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Metallica: Death Magnetic (Digipack) Modern Rock/Metal, Thrash Metal Warner Bros. Records September 12th, 2008
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Review
How many times now has Metallica said they will be returning to their original sound? By the time St. Anger came out, it was obvious that Metallica forgot what they sounded like all those years ago amongst all the fame and money. With nothing but let downs by the fans who hope for a return to their original sound, Death Magnetic looks like the closest fans will ever get to a return to the glory days. Death Magnetic does have it's good points, and it's bad points. Many of the tracks on this release just feel extremely drawn out, as if Metallica had a great idea, but just didn't know where to go with it to keep it within their signature extremely long length of time per track. Each song on here really is a strong cut, but after a while you just want it to end and tends to repeat itself. "Broken, Beat & Scarred" as well as "All Nightmare Long", however, do not fall into this category. While "All Nightmare Long" is just one hell of a killer thrash song that old school fans will simply eat up, "Broken, Beat & Scarred" is just a power house track that just chugs along and demands your attention from the start with some great riffs and flat out heavy music during the chorus as well as bridges. Among some of the issues with the release we find the track "The Day That Never Comes" which, after one listen, just becomes very irritating. While the music is decent, it all has to do with the production quality. The same goes for every song as well, but it's prodominant here due to the fact that it's a slower, ballad song. The vocals on this song, as well as others, have a tinny sound to them, which could very well just be a distortion effect added on that really was not necessary, and the drum kit is just way to freakin' loud, especially during the chorus which just flat out sounds over modulated all over the board. While it works out with the faster songs, like "All Nightmare Long", it does ruin the slower and mid-tempo tracks on here such as this. "The Unforgiven III", for being the third "Unforgiven" track, starts off rough but progressively gets better as it continues on, as well as has an incredible guitar solo near the end. However, aside "The Day That Never Comes", you can expect to skip over "Cyanide", which just feels like an older Metallica song revamped to the sound of this release, as well as "The Judas Kiss" which suffers from some rather uninspiring guitar riffs and drumming. And let's not forget "Suicide & Redemption" has one hell of an unoriginal guitar solo that will probably make you cringe and hit the next button on your player as soon as you hear it start up. So, with maybe half the album being as close to a return to the original Metallica sound we all loved, the other half is pretty much garbage or falters due to one thing or another, but mostly due to the recording. If you liked the older stuff and want to give it a try, look for a cheap used copy, or sample some of the songs on on-line MP3 retailers and pick out the ones you like best. Death Magnetic does have some solid thrash songs, but it's clear the band isn't ready to give in to their fan's demand of another Ride The Lightning.
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