just a bit short in the end. Lars drums a bit better than he has since the Metallica album, but that still isn't saying much if one has gotten used to listening to real masters behind the kit. The drums are a bit high in the mix but not enough to make one annoyed. Thankfully the snare does not sound like a trash can lid being hit as on St. Anger, kicking Bob Rock to the curb was the best move the band has made in 20 years, Rick Rubin at least got them to play some decent metal again, avoiding the mainstream rock of the Loads and the nu-metal styling of St. Anger. On the guitar front Kirk shreds on some solos but his tone and wah heavy sound are still the same so if you don't like that you probably won't think he does much good here. Hetfield’s rhythm playing is pretty tight for most of the album, giving the riffs good weight but they just aren't the very satisfying to listen to. None of the riffs have anything to make one think there is that much staying power to these songs. Listening to the vocals James tries to get a bit of the classic Hetfield growling bark back but still slips into his terrible clean voice of the past few albums too much.

The main highlight is the final track, My Apocalypse. It’s fairly thrashy, with some good riffage and pretty strong lyrics. This song opens strong with a cool riff and then the drums kick in the song doesn’t let up. If the whole album had been this good it would have been a higher rating, probably in the high 70’s but I don’t think they have enough left in the tank to write a whole album like this. A third Unforgiven track makes an appearance here but like the others is totally forgettable. The first single, The Day that Never Comes, is just a rip of their prior ballads, Fade to Black and One, but unlike those songs it is very mediocre with no real hooks to draw the listener in, I found it a bit jarring in places. An issue with some of the songs on here is the length, most of these could be cut by a couple minutes without losing anything. Long does not mean epic or progressive guys.

Ultimately this sounds like a band trying to be Metallica again but just coming up short since they just aren't that band anymore. Musically it is probably a mix of the long Justice songs with the mostly thrashless playing of the Metallica album. And while it’s good enough technically it’s just lacking the riffs to make it memorable. It opens strong, and finishes strong; too bad the middle section mostly goes nowhere.

Standout tracks. This Was Just Your Life, My Apocalypse.

There is a surreal aspect to experiencing a Metallica album, perhaps because of the absolute difficulty involved in trying to hear what is put forth with an iota of objectivity. Who can honestly talk about this band with another person without having to take into account the media factor, their incredible popularity, and all of the other nonsense that hasn’t shit to do with the music? It could be said that the experience of listening to “Death Magnetic” is a test of sorts. And the trial set forth being can one actually ignore the rest of the world and hear the album for what it is.

Surprisingly enough, after hearing this album I’m going to have to disagree in part with the sentiments of the bulk of the online community. “Death Magnetic” is fairly similar to “Master Of Puppets”, in the sense that it seeks to try and merge a lot of differing elements together and comes out extremely uneven and stylistically all over the place. If you consider each song individually, it’s easy to find yourself utilizing the skip and repeat buttons fairly often, as I’m sure many people would use the former for “The Thing That Should Not Be” and “Leper Messiah”, while also employing the latter for “Battery” and “Disposable Heroes”. And like the largely hailed 1986 release, most of these songs tend to be a little too long for their own good.

Naturally due to what I believe is an undeserved legendary status being given to that album, I’ll instead recommend you compare this to Machine Head’s recent alleged thrash album “The Blackening” or maybe Pantera’s “Reinventing The Steel”. Although like “Master Of Puppets” those albums had a better production than this dead, hollow, half-assed modern mixing job; they both contain this misguided desire of trying to incorporate groove, yet keep the songs stretched to near epic time length, despite the obvious monotony or meandering that will result. Even for an all out progressive metal outfit, having an album where only one song is less than 6 minutes long can be a big red flag waving so close to your face that the pole it’s on knocks you upside the head.

