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Metallica - Death Magnetic review



Reviewer:
8.0

2447 users:
7.3
Band: Metallica
Album: Death Magnetic
Style: Thrash metal
Release date: September 12, 2008
Guest review by: Lupas


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

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.
Add to this Robert Trujillo's fresh basslines, all grooved up and chunky, and Lars Ulrich's disciplined yet determined drumming and Death Magnetic's brilliance is pretty much ascertained. Despite being inspired by what Hetfield describes as "thoughts of death", of the "rock' n roll martyrs" who have been helplessly drawn towards it and lost, Death Magnetic is far from downbeat. On the contrary, it is brimming with rhythm and riffs.

Hetfield himself sounds refreshed and at the top of his game. His guitar is a hefty axe chopping its way from That was just your life's delicate intro all the way through to My Apocalype's shredded metal manifestation by way of the outstanding track The Judas Kiss, pausing only briefly as The Unforgiven III's brittle piano introduces the latest instalment to what is destined to become Metallica's eternal unfinished symphony.

If there's one thing that is clear on this Album is that Metallica have rediscovered the magic that transformed them from fanzine favourites to world-class metal icons.


Rating breakdown
Performance: 7
Songwriting: 8
Originality: 8
Production: 8

Written by Lupas | 03.01.2010




Guest review disclaimer:
This is a guest review, which means it does not necessarily represent the point of view of the MS Staff.

Staff review by
destroyah
Rating:
8.0
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?

Read more ››
published 12.09.2008 | Comments (146)

Guest review by
BobNickMad
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 ››
published 04.05.2009 | Comments (31)


Comments

Comments: 18   Visited by: 199 users
03.01.2010 - 11:26
Rating: 9
In Bone Factory
Deal.
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The End Is Nigh ...
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03.01.2010 - 12:04
Rating: 8
Warman
Erotic Stains
I kinda agree with the review, but I think there's more to say about the album.
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03.01.2010 - 17:02
Rating: 10
terrorist
I agree
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Will the ones who live after our end
Worship the goddamn cross again?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnlG0h7YN_8&feature=related
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03.01.2010 - 23:56
THE_BLACK_GOD
Account deleted
As Warman said, we can talk more about this album. but nice review.
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04.01.2010 - 04:51
Rating: 10
Oskmrgo83
Oskmrgo83
I think Metallica made a "grand slam" by releasing this new album. They demonstrated themselves that they still rock n' rule the metal world as they always do. So, Death Magnetic has lots of things to be discussed, in order to congratulate them for this musical effort.
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Now it's time to... rock!!!!!
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04.01.2010 - 19:53
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Written by Oskmrgo83 on 04.01.2010 at 04:51

They demonstrated themselves that they still rock n' rule the metal world as they always do.

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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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04.01.2010 - 20:22
Rating: 10
Oskmrgo83
Oskmrgo83
Written by Marcel Hubregtse on 04.01.2010 at 19:53

Written by Oskmrgo83 on 04.01.2010 at 04:51

They demonstrated themselves that they still rock n' rule the metal world as they always do.



If you disagree with my point of view, I respect your laughs. So, I don't care.
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Now it's time to... rock!!!!!
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05.01.2010 - 18:01
THE_BLACK_GOD
Account deleted
Written by In Bone Factory on 03.01.2010 at 11:26

Deal.

I didnt get it, what do u mean?
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05.01.2010 - 22:24
Rating: 9
In Bone Factory
Written by [user id=31891] on 05.01.2010 at 18:01

Written by In Bone Factory on 03.01.2010 at 11:26

Deal.

I didnt get it, what do u mean?

I mean I agree with this review.its a deal with it.
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The End Is Nigh ...
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06.01.2010 - 06:34
Rating: 2
Wakanaboo
I hate this album, it was more commercial than st. anger, heck the production sucked as well...by means of composition this was one of the weakest 'tallica albums, shame
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_bleh!_
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07.01.2010 - 13:27
Rating: 10
matthioso
Nice review. Great album!
but I would rate it *10 (ofcourse, what did you expect from a Metallica-fan )
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www.seedofrock.be
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25.01.2010 - 05:06
Conemetal
It's a good review but I think it's a little overrated with 8 points (maybe 6), I think it's an album without enough originality, and James Hetfield lost the rage in his singing way, he sing like a ballads singer
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MUCH I LEARNED FROM MY TEACHERS,
MORE FROM MY COLLEAGUES, BUT I HAVE LEARNED THE MOST FROM MY DISCIPLES
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04.02.2010 - 21:20
Rating: 6
Winterthrone
Written by Conemetal on 25.01.2010 at 05:06

It's a good review but I think it's a little overrated with 8 points (maybe 6), I think it's an album without enough originality, and James Hetfield lost the rage in his singing way, he sing like a ballads singer

Man, that's not nice to ballad singers:lol:! Hetfield never had a great voice IMO, but when he was younger he could easily get away with is powerful screaming voice. But, now that he is older he seems unable to scream so he just plainly suck. He is, however, still a good guitar player. And by the way this rating is way to high. This album is really average...half of the songs on it are pure crap (the instrumental is a real example of musical masturbation), the rest varies between average abnd very good: My apocalypse is the best song, pure thrash metal. The production sucks big time. The solos sometimes seem forced, sometimes they're very nice. This album should be rated 6,5 or 7 maximum. It is a step in the good direction after the disaster of St. Anger but it's only a step... Ah yeah, and I hate the drumming of Lars Ulrich on this one too, it ruins a lot of the songs. He should listen to And Justice For All again.
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13.02.2010 - 18:21
Scheff
Commercial and Metal dont mix, why try metallica.

I too am going to come out with a few shitty albums and blame the sales on napster.
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13.02.2010 - 21:08
Conemetal
Written by Winterthrone on 04.02.2010 at 21:20

Written by Conemetal on 25.01.2010 at 05:06

It's a good review but I think it's a little overrated with 8 points (maybe 6), I think it's an album without enough originality, and James Hetfield lost the rage in his singing way, he sing like a ballads singer

Man, that's not nice to ballad singers:lol:! Hetfield never had a great voice IMO, but when he was younger he could easily get away with is powerful screaming voice. But, now that he is older he seems unable to scream so he just plainly suck. He is, however, still a good guitar player. And by the way this rating is way to high. This album is really average...half of the songs on it are pure crap (the instrumental is a real example of musical masturbation), the rest varies between average abnd very good: My apocalypse is the best song, pure thrash metal. The production sucks big time. The solos sometimes seem forced, sometimes they're very nice. This album should be rated 6,5 or 7 maximum. It is a step in the good direction after the disaster of St. Anger but it's only a step... Ah yeah, and I hate the drumming of Lars Ulrich on this one too, it ruins a lot of the songs. He should listen to And Justice For All again.

I agree, thanks
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MUCH I LEARNED FROM MY TEACHERS,
MORE FROM MY COLLEAGUES, BUT I HAVE LEARNED THE MOST FROM MY DISCIPLES
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28.03.2010 - 05:47
This album is far too repetitive its good yes, but no more than 7 out of 10, because apart from Broken beat and Scarred there is no old metallica and yes hetfield's voice has lost a lot of it's rage since master of puppets its hard to tell its the same person singing
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19.12.2010 - 11:26
Rating: 6
mz
Its great to hear thrash sound of metallica again but End game was mush better .
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Giving my ears a rest from music.
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21.01.2017 - 04:12
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by Warman on 03.01.2010 at 12:04

I kinda agree with the review, but I think there's more to say about the album.

well that's why we have staff and guest reviews
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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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