METALLICA — Beyond Magnetic (review)

METALLICA — Beyond Magnetic album cover EP · 2011 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
Pekka
"Leftovers... I hate leftovers." -James Hetfield (backed with an appropriate wife/cooking joke)

Well that's just what these songs are, technically at least. Fourteen songs were recorded for Death Magnetic, and since the first ten were released in 2008, many people have been wondering whether the rest would ever see the light of day. But here they finally are, after being premiered in the unspeakably cool 30th anniversary shows. Shine, Hellenbach, Holy Revolver, they're all here. Titles you might remember if you followed the MissionMetallica website during the DM sessions.

Coming from the same sessions the style and sound is obviously very much the same as the original album, with the exception that these are unfinished rough mixes. Which doesn't make much of a difference to be fair, as the DM mixes were already very rough indeed. What we have is a bunch of songs that quality wise could replace pretty much anything on DM, but they were in the previously quoted man's words "maybe too long, too something" to be included. They just didn't fit.

Bad songs they aren't. Aside from a redundant intro here and a messy solo there the tracks are very good, and as the EP goes on, they keep getting better from the rather Fuelish Hate Train to the closing Rebel of Babylon, which features some absolutely brilliant riffage, wild tempo changes and some deliciously twisted guitar harmonies. Better late than never, this particular track would've shone brightly on the original album as well. Hell and Back is a treat too; my favourite snippet from the MM website was a dirty little bit which went something like "when the sun goes hellbound, and the blahblah resurrects the night..." and my disappointment was a big one when it was nowhere to be heard on DM. But here it is.

A worthy addition to the Metallica saga. If you need something to cure the Lulu headache, go grab this one.
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