Now some might be inclined to ask what could be wrong with the production, since this obviously can’t be the mess that “St. Anger” was. I couldn’t really figure it out myself at first, but for some reason this album sounded extremely hostile to my ears, so I dug back into Metallica’s history to understand what was causing this. Throughout the 80s up until 1991 there was this practice that was likely due to the analog technology of the time where reverb was used to augment the sound of every instrument, resulting in something fairly similar to what is heard when you see a band live, but without the crowd noise. To an extent, this atmosphere survived in the 90s material through the drum and vocal production, though it was canned when it came to the guitars, as everyone was going for this so called organic rock sound at the time, which I personally found revolting.

By contrast, what has happened here, in the aftermath of a botched attempt at sounding raw on “St. Anger”, is a reversal of the 90s tendency. The guitars have regained the thickness and aggression that they have lacked for 15 years, although the lead guitars have taken on a slightly mellower flow than the high end thinness of Kirk’s soloing heyday in the 80s. The drums, in turn, have taken on this extremely dead sounding, cardboard meets a plastic bucket sound common to many rock outfits today where there is basically no center or sustain to the sound. This is entirely due to going for this horrid concept of an organic drum sound, which is also the approach taken with the vocals, resulting in every flaw in Hetfield’s aging and tortured voice being front in center. Most people don’t notice this because they’ve been conditioned to accept this as a normal recording practice in the past 10 years, but if you listen to anything up until 1992 by this band, you can tell that the disconnect production wise is pretty fucking massive. Some people might be okay with this so-called organic and sonically perfect sound, but the results I hear is fairly decent metal music that has had all of its soul and atmosphere gutted and mummified into a dry heap of bones instead of what could otherwise have been a full body of sound.

But when you step closer into the forest and begin to examine the individual trees, some of the music on here does suggest a return to form of sorts. In terms of speed and implied aggression, this album doesn’t fall too far from having similarities to “And Justice For All”, though production wise the resemblance is non-existent. Elements of earlier works are also present to a lesser degree, while a lot of elements of the slowed down style of “The Black Album” take form. Sometimes it results in a fairly solid song that can push past the production issues, even morphing into an all out thrash fest, while at others things either come off as disjointed and confused or even bring out the production flaws to the point that any merit to the song is lost.

The songs that really shine are the ones that seem to go for the latter half of Metallica’s better days. The obvious winner is the album’s opener “That Was Just Your Life”, which contains this great atmospheric, almost doom-like guitar intro that misleads the listener into thinking that might actually be a genuine reform to form happening here. Although when the drums come in the production problems loom and the vocal job that follows has some issues, the song just continually kicks ass and throws out solid riff after solid riff in the typical Bay Area thrash approach. “Broken, Beat And Scarred” and “The Judas Kiss” have elements of better days mixed in with some occasional modern rock elements, mostly resembling a faster version of “The Black Album” in overall style, though sounding closer to a heavier version of “Load” in terms of production. The closing song “My Apocalypse” is a straight up thrasher mostly in the “Battery” fashion, but without the acoustic nonsense at the beginning. If it weren’t for James’ lackluster yells and Lars’ horrible drum sound, both of which are extremely exposed due to the production of the album, this song would have solidified a true return to form.

Much of the rest of the album doesn’t really deliver what most are probably looking for in this album. “The Day That Never Comes” and “Unforgiven III” are two rather poor attempts at revisiting two rather similar sounding ballads from Metallica’s past, namely “Fade To Black” and “The Unforgiven”. The former comes off partially like a “Load” ballad mixed with some quasi-thrash ideas towards the end and featuring an opening riff sounding a little too similar to a U2 song, while the latter can’t help but remind me heavily of a boring as hell “Stone Temple Pilots” song with a piano in it. Both of these bring out the worst elements of the drum production issues and are practically un-listenable. “The End Of The Line” and “Cyanide” are annoying as hell mishmashes of groove and modern metal, both offering very little enjoyment for someone looking for 80s Metallica.

