Reviews > Metallica
Death Magnetic Is Better Than We Expected
By Johnny Firecloud
Friday, September 5, 2008
I had this fucker written in my head long before I’d so much as heard a note: they’re master rehashers, old men trying to reapply the dead skin they shed decades ago when shorter songs, slower tempos and straight-laced hooks moved into the vacant slot their balls left behind. And once I heard The Day That Never Comes I felt completely justified. That shit is right off the Black album, and was put out there for mass appeal, not as a testament of revival for the diehards. Those fans are buying the record come hell or high water. TDTNC is meant for the people whose metal teeth were cut on Enter Sandman, the type that’ll hear the solo and think Yeah! This shit’s gonna be awesome on Guitar Hero!
What I’m saying is that I more than expected the new Metallica album to suck. I knew it would.
And, of course, I was wrong.
Death Magnetic is the band’s first since their oh-so-long overdue split with producer Bob Rock, who helmed every Metallica album from 1991 to 2004 and pushed them out of the textured shadows and toward shining concision and immediacy. Knob-twisting messiah Rick Rubin didn’t even try to step into Rock’s shoes- he kicked those ragged fuckers to the side and rolled up barefoot, no bullshit- just a bucket of hi-octane turpentine and a determination to strip away the redundant layers and unearth the group’s original, beautifully feral primer grey. And somehow, he pulled it off.
After a beating-heart album intro and dramatically slow buildup, That Was Just Your Life roars into gear with essentially what you’d expect from a band that’s trying to show they’ve still got some teeth after more than two decades in the limelight. Not bad, but nothing remarkable at first. Not until the bridge hits around the 2:23 mark, when things got way more awesome than I was prepared for. The melodic syncopation, the chugging rhythm… it caught me by pleasant surprise, and I began to suspect that these old dogs might not be too far gone to learn a couple new tricks.
Goddamnit. I’m dancing to this. End Of The Line. There’s no scattered middleground here, no struggle to find some kind of new ground to stand on. The muddled, difficult St. Anger may as well never have existed. And somehow, even despite a hookline riff lifted right out of Pearl Jam’s Animal, it doesn’t reek of back-leaning or reaching back to any kind of “glory days.” The song simply tears shit up, thanks in no small part to Mr. Hammett, peeling out jaw-dropping wah-warped solos like he’s making up for lost decades with only 74 minutes and 41 seconds to live.
My feeble remainder of resistance fell literally in the first second of Broken, Beat & Scarred. It’s a blistering standout track, an onstage classic in waiting. The main riff is a mighty quivering gallop- punchy, unpredictable and immediately epic.
Sure, it suffers a bit from Ulrich’s repetitive fills and power-over-versatility approach, but if you’re not used to that by now…
Despite the band’s collective B-12 shot (by way of Rubin, no doubt) and subsequent sonic revival, Hetfield hasn’t abandoned his flair for lines that seem ripped out of a high school metalhead’s notebook, such as in The Judas Kiss: Venom of a life insane / Bites into your fragile vein or on the bouncing, brutal Cyanide, where he can’t help but hop on the obvious thematic rhymes Suicide / I’ve already died. The little interlude lull in the latter could’ve been entirely omitted to allow Hammett to open up that solo a little wider, but let’s not nitpick.
Naturally …And Justice For All, a crown jewel of their catalogue, is the recurring reference point for Death Magnetic, but there’s very little sense of throwback here. For one, there’s bass for miles (no, really, I’m serious, you can actually hear Trujillo) on All Nightmare Long, a left-fielder full of snarling we’re-coming-to-get-you lines and riffs that rip right through the thrash barrier, sounding nothing at all like their old material. And somehow, despite my premature near-desperation to hate Unforgiven III with the same fire of a thousand suns that I applied to its predecessor, it’s a tremendous track. Hetfield has stepped up his vocal game in a serious way, as evidenced by that high-end pre-solo scream around the 5:32 mark.
After the slightly underwhelming instrumental Suicide And Redemption and the cutthroat thrashy exit of My Armageddon, I’ve realized that 74 minutes have blasted by like 15. This does not sound like a band that went through an overblown public implosion, replete with more sappy publicized group-therapy than any music act in history. It sounds like a band that’s gotten a fucking grip on itself, abandoned the abstracts and focused some much needed attention on specific atrophied muscle groups.
For a guy who couldn’t wait to rip this band s a new asshole after more than a decade’s worth of disappointment, it sure feels strange that I can’t wait to hear Death Magnetic again.
Death Magnetic
September 12, 2008
Warner Bros.
