METALLICA — Death Magnetic (review)

Album · 2008 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2010-08-10
The Angry Scotsman

Metallica, one the best metal bands there ever was, died in 1991. I thought they'd stay that way forever, but one day the metal gods decided they could not deny us loyalists any more, so they revived them! Yeah, being silly and dramatic but as a die hard early Metallica fan/rabid hater of their post AJFA stuff it really was like a godsend.

"Death Magnetic" is indeed a throwback to the thrashy days of Metallica. While it does have that, and some moments are certainly thrashy!, it is not too bad overall. The song "My Apocalypse" is the thrashiest song, and a great way to end the album.

There is no real bad song on this album. The weakest is "The Unforgiven III" but even this one is not terrible. The best songs are "The Day that Never Comes", "Suicide and Redemption" the nearly ten instrumental, and a great one at that, and "My Apocalypse". This album has a lot of really great riffs, some awesome rhythm guitar work from Mr. Hetfield, (who is the better musician IMO), some thrash, some melodicism, some heavy, some mellow. Good variety on the album. There are some pretty good solos, and they actually sound kind of unique, (one of Kirk's criticism I've heard were solos that all sounded the same). And perhaps the biggest musical improvement is the drumming!

I have made no secret that I think Lars is a mediocre drummer, but really St. Anger was abysmal. With "Death Magnetic" Lars seems to have relearned the absolute basic of drumming, keeping a beat. Yeah, he can keep a thrash beat on tempo!

One major downside is the sound quality. This is usually not an issue with me, so when I bring it up we have a problem. Apparently, running this album through a sound program shows all the volumes are just pumped to the max. I don't know about all that, but this album is of pretty poor quality considering the band involved. There's a lot of static. Some parts, (I noticed it real bad on The Day that Never Comes) are just awful. My brother gave me the Guitar Hero Version, (the whole album was uploaded for a guitar hero game). The quality is MUCH better! If you can somehow get your hands on this, it is a huge upgrade. Also, this version has 2 different versions of Suicide and Redemption. One with a Hammett solo, and one with a Hetfield solo. I think they mixed the two together for the album. I prefer Hetfields! Anyway, that is not this album, per se.

A good album. Lots of really damn good riffs, good song compositions, solo's, just everything. Sure, like a lot of Metallica some parts drag, but it's not too big an issue. The sound quality is pretty poor, but it wasn't enough to stop me the first time I listened. Please though keep in mind, you will hear static, and when I complain about the quality, you know it's not that good. Poor quality is never an issue, unless it's god awful, but here on DM the volume is just way too high.

Anyway, the return to Metallica's good ol days, and it is a good work.

Four Stars

more than 2 years ago
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The Angry Scotsman wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Thanks guys. My brother is the one who told me about, and got, the GH version. I laughed at a little at how it could be better than the studio album. Kind of sad isn't it?

Certif1ed wrote:

more than 2 years ago

Agreed - the mastering of the Guitar Hero version is widely acknowledged to be superior to all the other releases, especially the awful vinyl one - and the sound quality is very, very good. Great album - and insightful review!