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Metallica's instrumentation is far better than what they've been trying to feed us with their last four albums. They haven't quite restored the edginess they had when they were young, but who knows if that could ever happen. My main thought was this: James used to sing with sorrow. He sounded like he was trying to get a point across. Now he sounds like he's trying to make money. However, his singing is actually quite good in comparison to the vocals on the other recent albums. The engineering decision to use AutoTune on him was a bad one. I'll leave it at that. The engineering isn't the WORST I've ever heard, but I made better mixes when I was an amateur. The kick drum is equalized incorrectly and it makes subwoofers distort and flap before they can even begin to start putting out any notable bass. The bass guitar? Basically non-existent. The only time I could hear it is when he was the only one playing, or when the over-compression popped him through the spaces between the drums when the guitars were resting. The overall mix is SO COMPRESSED that it is audibly distorted to even the most untrained ear. It's quite sad. This is a collaboration of some of the most famously talented people in the music industry, which took YEARS. How on God's green Earth did no one notice that the album was over compressed and had a bad EQ job? It's mixed better than their eighties albums, but nowhere near as punchy and tight as the self-titled album (not saying anything about the music on that album). I've done nothing but talk smack about Metallica for the last decade. I hated their "new sound" featured on "Load", "Re-Load", "St. Anger" and whatever that other one that sucked was called. This album is highly rooted in their old sound, with some of their maturity added to the song structure. It isn't their best by any means, and I'd absolutely love listening to it if I weren't constantly reminded how much I hate the mix. Why so cynical? It's Metallica. I expect a lot. If you wind up wildly disappointed with this album and feel like you're going to go into shock because you really need a fix of new Metallica music, and you wish it sounded heavier and more talented, go pick up a Trivium album. ~Read full review
If the disappointing St. Anger is Metallica's Let It Be, Death Magnetic can be considered their Abbey Road, the last album recorded with their original label Elektra. Like Abbey Road, Death Magnetic is both a "back to basics" style retrospective as well as a new direction for the band. At first, most of the songs sound very similar (except for "The Day That Never Comes" and "The Unfprgiven III" which sound similar to each other). This is not for the "Short Attention Span Theater" crowd, as the shortest song is 5 minutes and the longest 10. My only complaint is the bass. It's far too subtle. The creatively forceful tone of Jason Newstead (who as far as I'm concerned is the all time best Bassist!), as well as the melodic rhythm of Cliff Burton are sorely missing. I hope Robert Trujillo will work out his kinks in time for the next, or it's St. Anger (with pathetic "bass" by producer Bob Rock) all over again. Don't be put off by the recording style. It adds an acid washed grittiness that adds to the albums anti-religious theme. (This is reality versus the fake, puffy "hope" of religious sap.)Overall, this is their best studio album to date, and only topped by the immortally great S&M.Read full review
I'm a reader of BLABBERMOUTH.NET much like it's my daily newspaper. I've been a metal-head since 1980 and never looked back. Blabbermouth always keeps me in the know of what goes on in the world of hard-rock/metal, and that makes me happy, and oftentimes makes me laugh. You can post comments on the threads and read them, and laugh a lot. The one band that tends to always get the most replies is Metallica. And now with the odd FRIDAY release date of Death Magnetic, the boards are rampant with opinions and assholes. So here's my opinion. I love Death Magnetic's first and last songs from production (except the snare could be a little bit quieter) to the song writing and everything about "This Was Just Your Life" and "My Apocalypse" are fucking jarring and kick ass - as far as the stuff between those two songs, there's some really good stuff in there, and there some kinda ok/boring stuff in there - but by no means did I expect Ride The Lightning or anything of that nature. I love that James Hetfield sounds truly angry and not just "macho" for lack of a better term. His bark is much cooler than the yodeling yahoo guy who sounds like he's basically singing some really angry country music. It's more the Black album sounding James. The riff/arrangements take you a little back to the ...And Justice For All days. Some of it is simply BADASS, and other bits are like "yeah... could have done without hearing that EIGHT times, maybe four