1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End Of The Line
3. Broken, Beat & Scarred
4. The Day That Never Comes
5. All Nightmare Long
6. Cyanide
7. The Unforgiven III
8. The Judas Kiss
9. Suicide & Redemption
10. My Apocalypse
- 01. That Was Just Your Life
- 02. The End Of The Line
- 03. Broken, Beat & Scarred
- 04. The Day That Never Comes
- 05. All Nightmare Long
- 06. Cyanide
- 07. The Unforgiven III
- 08. The Judas Kiss
- 09. Suicide & Redemption
- 10. My Apocalypse
WOW… “the crown jewel of their catalogue” is …And Justice For All?! You’re telling me that album is better than Master of Puppets?!
Ya I think Master of Puppets has to be tops as well. And this record is really trying to take from Master, and “And Justice For All” at times.
It sounds like a lot of rehashing,but it sounds like Metallica.
After a couple of listens, I’m going on record to say this album is a hundred times better than St. Anger (even though those stinkin shitty drums are still cranked), but still nowhere near the greatness that was the first 4.
Pretty much what I expected.
It was supposed to read “a crown jewel” – haven’t forgotten about MOP, I just don’t hear as much of it on this album structurally or stylistically. I’ve always kinda liked Justice more anyway.
does this make them any less of douche bags? have they reformed or are they just cocks trying to cash in on a fad that real revolutionaries of the business paved the way for? I havent listened yet, but even if this was the greatest album of all time, would they deserve praise? I dont think so, fuck them, and fuck the gimmick. And that first single sucked so hard I thought they were gonna suck my dick right off my body…
I just can’t get past the whole Napster thing. Plus, these greedy goons have done some downright shitty things to their fans during tours (my girlfriend once sat in a parking lot for nine hours trying to get out of a Metallica concert booked at a fairground with only one two-lane road in service). I just can’t get over the inherit douchiness of their personalities.
That being said, the track embedded on the page would have been awesome if it came out a year after the black album, when I was about 13.
Sigh, I guess I’ve just outgrown them.
I love the “cash in” and “sell out” labels that people give to this band. Yes, the napster thing over and over, rearing it’s ugly head. There were plenty of other bands involved in that as well by the way, look it up. But regardless of how much money the band has, I’d like to see you go into a studio for a whole year or two of your life, put your heart and soul into something, let your words and feelings bleed out into music, and then have people steal it. The fact is that nothing in this world is free, so if you give of your time and energy and show people this personal side of yourself, hell yeah you should get paid. Everyone else is! Despite their millions, they spend more time in the studio to perfect their craft than most bands today. They also have families, friends and children. Why should other people get their product for free? I would want as much $ as possible, so I could help all my loved ones live comfortably. Your napsters have ruined the record industry, and are a big reason why MTV and radio play sucks today. Any asshole can put his shitty emo song out there and have it play to the masses of idiots downloading music song by song. The great thing up until the late 90’s was that you HAD to buy a cd in order to hear the songs. Now, its gimme gimme gimme, we get whatever we want, without getting to really hear the band. It’s bullshit. Also, it’s important to point out that bands make, I believe anywhere from 65 cents to $1.75 per cd sold. It is peanuts to them, metallica makes their money through touring and merch. It was about principle, and the fact that napster was bullshit and illegal. Let it go. They deserve praise because they have integrity and don’t give a shit if it’s not popular. Cash in on a fad? 10 years ago they were hated and knew it. So were they trying to cash in on that fad? The “hey, I really wanna fuck up my career and lose half my fan base” fad?……… Fuck off
I’ve listened to it about 4 times now. Pretty good, certainly way better then St Anger. But honestly almost all of these songs just were out their welcome.
If they had kept them a little leaner they might sound a little meaner.
I respect them as a legacy band but there are tons of younger bands that are just making way better metal.
Hats off to them for taking The Sword and Lamb Of God on tour with them.
I agree with the last comment.
There are a lot of bands who are offering way better metal today. Metallica can’t quite be that benchmark metal band today. But they do appreciate the bands carrying the torch like Lamb of God, by inviting them on tour.
Unfortunately there is a time for most bands when no matter what they do, they cannot be culturally relevant. A lot of people think it was when the Black Album came out or after that record for Metallica. But they did maintain credibility through new fans up until the Napster incident and the St. Anger shitshow.