When you tally up the ratio of good music to bad music, this is the best thing that Metallica has put forth in 17 years. However, when you compare the garbage that was put out during that time, this is hardly a major accomplishment. This is not a thrash metal album, nor does having 2 or 3 mostly thrash songs and a couple solid heavy metal songs even give the appearance of it being that. As a groove metal album it’s a hell of a lot better than 85% of what the genre has put forth, but again the comparison does not equal something that can be called great or exceptional. But if you wish to delude yourself into thinking that this is the return of the old Metallica, there just might be enough good ideas spread out in here to keep the illusion somewhat sustainable.

I guess the media acceptance of this band and the false comfort that some take in it is the ultimate reason that people continually hold out hope for Metallica to bring back thrash metal, because this album’s thrash credentials amount to an over-hyped lie, and one that is even more egregious than the one Robb Flynn tried to perpetuate last year. If you take this for what it actually is, it’s not terrible or without any merit, but the way this has been stuffed down people’s throats by the entertainment media is downright offensive and I’m not playing into it. If you want to blow $17 or more buying a poorly produced, overlong, half-hearted, half-thrash album then go right ahead, but wiser men would wait a few weeks for the bargain bins to start filling up.

Originally submitted to (www.metal-observer.com) on September 12, 2008.

When I first heard that Metallica was going to be releasing a new album, I had my doubts about it. Especially consider the amount of shitty albums they have released in the last 15 years. From the alternative/bluesy borefest of Load/Reload to the nu-metalish pseudo-heavy sounding St. Agony (as Mr. Boris referred to it as) which featured the *bong bong* noises of Lars banging on a trash can and Hetfield's god-awful "oooooohhhhh!!!" singing complete with down-tuned guitars and no soloing, many thought that this band was finished. Hell, I was even convinced that this band was never going to release a decent, more to less good album ever again.

Then, recently I heard The Day that Never Comes on the radio, and I thought, "Damn! This song is actually pretty good." Since then, my hopes for the band had become more optimistic. I thought that Metallica might actually make a decent album after all. Hell, they even went back to their old classic logo which was a sign.

Then, just last night actually, Metallica were generous enough to leak the new album on their website before it's release (Kind of ironic considering the whole Napster thing.) So I gave the album a listen, and I was to say the least, impressed. Metallica, for the most part anyway, are back. This album proves that they still know how to thrash. Not only that, but Kirk Hammet's guitar playing is pretty awesome, and is the saving grace of this album. Plus, his and Hetfield's riffs are pretty good as well. It's mainly the guitars that make this album, considering that the vocals or the druming obviously, isn't really that good.

Production wise, this album reminds me of Judas Priest's Jugulator minus the drums. It has the heavy yet crunchy tone of that album without sounding too groovy. The guitars were produced nicely. Though, the drums as mentioned before are too loud in the mix. Eh, at least we don't have that trash can sound anymore.

The highlights of the album would have to be This Was Just Your Life, The Day That Never Comes, The Judas Kiss, the instrumental Suicide & Redemption, and especially My Apocalypse. The Day That Never Comes starts off mellow, but towards the end speeds up and thrashes just in time for an awesome solo from Kirk. I'll say again that Kirk's soloing is nothing short of amazing. His solos here are very memorable despite what the last reviewer said. He doesn't even resort to using the wah pedal either unlike in the past. This song reminds me of Sanitarium with a bit of One mixed in as well. A lot of metal fans didn't like this song, but I'm proud to say that I enjoyed it.

The Judas Kiss and My Apocalypse are the thrashiest songs on here. My Apocalypse especially is the highlight of the album, showing that Metallica hasn't forgotten how to thrash, and those who thought otherwise are wrong. It's similar to Battery and Dyers Eve, as it's fast, angry, and aggressive. Suicide & Redemption is an amazing 10 minute long instrumental that doesn't get boring. Once again, Kirk's soloing is amazing to say the least, and even the riffs are pretty good. I say it's up there with Orion and To Live Is to Die.

All Nightmare Long would kick ass if it weren't for Hetfield's annoying "yeeeaahhh!!! "ooouuutah!!! singing. The rest of the song displays a very song sense of thrash. The guitar and drumming sounds very thrashy, almost like something out of Overkill's early 90s material.

