Metallica - Death Magnetic review
| Band: | Metallica |
| Album: | Death Magnetic |
| Style: | Thrash metal |
| Release date: | September 12, 2008 |
| A review by: | destroyah |
Disc I [CD]
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
Disc II [CD] [Demo Magnetic]
01. Hi Guy
02. Neinteen
03. Black Squirrel
04. Casper
05. Flamingo
06. German Soup
07. UN3
08. Gymbag
09. K2LU
10. Ten
Disc III [DVD] [Making Magnetic]
+ That Was Just Your Life
+ The End Of The Line
+ Broken, Beat & Scarred
+ The Day That Never Comes
+ All Nightmare Long
+ Cyanide
+ The Unforgiven III
+ The Judas Kiss
+ Suicide & Redemption
+ My Apocalypse
It's always very difficult to analyze what Metallica has created, seems as normal criteria doesn't apply to them, so I might as well just get this off my chest - if ?Death Magnetic" wasn't a Metallica album, I would probably rate it pretty darn close to ten stars. However, since I too have the impressive legacy of their previous works to consider, I will not. This of course technically makes me a whore - that's fair, I digest. But numbers and stars aside, do I think this is a good album?
The answer is yes. Yes I do. ?Death Magnetic" effectively gaps the bridge between the old and the new. The cynic in me wants to add that the album has the tempo of the old days and the lyrical lunacy of the modern era - and he's right. Unlike with Metallica's earlier works, ?Death Magnetic" isn't too generous with providing addictive vocal hooks. That is not to say that there are none, but they are not always immediately obvious. What is obvious, however, is the fact that ?Death Magnetic" is an ??And Justice for All" inspired riff-fest (except with bass). It rolls on with a steady thrashing pace and an ominous sound of thunder - a blackness which I didn't believe Metallica possessed anymore. As if the mad riffing wasn't enough, Kirk lets his shredding-self run free, to a point of sheer insanity. Even James puts on a helluva show and keeps his vocal fluxions at bay, sounding rather gritty indeed. Occasionally he does drift to the mellow side (?The Unforgiven III"), although frankly these occasions are surprisingly intriguing. As downers one might point out the relatively jumpy and diverse musical side, which in combination with the somewhat limited lyrical themes make ?Death Magnetic" not exactly the easiest to listen record around. It does, however, utterly kick ass.
Despite the tempo-frenzy one has to bare in mind the fact that we are dealing with the new Metallica. ?Death Magnetic" is not the new ?Master of Puppets". Personally I'm actually relieved about that - instead of copying their older lore, the band has thrown in some recognizable blasts from the past and melded them into their "new old sound", thus making ?Death Magnetic" a rock-solid comeback statement, a truly crushing mosher and above all, a true contemporary Metallica classic.
Rating:
9.0
9.0
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Rating: 9.0 |
Metallica made fans to wait 5 years for a new album,again.The first Wait was between ''Metallica'' and ''Load'',the second was between ''Garage inc.'' and ''St.Anger''. And the last one between ''St.Anger'' and this album:''Death Magnetic''. ''Load'' and ''St.Anger'' were disappointments, is ''Death Magnetic'' another disappointment? Hell no. Read more ›› |
Rating:
8.0
8.0
|
Rating: 8.0 |
After St. Anger's dismal fallout, Metallica definitely needed to shake their foundations if they were going to retain their fame, fortune and most of all, their following. Luckily, they did, and quite efficiently too, as new album Death Magnetic distinctly restores their credibility. To help themselves out, they brought in major league producer Rick Rubin (of Slayer, System Of A Down and Johnny Cash fame), who seems to have gauged the perfect balance between the grittier edge of Metallica's classic sound circa And Justice For All and the music they tried (not so successfully) to inject into St Anger. Read more ›› |
Comments page 5 / 5
Comments: 146
Visited by: 1253 users
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469  |
"Death Magnetic"... Well, I think this album can be summarized shortly: 1. Vocals suck. It's obvious James blew a vocal chord a few years ago, he has no power left in his voice. Boring vocals that sound very weak. 2. Guitar riffs are rather generic, nothing original or impressive. 3. Drums are way too loud in the mix. The bass drum has an annoying clicking sound (some would probably say it was like that on AJFA but it's worse on DM). And Lars sucks on drums, he's too rich to bother for his skills anymore. 4. Production is awful. The album feels as if it was recorded too loud, there's an annoying distortion in the guitars. Drums are too high in the mix and bass drums have a bad sound. The entire mix feels muddy and dull. By the way, Metallica is an extremely overrated band. Even in their best days during the 80s, there were many metal bands much better than them. If they're so popular today, it's only due to their far away past and even more because they play 'commercial metal' since the black album, which marked the time they sold out. Still, I believe DM is the best (or at least the less bad) album Metallica released after AJFA. EDIT: On a more personal note, I hate when drums are high in the mix because it makes it hard to follow guitar riffs and melodies. There's nothing like a freaking loud snare to destroy the feeling of an album, as it disturbs you all the time and prevents you to follow the flow of a song. I like drums fast and low in the mix, not slow and ultra 'weighty'.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071  |
Written by [user id=40450] on 04.04.2009 at 18:42 I can understand someone not liking this album but calling Metallica the most stupid band of all times coming from someone who is a Soulfly and Sepultura (and also newer Sepulatura fan) is totally ridiculous. Remember that without Metallcia a totally crapy and overrated band such as Soulfly would never have existed.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996 
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 |
Written by [user id=40450] on 04.04.2009 at 18:42 Not even close. Manowar is the most stupid band ever.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Hrothdane Posts: 489  |
Written by Lord_Regnier on 20.04.2009 at 03:43 Seriously, how many songs can you write about how "awesome" you are? They bring new meaning to the phrase "epic fail." Whether people care for Metallica's music or not, it is a FACT that they influenced the metal world immensely. And unlike manowar, they at least try to have messages behind their songs. Manowar's "we kick-ass and if you disagree you ain't true metal" doesn't count.
