Random Review : Death Magnetic

There were a lot of good signs before this album came out. The live songs , Robert Trujillo, Bob Rock's departure for starters. Forget the new live songs, they actually played Orion and other "old Metallica" songs. Something big was coming. Now, my opinion on this changes depending on my mood, but I largely like thrash-metallica better. I still love all their post-Black songs, but nothing like some Ride the lightening to charge the ol' Battery eh? (see what I did there?). Of course, I hated St. Anger, and I think we're all allowed that.

I saw Some kind of monster. Boy was that embarrassing. Group therapy? Seriously? Get drunk and sleep with 100 groupies like the other guys do. Jeez. I still remember Hammet's expression when that little $%#$^#$^ Ulrich decided that solos were "dated" and would be scrapped. And what the hell was up with the drums? Did he decide that trash cans were the new percussion instruments for the 21st century? And lyrics? You can never take Metallica's lyrics seriously, but "Tick tick Frantic, tick tock tick tick"???

Anyway, had to get that out of me. Now, on the new one. I picked up the album on 12th from Wal-mart. Just 9 bucks! The album art is neat. So far so good. These are my first impressions, track by track.

That was just your life.
Starts off slowly with heart beats, makes you wonder if there's any synthetic music on this album. Not to worry. The guitars are winding up, starting to unleash first strikes. Talk about insane riffs! Reminds me of Seek and destroy, ride the lightning. It has shades of St. Anger, especially @ drums and arrangement. That's ok. Treat it as the band's catharisis. All the crap from the last album has to go someplace.

End of line
Another awesome riff. What pace! They push they prod, they don't let you go. Hammet uses the Wah wah a lot but meh, he still kills a dozen hazlenut brown kittens. The song slows down in the middle, but hits you right back, no mercy here. The vocals are so so, but oh well. Still a very strong song. Why isn't this a single?

Broken Beat and scattered
Drums drums drums. Welcome back Ulrich, you megalomaniac shit. Awesome power. Guitars work is clean and strong, but the drumming never lets up. at first drums are exploding. Shades of Ride the... and Blitzkrieg. Very good jam song.

Day that never comes
Grew on me. Sounds a bit like Unforgiven and there have been several opions of it being like One. I don't like it much, looses steam in the middle but makes up big time at end. I may have found a typo in the lyrics sleeve. It says "The son shine never comes". Really? Is this a potential collector's item? :D

All nightmare long
Given the name of the song, it's not surprising it sounds a bit like Enter Sandman. But only by a bit. This baby is all Thrash metal. Oh boy, all thrash. Hammet's back, making up for all that he missed out on, in St. Anger. Vocals are not great, and the song changes style midway, winds down quite a bit.

Cyanide
This was played live at first. There's crap loads of Wah-wah here. And Hetfield croons his "oooh"s and "aah"s. Bah. Drifts into load days. But hark, what was that? Bass. I hear bass.

Unforgiven III
Slick piano opening. The last third has opulence, same "feel" as the other two Unforgiven songs but doesn't mention the word itself. Hammet sometimes does a blues-y guitar sound and this song is a good example.

Judas Kiss
Too many words man. Sounds like guitars are waiting to take off but voice is holding them back. Sounds like 2-3 songs mixed together. Tries too much.

Suicide and Redemption
Kind of annoying main riff. Bad ass all the same. Has shades of Orion. An Instrumental? When was the last time they did something like this? Clocks in close to 10 mins.

My Apocalypse
Strong finish to what has been an ass kicking session. Strong riff, Justice for All shades. And at 5 mins, smallest song. No 3:30 min radio songs on this album.

There you have it. If you haven't realized it by now, this is a must buy. Whether you think Metallica are "sell-outs" or you've liked them all. This album forms a good bridge between MOP and Metallica (the album). I'm seeing them live in concert on Nov. 4th. I expect a broken neck and sore throat.

Welcome back Metallica. Thanks for showing the world of Metal why new bands still aspire to be you.