However, there are some lackluster songs on this album as well. Cyanide and The Unforgiven III are easily the worst songs on the album. Cyanide sounds like something out of the Load/Reload era except a bit more tolerable. It's a pretty mediocre metal song to say the least. The Unforgiven III is yet another half-assed ballad. It proves that Metallica should not be writing ballads. They don't have the emotion nessacary to make memorable and enjoyable ballads. However, those are the only two really mediocre songs on the whole album. Everything else on here is pretty damn good.

For the most part, this album proves that Metallica are back. It's a major step up from Load/Reload, and even The Black Album and the overrated And Justice For All. I'd say it's their best album since Master of Puppets. It's not the most consistent album, and there are better albums out there from other thrash bands, but it's still a pretty solid album considering that the band that made it hasn't made a decent more to less good album since The Black Album. I just bought this album today at my local Best Buy for $10, and I'd say it was well worth the money.

If you only like Metallica's first four albums, then they're may be a few songs that you'll dig, but if you liked The Black Album as well, you might find this album very enjoyable since it's pretty much a mix between The Black Album-era Metallica and their classic thrash era. If you're a Metallica fan, then what are you waiting for? Get this album now!

Right from the start of 2008 one would know that September would be the month to look out for. Not only because of Metallica’s first release in five years but also because there were a hundred other releases to look out for. Here have a look at the possible releases this month: - “Iced Earth”, The pioneers of power\thrash metal coming forth for the last release of the trilogy of the ever so famous “Something Wicked This Way Comes” series will be releasing “The Crucible Of Man”. Amon Amarth, the band whose popularity with respect to Viking Metal is almost unchallenged (except by “Bathory”) will be releasing “Twilight Of The Thunder God”, which will be interesting too after the attention they so successfully achieved after their last album. Apart from this you have thrash giants “Metal Church” and new comers “Psychotic Terror” coming up with new LP’s in the same month, and it doesn’t stop here. Evergrey, All Shall Perish, Omnium Gatherum, Batllelore, Haggard, Falconer, Enslaved, Trivium, The Haunted, Poisonblack and Andromeda will all be releasing new stuff this month.

Of all the months this year this month also has maximum diversity in the releases with releases in every possible genre and sub-genre in metal. There are releases in melodic death, folk, power, thrash, black, orchestral/symphonic, metalcore and gothic metal. Thus not only is a band competing with the quantity and diversity of bands they are also competing with quality because most of the bands are very well known in their respective genres. So be it any band, even Metallica with the largest fan base in metal history, even they had to put out a strong release to stand up high amongst all these bands. Hell, if you consider all spheres you also have the duo of Robert Di Nero and Al Pacino acting in a movie together for the first time since 1995, whose release date is this month too… but I guess I’ll stick to the music here. Big month, huh? Sure Is.

The expectations and speculations about Metallica’s began way back in the June of 2006, which is more than 2 years back when they played two tracks (The New Song and The Other New Song) live for the very first time. This was followed by the band creating so much hype in every possible and unimaginable way to make this release single-handedly one of the most awaited albums of all times. The band opened a new site (Mission Metallica) to keep fans up to date with every minute update related to the new album. The band released the album title ALPHABET BY ALPHABET, which took over a month and yet another month to release the album artwork. Such was the hype that they managed to create that everyday millions of people would log on to this site just to get a glimpse of the new alphabet. This created so much traffic on the site that even crashed a couple of times. Metallica were once again in control of the entire music world but this time they had not even released the album yet!

Being an avid fan of the band since God knows when I too was part of this huge mass of hype-blinded people but after a while this concerned me. It occurred to me that not only were the bands creating hype but also increasing the expectations ten-fold. So that meant if Metallica released a bad album, the fan’s expectations would turn to anger and this would result not only in disappointment but also both the media as well as fans crushing them with a lot more force than they would have had the band not created the amount of the hype they did. Creating hype can be a double-edged sword and was the sharper side pointing towards them? Was the band making a mistake this time by creating too much of hype, a little for them to handle?