Sure they’ll sell out arena’s worldwide, I might be at a couple of the shows. But I think Metallica officially moved into the nostalgic category years ago, and like the Rolling Stones, U2, Aerosmith and more, their new records are just hype machines for the sell out tours. The new music doesn’t matter, it is just there to have an excuse to tour, so the tour is a little different than the last time they came around. Metallica’s music simply has nothing left to say, but some of the songs from this new record are bearable.
how about the Radiohead made a ton of money with an internet release, and then so did Trent Reznor fad.And if you think the internet made radio suck you must be deaf. dumb, or both. Radio slots were being bought long before the internets was giving people more options. What made radio suck was a monopolistic stranglehold held by the RIAA and their labels, disallowing anyone not on their roster to get their music out. What they did to the industry was shameful and illegal on all counts. Sony Rootkits anyone? yeah, I’m sure that was the internets that made those, not Sony. Don’t get pissed off because your industry got out smarted by some kids, beat them at their own game. the internet is killing the RIAA, but the INDUSTRY is doing just fine.
Whatever you say, hippie. Go give away some free music and I’ll see you down at the fucking coffee shop after your long day of making quilts. Metallica should be praised for taking on this crap, but instead, people like you have no respect for anything sacred. You should bow down to bands like this, who mastered genres and dared to give a shit. Your free music crapolla is ruining the industry because we don;t have any more big bands comming out. Before, you had a band that would sell 5 million records and bam, you knew they were the next big thing. Now you have all these fucking dink bands like panic at the disco and fucking arcade fire or some other crap. I wouldnt know them if they bumped into me on the street. There’s no more rock stars, just college dropouts with no charisma. Get your head out of your ass.
The album is absolute rubbish.
It has the same trash metal riff all the way through every,long,song.
The vocals are mostly gruff shouting.
The producer decided to create as much noise as possible,forgetting that some times a song needs to be tuneful.
This is by far the worst album I have heard this year.
They might have stopped the drugs but I’d definitely need some if I had to listen to this again.
Perfect addition to Kill ‘em all, Ride, Master, Justice and Black. Ya this album kicks fuckin’ ass. The horsemen are back!
For the record, I DO like the other albums, I’ve always found something good in everything they played…
first of all, the album: it’s a modern-day combination of AJFA and even a little KEM at times. they’ve proved that they still got it. i agree with the initial review.
second, the “fans”: get over napster. get a job and buy an album. “metallica’s rich, blah blah blah” why do you give a fuck where the money goes? it’s simple, you hand cash to the store, they hand you a CD, what happens from there is none of your concern. and i agree, the internet IN A SENSE has ruined music. for the industry, it’s caused lay-offs of employees, and it’s caused a DECLINE in new artists being signed. to music it self, iTunes and shit like that that allows you to buy 1 song at a time, people don’t have albums anymore, what happened to the days when we could listen to an album from start to finish and know every song on that album? now, its all about downloading the singles, fuck that. band’s (including metallica) have to come up with gimmicks to get people to buy their CD’s now to compete with the internet. like releasing their new album as a box set, or what ever. and so many bands including free DVD’s with their release. so don’t say the internet has done good for anyone EXCEPT the cheap little unemployed bastards that cant buy a fucking CD.
third, also to the “fans”: it’s to a point where it’s “cool to hate metallica, no matter what they do”, this is the kind of music everyone has been hoping metallica would go back to since the fucking black album, now that it’s here, you’re still not satisfied. why? cause you’re so stuck on hating metallica. as far as better metal being out there today, i’m not gonna deny it, lamb of god, trivium (yes, i do include trivium in this), etc are awesome bands, but they will NEVER hold a candle to Metallica. Metallica created a legacy and they still live up to it, so if you don’t like the songs, then hey, you don’t like the songs … but always respect the band that paved the way for EVERYTHING you listen to today, Metallica.
DJ’s comment on here is one of the most pathetic things I have read all year. “the same riff throughout”- RUBBISH! This album has been critically well recieved and it is a damn good album. Anyone who reads DJ’s comment should disregard it immediately! PATHETIC!
Nope. There are moments when you can hear echoes of the commitment that Metallica used to represent. These pretty much all come courtesy of Kirk Hammett. This is a much better attempt, obviously, than Load/ReLoad/StAspirin, but ….
Let me just say in passing that I woulda never guessed it, but Jethro Tull are twice the musicians, playing more difficult and inspired passages, combining the good things I like to hear, and that Grammy was not a joke. Last few months, I keep getting deeper into Tull. Four decades, and a lot of consistently good music, with some lapses in the late 80s early 90s, when they tried to fit in with grunge. But their guitarist is quite heavy when he wants to be, and the arrangements are more than just proto-heavy metal.
Oh, back to Metallica. I saw them on the 1994 tour, and they seemed so normal. I would have never guessed that such contempt for themselves (and by extension their audience) lay so close at hand.
Tull. A Passion Play. War Child. etc. More than fills the gap Met has left behind, for me at least.