---- Despair is death, and I'm not interested in dying. Member of the True Crusade against True Crusades
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| Lord_Regnier Posts: 1469 |
Written by Hrothdane on 20.04.2009 at 03:58 Undeniable. Concerning Manowar and their 'trueness', I find it so contradictory that they constantly brag about how true they are, while they play the most commercial 'metal' you can find. Talk about poserism. There's no other band out there I hate as much as Manowar and no other band is as pathetic as them with their cockiness, only because they're a famous gay cheesemetal band. At least Spinal Tap don't take themselves seriously.
---- "Why would we fear death, when life is so much more frightening?"
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Lord_Regnier on 20.04.2009 at 06:11 And at least Spinal Tap was/is a fictitious band consisting of above average actors.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Solstafir! Posts: 75 |
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| bulldozerash Posts: 6 |
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| opeth771 Posts: 172 |
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| Boxcar Willy yr a kook Posts: 9155  |
Written by Nicko's Nose on 05.10.2008 at 20:39 very true!
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| Evil Chip Posts: 505  |
I hate the fact that I can't hear the bass in the mix. Anyways I find it good dispite it can get boring sometimes.
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| vezzy Stallmanite Posts: 3493  |
It has some good songs, but the clipping and its overall "polished thrash" sound doesn't make me think highly of it.
---- Licensed under the GPLv3. Relinquish proprietary software for a greater GNU/America.
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675  |
Agree with the rating of 8 for the album. Songs like ''The Judas Kiss'' are spoiled by having too many riffs that don't gel well together. It sounds like a lot of random riffs thrown in for their own sake. Which is a shame, as a lot of the actual riffs themselves are awesome. The production isnt great, even though the producer of this one managed to do an even worse job with Slayer's latest. When the songs do work, like the awesome opener ''That Was Just Your Life", "My Apocalypse", and the great ballad "The Unforgiven III", I feel like Metallica are still capable of writing amazing songs. Overall, I really like the album. If it werent for the production, bad arrangements in some songs, and the instrumental being overly long, I would put this amongst the other Metallica classics. As it is, it is a very good album, but held back from classic status because of a few niggling flaws. Great comeback though!
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| Marcel Hubregtse Grumpy Old Fuck Elite Posts: 40071 |
Written by Angelic Storm on 05.06.2010 at 13:51 Rick Rubin didn't produce World Painted Blood  It was produced by Greg Fidelman who happened to be the engineer for Death Magnetic with Rubin producing that one.I for one prefer World Painted's Blood's production to this wway too loud clipped one.
---- Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.) 05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996
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| Angelic Storm Melodious Posts: 6675 |
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 05.06.2010 at 14:07 Ahhhh...oops! Feel free to call me a clutz.  I completely forgot Greg Fidelman only engineered Death Magnetic....*hides* Probably because he has always been the main one singled out for ruining that album's sound, not Rick Rubin.  Hmm...World Painted Blood sounds terribly compressed. Both albums are not well produced, but I prefer the sound of Death Magnetic slightly more. That said, I do love a lot of the songs on World Painted Blood. Some great songs come through the crap production. I think both albums are very good, music wise. But they should definitely have been produced better!
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| muthafucka Posts: 26 |
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| Warman Erotic Stains Posts: 7695  |
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| Sword_Chant Posts: 717 |
I preferred certain songs on the album. Others I didn't. 'The Day That Never Comes' being pretty damn close to the best thing i've heard since AJFO. I agree that it's good they didn't totally rip off their oldest material and gave it new ideas, which is cool to hear in Death Magnetic. The drums are way too loud though and I feel like they still had a high amount of volume to turn down (even though they aren't as loud as on St. Anger). Guess I could also say it's not as memorable as the old music? i'm not one of these people who bum their previous legacy, but maybe they can do a better job with some future releases in terms of the creativity. We'll see 
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| .Nemesis. Posts: 79  |
Now i'm only 14 but i too listened to old Metallica and then St anger and was disappointed. Then DM came out and i was like "WTF they blew my fuckin head off with this one. Metallica's Back!"
---- You try to awaken me, the flesh dripping with blood My body is there, but my soul a perilous void Aethereal existence coming off in ambient waves I am nothing. I AM N1H1L.
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| Bad English Tage Westerlund Posts: 62002  |
Only difference between old n new here was that band has no hair, otherwise sounds a bit as death angel something not so thrashy vocals, a bit thrashy more HM sound.... but still old school
---- I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens. Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"  I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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| sgtrobo Posts: 593  |
Written by BlankFile on 07.09.2020 at 02:50 best since AJFA as far as I'm concerned, although i wasn't a fan of black album
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| BlankFile Posts: 705 |
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| sgtrobo Posts: 593 |
Written by BlankFile on 30.09.2020 at 21:05 yeah, I know I'm in the minority, but Black literally did nothing for me at all. I found it boring as heck. Like I said, I know I'm one of the few who thinks that
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