We started hearing stuff from the new album in August when the band started releasing ten to fifteen second instrumental samples from each song of the album. Even though one couldn’t reach a conclusion after just hearing material that lasted a few seconds a few things were made loud and clear. The guitar work though was pretty good and so was the bass. The stuff was pretty heavy, the heaviest they had done in the last 20 years and they had certainly returned to their roots, and not those roots they said they’d return to when they did St. Anger. But still all this still did not answer one very major question. How did James sound now 5 years after his dismal performance on the band’s last LP?

The first track we heard was “Cyanide”, when it was played live in Texas in August itself. I personally was expecting quite a lot more than what the track had offered to me. James sounded bad, Lars was trying a little too hard to sound as good as he did on”… And Justice For All” which resulted in a mess, Kirk was still using the wah-wah a lot and well he didn’t play it well. The saving grace for me was Trujillo and his bass. His bass lines and riffs were pretty damn good and catchy. Yet, I was very disappointed and gave myself hope that it would sound much better on a properly and professionally recorded CD and decided not to jump to conclusions though I felt that if the album sounded like this then the sharper edge of the sword actually pointing towards the band and this time more menacingly.

The first official track we heard off of the album was “The Day That Never Comes” and like expected it had mixed reviews. I personally loved it and it was the best work they had done since their self-titled work. The bass was good, James’ riffs were great as ever and if not the entire album Kirk was sure as hell back in the 80’s blasting out solos like there was no tomorrow. As for the negatives, Lars’ performance and his drum work. He almost ruined it for me. The thing I was looking out for was James’ voice and as expected he sounded different. He sounded way better than what he sounded on the last album and there were some moments on the song where he sounded really, really great. The next official release were the singles “My Apocalypse” and “Cyanide” respectively. My Apocalypse, it seemed that the band had taken a leaf out of the book which they named as “Kill ‘Em All” and once again the pros and cons were the same. Great guitar work, awesome thrashy solo by Kirk, good bass and mediocre work by Lars are what can describe the track. Even though he sounded good for some time like during the first 30 seconds he sounds really bad after that. The second last official single was “Cyanide” and I was over whelmed. This sounded so much better than the live version. Everyone, yes everyone including James (with respect to the vocals) and for a change even Lars did a great job on the drums. Now for the very first time I felt that the band actually come out with a release that would be up to the expectations of the millions of the fans. The last official single off this album was “Judas Kiss” which features 2 epic soloing and possibly the best, most catchy chorus the band has done since a long long time.

Well as for the album as a whole, it honestly surprised me, as I wasn’t expecting something this good. “Death Magnetic” was called the missing link between “…And Justice For All” and the album, “Metallica” by the band. This best describes the album because it the perfect blend of the technicality and guitar solo driven sound of the former album and the radio-friendly, catchiness of the Black Album. Tracks like “All Nightmare Long”, “Broken, Beat & Scarred”, “That Was Just Your Life” and “The Judas Kiss” though embrace the technicality and complex song structures of the “Justice Era” infuse in the catchiness of the “Black Album Era” be it in the form of riffs but mostly it is depicted in the form of the vocals and mostly during the chorus.

The album starts off with the track “That Was Just Your Life” with a sound of a heart pumping, possibly the heartbeat of the millions of fans worldwide waiting for the most awaited album in recent history or maybe the band itself, who this time do not want to make a sequel to their last album. What follows this is mind-blowing, skull crushing, adrenaline pumping, ear splitting, signature Metallica, the Metallica we love. As one crushing riff follows another and the dual intricate soloing of Kirk and James hits the listener one can only try to sit down and not jump with joy to the fact that the band indeed have returned and not to the roots which they said when they made “St. Anger” but the real old roots, to the “Master Of Puppets” and “…And Justice For All” roots. Trujillo’s bass is audible and awesome. Lars too plays extremely quick and fast, managing to keep with the speed picking of James, the love of which he has regained once more. This speed and aggression doesn’t end here. With the same power and momentum starts the extremely heavy and catchy riff of “The End Of The Line”. This too boasts of catchy riffs, intricate mixtures of solos and Rob’s monster of a bass line. This multiplied by Lars’ drum-work only makes the listener even more anxious for the track, which follows, “Broke, Beat & Scarred”. The evil track name is not let down by the track itself like its previous tracks is quite lengthy clocking in at near 7 minutes of pure unadulterated thrashiness. As James screams out the lyrics (Rise/ Fall Down/ Rise Again), it only brings to mind the possibility that this about the band itself aiming at their monumental rise and fall in the music industry, and as James says the words “Rise Again” authoritatively you cannot but accept the fact that the band has like a phoenix from the ashes risen and is flying up high in the sky.

