Metallica - Death Magnetic

Ok, let’s hear your opinions on Metallica’s latest offering ‘Death Magnetic’.

Personally, I think it's ok, it has moments of brilliance that evoke flashes from the first four albums but it lacks the consistency of brilliance they had back in their hay day.

It's the best album since 'And Justice For All' but it is still not as good as anything prior to the Black album. If you hear people complaining about a shoddy mix and master that is total BS. They are the ones who downloaded the free pre-release tracks from the Metallica website which all had bad clipping (probably so that you had to by the cd to get a good quality copy - fair enough).

Anyway, the overall production and sound is excellent. I love the drum sound, much better than the pitiful St Anger. As far as the guitar tones go, the rhythm is very tight with a lot less scooped mids (James is now using Diesel amps). The bass fills in the low end nicely and Trujillo’s bass lines are more apparent here than on anything since Master of Puppets. The songs are up to 7 mins long for the most part and the guitar solos are back.

James' vocals are top notch, he incorporates the range he acquired from the Black album through to St Anger but with a much grittier edge ala Justice For All. My only complaint on the vocals is the treatment - they sound excellent but in places the band is blasting away with that big studio feel and vocals sound like they were recorded on a cheap mic in someone’s bedroom – lacking reverb or something.

My only real problem and where I was most underwhelmed is with the lead guitar and lack of signature harmonies and melodies. The focus is pretty much entirely on the riffs. Some of the leads sound like Kirk was handed a guitar and told to play something frantic in one take over a backing he never heard before, without anytime to study the riff, work on interesting phrasing or think about any type of melodic structure. There are one or two nice solos allright (eg 'The Day that Never Comes') and you get a sense that he was trying out 'something new' - I just don't think it works that well. To put it in a nutshell, the solos on this album are at the complete opposite end of the spectrum when compared to the first four albums. They might appeal to the nu-metal crowd with little experience with good guitar work but personally I don’t think they will wash with more seasoned players. When I think Kirk Hammet, I think the solos from Blackened, Four Horsemen, Battery etc etc. Sadly, there is not one solo on this album anywhere near the same level.

The instrumetnal track ia complete missed opportunity in my mind. It has some killer riffs but it is very repetitive and follows a basic verse chorus verse chorus break type format. Almost no melody on top of the riffs except at the end of the track and only a very small bit of lead toward the end too. Basically the track sounds like they just decided to mute the vocals of a long track with a small instrumental break at the end - pretty boring (even though riffs are solid and memorable).

I would say the last four albums could have been done as a side project (maybe something like Numetalrock'ica) - for all of its failings this one is still Metallica though. Definitely worth buying and a great come back from St Anger.
Anyway, this is all just my opinion but overall I would give Death Magnetic 3.5 out of 5.

For a band that have returned to their original thrash metal roots with something as good if not better than their past work, check out the new album by Testament (Alex Skolnick is back on lead).

I'm really digging the album so far. Initial thoughts are how much it reminds me of pre Black Album Metallica. I've only listened to it all the way through once, but songs that stick out to me as being good are #2, #3, and the instrumental, #9.

IMHO, the new albulm is alright,a few good soungs but I wasn't really impressed nor do I think it was worth all the hype/ the wait. I thought St. Anger was a good album. The problem is that Metallica is almost 30 years old and they don't have fresh material like they did in the day, and people expect the 1980 Metallica to come back and make a great 80's metal cd. I thought St. Anger was a good move and wish they kept it that way, it sounded fresh to me. I think they did Death Magnetic for the sake of doing a record, not because they had some good songs written.

That being said, I'm not going to go into the fact that they killed the mixing and finishing.

Wow, I just listened to the album in a quiet environment and I have to take back what I said about the production being good. There is genuinely major distortion and clipping on this cd - apparantly there is huge outcry about the engineers boosting the levels to clipping point before it was mastered which made the problem worse. The word is that it can't be fixed by remastering, the only way around it is a full remix and that ain't going to happen. Weird that it could happen with such a big album with such a massive studio and budget behind it... Appartantly the tracks on Guitar Hero sound the way they should (pre-mastering/pre-limiting) and they are way better.
Check this out to hear the difference between Guitar Hero and the cd, pretty awfull... http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=105530

Yea, I nabbed a copy of a the GH3 release and its so much better.

Well, I'll put it this way... If I was down to my last $20 and had to choose between Metallica - Death Magnetic and their former band mates CD Megadeth - United Abominations, I have to go with Megadeth. Metallica was a great band but I think they lost a lot of steam where as Megadeth's latest still sounds like the same Megadeth, but better.

Jim

Loving the album. A different ballpark to St Anger (thankfully) and probably their best album since AJFA. Lyrically it's SO much stronger than recent efforts, IMO the lyrical content of St Anger was shameful. Kirk, as ever, is a legend!! Trujillos style adds a lot to their sound, similar to Cliff Burton.
Got to see them at the fan club launch party at the O2 and the new songs kick ass live too. They seem to be having fun again.
Welcome back Metallica!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

head_creeeps

At first, I was just glad that it wasn't St. Anger and was enthusiastic. Now, my mood concerning Death Magnetic is a bit different. I've only heard some of the songs on YouTube, but I'm not overly impressed. Lars seems to be slipping in his drumming skills, since I didn't hear even a semblance of his original talent.

I suppose it's a start, and it has its moments, but I won't be spending any money on the album. I'll listen to them on the radio, and wait for an improvement.

Edit: In their song, "The Day that Never Comes," I'm also a bit irritated at the addition of "ah" on certain parts of the song. "Waiting for-ah. The day that never comes-ah." It's his trademark, but it starts to grate on my nerves. Otherwise, it's a decent track

I have been a fan of ALL there albums. From Kill 'Em All to the newest album Death Magnetic (And yes, I totaly love the St. Anger album *Flame shields up*) The new death magnetic album is definatly a good direction back to there old albums. I love it!!!! everything to me about that album is just plain great. I am ecspecialy digging the Suicide and Redemption track. Hetfields solo on that is just plain amazing!!!

I'll just say that DM is ok, St Anger is not ok... and nothing beats the sound (or songs for that matter) of the Black Album! just my opinion...

This thread is 3 years old....

I'm usually what you call a Metallica hater but I'm fairly impressed by this album its no kill em all to be sure but I've given it more than an idle listen my only complaint is the volume has to be turned way down else ill go deaf but nothing is wrong with the music