Of course, we’ll always have our Casablanca, the 1980s.
Joe …. the critics loved the 90s stuff too.
One of the nifty things, being a Stones fan since 1978, is how EVERY SINGLE ALBUM they’ve released since then (with one exception: Emotional Rescue) has received reviews that compare it favorably to Exile. And then just as quickly the album is forgotten and finally panned by the same criticis, who are just in time to welcome the next one with open arms.
A band this powerful, it strikes me as though critics are very timid with their criticisms. Because honestly, of the six songs I’ve heard, I didn’t hear one good one. Not one. As I said before, outside of Hammett, there’s just a complete lack of commitment.
The fact that Rubin had to motivate them shows that theyve so badly lost it.
I can think of other musicians: Robert Plant, Eddie Van Halen, who just get caught up in this whole thing of wanting to distance themselves from their earlier career. I don’t know what animates something like that, but once it really takes root, the artist can easily find themselves struggling to be like someone else. I think it’s fair to say that’s pretty much what’s happened to Met.
I sometimes guess it was the tribute to Freddie Mercury concert that undid them. They met all their heroes, and found out they weren’t getting the respect they felt they deserved, and I think they’ve been trying to get into a 70s rock thing ever since. They’re trying to prove something to someone, but who and what?
DJ, please allow me to be the one to inform you that there are some styles of music that you are not mentally equipped to process without having years of practice. This is one–for the first time from metallica since 1988–and that is what makes it exciting.
To all the “nay sayers”…. METAL UP YR ASS!
I’m so glad it’s not just me who hears a hint of ‘…Justice’ on this new album. I was starting to think something wrong with me when I couldn’t get anyone to agree with me.
Loving ‘DM’, it’s like the Metallica of old meets the old Metallica, and it’s awesome.
This album is nuts and I’m not talking about ballsacks….seriously off the hook.
Thank God this “music” is too intellectual for me.
I was worried the same riff had me confused but,thankfully,it’s from another planet.
I reckon if you put all the tracks on random play you wouldn’t be able to tell which one was playing because they are all so boringly similar.
They might have been relevant 15 years ago but they are now well past their sell by date.Perhaps they can do a joint tour with Axl?
you know whats funny about the pic at the top of this post is that they look like they just got out of a seminar for a pyramid scheme involving door-to-door vacuum cleaner sales.
metallica / dyson
awesome.
Who says you can’t polish a turd? Cheers to Rick Rubin! This one is actually pretty good. Best and heaviest Metallica I’ve heard in 20 years, flat out.
I really don’t think that anyone here can say …And Justice For All is better than Master Of Puppets OR vice versa. I have always been partial to …And Justice For All as an album but i also don’t that the song Master Of Puppets will EVER be out done. But thats not really what we are talking about here and I am going to have to agree I WAS NOT expecting this high of a caliber album…. BUT GODDAMN AM I GLAD that it touches base with both of those albums and has made me completely forget about St. Anger(Don’t Even Get Me Started)
OK to all those people that have a corn cob stuck up their ass!!! This albim is deadly! Whatever happened to the day that you could listen to every single song of every single album and FUCKING enjoy it. I’m not going to say these bands today don’t prduce good music, BUT WHAT THE FUCK these bands wouldn’t exist if it weren’t for METALLICA there wasn’t such a thing as thrash metal before them. Don’t get me wrong they weren’t the only band to pave the way, but ask any new metal band, any critic, any rock DJ, OR ANY PLAIN JOE THAT ENJOYS METAL, who some of the major influences are and I GUARANTEE you that Metallica is going to be on that list. So get off it every artist has gone through less creative times, but IF YOU REALLY ENJOY MUSIC THEN SHIT LIKE THE WHOLE NAPSTER THING SHOULDN”T EFFECT THE WAY THE MUSIC SOUNDS…. Get a fucking job and buy an album thats worth the money and you can listen to the whole thing
The Best Metallica album since …and justice for all.
As for Rory, I would have agreed with you during the load/st. anger period but after hearing Death Magnetic I think if they release one more album of this quality they could officially retire relevant & legends.
Death Magnetic is an amazing album….if you like metal, pick this one up. It’s heavier and thrashier than anything they have done since the 80’s.
totally agree with the last comment and review, firecloud you rock, darkmethod your a jaded pole smoker. relax pal. this albums rocks on every level, see them live, they will blow you away, so unless you want your rock music to give you a hand job and make your bed, theres not much more you can ask for. kickass.
……..A MELHOR BANDA DO MUNDOOOOO……………..
………….AAAAAAAAAAMMMMMOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!………..