This is followed by the first single off of the album “The Day That Never Comes” which is total worship of the heavy metal anthem “One” right from the song structure, to the machine gun riffs as well as the music video which like “One” is based on war. The track “All Nightmare Long” is one of my favorite tracks on the release. The band described this album as something like “… And Justice For All” and this is the reason why. This song has a lot of transitions and I mean a lot of them including four different transitions in the first two minutes alone. Also there is this part on the track near the 5-minute mark where the band suddenly ups the already fast tempo and goes into another gear altogether. There is this crazy, insanely fast riff backed with Lars’s double bass (yeah the old horse still has speed in those legs of his!) and this makes this memorable track even more memorable. “Cyanide” starts off with a bang and ends with one too. The star of that track you ask? Rob Trujillo with the catchiest bass riff I’ve heard in a long time. The track, which I was waiting for the most, was “Unforgiven III” and as expected it’s the ballad on the album. This song is NOT anything like the previous two songs of its kind (Unforgiven and Unforgiven II). Why? Well, firstly, because it’s way longer than any one and them and secondly and way more importantly the band uses pianos and violins on this track! Can you imagine that? The track starts off with a piano intro and also features violins at times during the track. It also features the longest solo on the album with Kirk playing it once using the wah-wah pedal and once without it. The instrumental “Suicide & Redemption” is pretty heavy for the first few minutes but the highlight of this track, which once again features Trujillo’s meaty bass lines and Kirk and James dual solos is when the band suddenly takes it a bit slow and melodic. The track, which lasts almost ten whole minutes, ends with the solos of Kirk and the riffs of mass destruction by James. The last track is “My Apocalypse” and is the thrashiest track here with the band taking a leaf out of the book which we all know as “Kill ‘Em All”. The solo in the track there once again by Kirk is the highlight there.

Now I will briefly describe the positives and negatives of the album. As for the negatives, Lars’ inconsistency in drumming and his drum set. Yeah he does dish out some pretty wicked drumming on the first three tracks of the album and “The Judas Kiss” but this is pretty much it. The remainder of the time he just sounds crappy and out of sync with the whole band. Also, the drum kit of his even though doesn’t have that “trash can” sound isn’t that great and it seems as if he is playing with is broken. The most important thing for a great album is that it always starts of with a bang and sure as hell ends with one. This album starts with an explosion but surely doesn’t end with one. The last 35 seconds of the last track ruin the track and my opinion of the album. Had those final few seconds been edited or removed as a whole the track, the album would be better. So, is this the best album the band has done in twenty years? Yes. Is it the worst production the band has encountered in 20 years? Yes. The production is downright bad and something not expected of a man of caliber like Rick Ruben who has worked with the biggest names in the industry like Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Danzig and AC/DC. It would have so much better if the production would be better.

As for the positives, there are many. James’ voice even though isn’t great there are some moments and some tracks where he sounds really great. What he has lacked in vocals he has made up for while playing the guitar. He has regained his love for speed picking and has come up with crazy, in your face riffs. The band this time kept their word and unlike the last album really gone back to their roots. The true stars of this album though are Kirk and Rob. Kirk, it seems has been in hibernation since the last two decades and like a snake suddenly jumped on the prey with all its force and more. His has shredded his heart out and compiled brilliant solos be it using the wah-wah pedal or not. Rob and his bass is another thing, which is worth a mention. He has played his bass like a monster, come up with catchy, technical bass riffs and lines.