would have been enough." Someone went through and cut the album up and chopped out what they thought was the "excess fat" from the record and released a version called "Death Magnetic - Chopped, Shorter, Better" and there's actually some really good ideas behind some of those cuts. It makes the already brutal "My Apocalypse" more "Damage Inc." sounding which is waaay cool. For a band that's been out of the game and basically going from being the supreme kings of THRASH METAL to being this ginormous "groove-rock" thing they were in the 90's, it's a nice balance of the two. Thankfully while we had Metallica-lite in the 90's we were fortunate enough to be blessed with the mighty Pantera during METALlica's absence. However, as much as I hated Load & Re-Load in the past, because of this record, I revisited those albums and found good qualities about them - only with the mindset that this was not METALLICA that I grew up listening to, but a whole other group rocking out some pretty heavy grooves. With that mentality, I found I could actually listen to some of the songs and enjoy them. I was still unable to do that on St. Anger though. Man... that's a tough record to like. That snare is so distracting! Certainly nothing can and will ever revisit the glory days of the first 4 albums, but when you're nearly twice the age than you were when you wrote that material, it's incredibly difficult to relate to the same things, or keep writing the same things. I'm in my 30's, and most of my very best writing material came from when I was in high-school through my early 20's because my experiences during that time in my life were so much more intense. And "feelings" as younger people trying to voice opinions are often much more "vehement" and "important" when you're 19 than when you're 36 or whatever. It's nice to see the band try out an instrumental again. It's been forever since we've seen one of those from them. Overall it's a very very good record that's worth the $10.00 that you'll spend here...Read full review
I have listened to this entire album about 5 times and I definitely think that it is not too bad. Death Magnetic is without question better than St. Anger, considering that was one of the worst albums to come out in a long time, but Death Magnetic in my opinion is not as good as the old school Metallica and nothing ever will be. James Hetfield's vocals have gone way downhill since their awesome previous albums(excluding St. Anger); you can tell that he's gettin' old. Death Magnetic has got some good solos and guitar riffs and sounds very good, but to me it feels like the vocals are slightly lacking. Overall, definitely not a bad album and worth the money to buy it if you are a Metallica fan, but if you're not the biggest fan I would wait for the chance to borrow it from a friend or just download it. 7/10. My personal favorite song from the album would have to be #1: That Was Just Your Life.Read full review
Although it is not Master Of Puppets or Ride the Lightning, Death Magnetic is much better than the last few albums Metallica did with producer Bob Rock. Nobody wants to own up to the fact that Bob Rock almost completely ruined Metallica's music style. Although I do give Rock credit for influencing Metallica's Black Album, and Motley Crue's Dr. Feelgood album. The years that followed these two triumphant albums has shown Rock destroying more bands careers than enhancing them. Case in point--the new Offspring Album, the self titled Motley Crue album, Metallica's load, reload, St. Anger (Need I say more). Death Magnetic shows a return to what made Metallica so great in their early years. 7 minute songs with assaulting Guitars and Drums. Robert Trujillo is a perfect bass player for Metallica. Do not know why people are griping about him. He may not be Cliff Burton, but he does play bass much much better than Jason Newstead. Much of this is evident in "All Nightmare Long" which some are calling "Enter Sandman II". I cannot see this as being true, it reminds me more of "Disposable Heroes" from the Master Of Puppets album. About the only song that almost kept me from buying this album was "Cyanide" which sounds much like the junk from "Load & Reload" albums. Also a much needed return for Metallica is a full-on instrumental "Suicide & Redemption". Featuring a style not heard since the days of the "Justice" album. But before everybody thinks the entire album is glamorous, think again. One of my gripes against the new album is the track "Unforgiven 3". Wasn't "Unforgiven 2 enough of this title and style. THere are also a couple of other songs that show the signs of Bob Rock's influence over the years, but the majority is straight edge old school Metallica which is why this non-perfect album received a 5 star rating from me. At least this is one Metallica Album, I am glad I bought, unlike Load & Reload.Read full review
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