These drawbacks make what could have been a great album, into a good album. Despite all the precautions that were taken the album managed to leak in Paris when a shopkeeper there sold it before the scheduled date and as expected it spread like a fire in the forest on the net. I’ll be honest and I confess that I downloaded the leak and heard it. Hell, I started the review on the 5th of September and the final draft ended on 7th, still five days before the scheduled release. I was really impressed by the album and even though I have the leaked version, I am now waiting for the 12th when I actually will be standing the queue waiting for a copy of this LP, as I sure will be buying it.

Let’s get this out of the way right now: This isn’t “The return of Metallica!”. Some may well proclaim it as such, but no, it isn’t. This isn’t their 80s material again, though there are parts of it, as I shall come to. However, the more important mistake in the above proclamation is that they never left, and many need to remember that: Metallica have always been an ever-changing band, and continue to be such. Death Magnetic is, all told, a solid addition to their catalogue. It has some meh tracks that don’t do much, it has some that are fantastic, and it has a lot of reliable, fun metal songs. Yes, metal, because that’s one way in which you could say “They’re back”, in that this is the most “metal” album they’ve done in a long time. That doesn’t mean it’s inherently the best, because “metal” doesn’t automatically equal “good”, but as it happens I do personally think this is their best work since Black Album.

Straight comparison with their 80s work is ridiculous, the band has long since moved on from that, and if anyone really expected a return to Lightning or Puppets, well more fool them. No one’s really got an excuse to bash the band for not making “Puppets II” anymore. What they have done is very nicely put together all their past styles. There are elements of the thrashy Metallica, elements of the accessibility of Black Album, the southern-rocking of Load/Reload, and the rawness of St. Anger. I can see what they mean about a mid-point between Justice and Black Album too.

A more valid comparison would be to the likes of Corrosion of Conformity or later Overkill, rock-tinted metal with emphasis on post-thrash groove riffs and smatterings of thrash in a less aggressive form. Also, if we are going to compare it to previous albums to give an idea of what it’s like, the song structure is firmly between Justice and Black Album: it’s got catchy choruses aplenty and a general verse-chorus structure, but in the style and riff-play feels more like Justice. The sound is closer to modern Metallica, with the rough edge of Load and St. Anger, but it doesn’t have the bluesy meandering feel of Load and Reload, instead it feels more focused and set down in structure. It varies in pace, sometimes thrashing (yes, thrashing), sometimes working at a more mid-pace groove. The songs work well as a whole, because they feel much less jam-session than St. Anger, more planned and well produced (thanks I’m sure in no small part to Rick Rubin, who’s also done a smashing job with the mix, Rob is very much there and it all sounds clear). To call it a “thrash metal” album would be stretching it: there are some thrashers and plenty of faster riffs, but in all it doesn’t fit that. But it’s certainly a lot more so than Load or Reload. It’s thrash-esque, done in the modern rock style, not quite as rock/accessible as Black Album, as the song lengths should tell you, but not with as much filler either.

Enough general chatter though, a few specifics I think. The best bits: All Nightmare Long is great and thrashy, easily the best track on the album simply because it never stops working. It comes with a truly irresistible chorus (I don’t care if the lyrics aren’t great, it just fucking slays), solos that flow beautifully into it, and a simple yet effective pause before the final chorus that tops it all off nicely. Oh and bonus points for spotting the inserted section that many had already heard in the preview “New Songs”. The other “thrasher” is My Apocalypse, although it’s not as thrashy nor as effective as Nightmare, but it still delivers. In particular the mid-section is good, and between them Apocalypse and Nightmare add some much appreciated pace.

That Was Your Life is fun, the fast vocal delivery works well with the core riff, and James does great work in this song in particular. The guitar tone is excellent too, works very well at setting the album up. Judas Kiss is a mixed bag, with a good mid-section, great chorus and build, but it lags in between, with some of the riffing feeling somewhat wishy-washy. It feels a tad overly long, though not as much as the one that follows. The Unforgiven III will no doubt draw a lot of early pre-emptive criticism just for being called what it is. In truth, it actually doesn’t sound anything like the previous two Unforgiven songs (as opposed to how similar those two sounded to one another), and it makes me wonder why they called it what they did. It’s very much the soft piece of the album. James is good for it, his voice carries plenty of emotion, and uses the right inflections without sounding like he’s crooning, and in all the song builds a lot better than Day That Never Comes, becoming progressively more powerful until Kirk lets rip with a gorgeous solo. In all, it’s a good one, adding softer variety to the album without feeling crowbar-ed in.

Obviously the album is not without criticism or bad points though: at times the songs do feel like they go on a bit, the opening three tracks do drag to an extent: Broken, Beat & Scarred continues in the same manner as the two tracks before it, but while it has a good beat the lyrics just don’t work; frankly, they’re cringe-worthy. End of the Line is just fairly average, a groove-based rocker with an intro many should recognise from “The New Song”. A few of the riffs are uninspired, it must be said: Cyanide, for example, is just plain boring, as many have already concluded from early youtube videos. Also, while Day That Never Comes is good, it doesn’t work that well as an epic builder (a la One, Sanitarium, etc) because the flow from soft to heavy doesn’t work so well, although it also feels like what they were aiming for and is less of a problem for the album as a whole when the other songs are taken into account (Unforgiven III provides more of the gradual building power).

Suicide & Redemption is an odd one. In it’s own right, there’s nothing wrong with it, but as the instrumental of the album it just doesn’t work. It feels like just one of the other songs, with the vocals taken out. Instrumentals like Orion and Ktulu really FELT like instrumentals. They were great, meandering beasts that strode along confidently and immersed you, you couldn’t add vocals to them, they worked in an inherently different way. S&R just doesn’t have that, although there’s nothing actually bad about the music, and around the 5 minute mark and the end, it does start to feel a bit better. It kind of illustrates that while the playing style on Death Magnetic is fine on it’s own, it really doesn’t work so well for a 10-minute instrumental.

All told, Death Magnetic delivers the goods, with the only really bad track being Cyanide, and plenty of goodness elsewhere. If nothing else, I don’t think anyone could argue it’s worse than St. Anger (and, as my review of that album suggests, I didn’t even mind it much). It certainly suffers a few hiccups along the way, and is far from perfect. It’s true James’ vocals aren’t as good as when he was young, but nor are most peoples’, and like the more modern sound of the album, it shouldn’t come as a surprise nor be worthy of criticism (using the same criticisms for album after album really doesn’t work, sorry). As some have already noted, Kirk is not only very much back, but is making up for his lack of presence in St. Anger, with solos aplenty and most of them pretty good too.

To sum up: if you’re expecting a return to 80s Metallica don’t look here...actually, don’t look anywhere, because it’s not going to happen and you’re a fool to expect it. If you haven’t liked anything Metallica have done since then, this shouldn’t come as any surprise to you and you’ve no reason to act disappointed, indeed it's a puzzle why such folks still listen at all. If you didn’t mind (or maybe even liked) Black Album and (Re)Load, then give it a whirl. Death Magnetic represents the next step in a band that is always evolving, and is a good solid blending of older style and influences with new, feeling much more refined and well laid-out than its predecessor. It still retains its aggression, but without the repetition, lack of variation between and weak flow of songs, and low production. A very good addition to their history, which sounds like a band just having fun naturally and doing what they do best.

Is it one of the best metal albums of modern times? No. Is it one of Metallica’s best overall? No. Is it one of their best of the past two decades, and the latter half of their discography? Why, yes. Drop preconceived notions about “what Metallica is”, and enjoy this album in it’s own right, because there’s plenty to enjoy. It’s a fun ride, even if there isn’t any lightning involved.