Metallica - Death Magnetic
|
List Price: Our Price: $7.20 You Save: $11.78 (62%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $2.00 (click here) Category: Music CD See more new music releases 
|
|---|
Buy this Music CD at online store in your country
Canadian Music Store
Canadian Music Store
Free Music Notes for Death Magnetic
Free Music Review: Metallica is Magnetic!
Hit: 5 Stars
I wrote a review when I first got the new CD on Sept. 11 through Amazon. I originally gave it 4 stars, and was completely satisfied with it. Now, after listening a few hundred times, I have to change my rating to 5 stars. I am totally addicted to this album! I can't stop listening to it.
Of course, there are going to be those "real" Metallica fans who don't like it. They're not satisfied unless it's Re-Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning Again, or something like that. To me, a "real" fan is willing to change with the times, and change with the band. Do you have to like every album to be a real fan? Of course not. BUT STOP WHINING! People are revolving their lives around a heavy metal band.
I am 41 years old, and have been with Metallica since the beginning. When Kill 'Em All came out, I was in high school and completely blown away. Deep, heavy, fast guitars. Intelligent lyrics. Unbelievable. Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets put them in a class by themselves. I was addicted.
Then came ...And Justice for All. To me, they started to change ever so slightly here. But it wasn't as noticeable as the self-titled "Black" album. Still, Justice was incredible. Then came the "black" album. Oh my goodness. You would think Metallica burned an American flag or something. The "real" fans were in an uproar. How could they commit such a sacrilege? Please. Give it a rest already. A little bit commercial, but still, what a great album. The perfect combination of metal and hard rock. Accessible to more than a metal fan.
I'm not claiming to be a musical expert, but Load and Reload sounded great to me. Most of those songs were still hard hitting, grungy, and well written. The only thing I will say is that they probably could've picked the best 12-15 songs from both albums and made one incredible album. The "real" fans keep waiting for Master of Puppets 10. You "real" fans should really get out of the 80's. Cut off the back of your mullets, wear a t-shirt with sleaves (and that fits). If I hear one more fan compare a new Metallica album to Master I'm going to vomit.
Now, along comes St. Anger. I hated it. I listened to it twice, which is probably once too many. The drums sounded like they were recorded in a giant tin can. There was nothing I could bang my head to, or sing out loud with. Metallica is always the standard, so anything less than that is going to get bad reviews. To me, St. Anger is their ONLY sub-standard album.
Bring on Death Magnetic. I was instantly hooked. My original rating of 4 stars was after a few listens in normal surroundings (in my house with my wife and kids, on my Ipod, etc.) This past week, I played it about a million times at a LOUD volume in my car. Wow! I can't stop! These songs are extremely addicting. I can head bang, scream along, play air guitar, all of it. Broken, Beaten, and Scarred will not leave my head. My Apocalypse and The Judas Kiss are just plain awesome. Even the Day That Never Comes, which got absolutely no love from the "real" fans, is a certified rocker. Cyanide oozes with attitude. Unforgiven 3 breaks things up a little, but is pretty cool. The instrumental Suicide and Redemption has me rockin'. Everyone has there own favorites, and in all different orders, and that's the beauty of music. People hear the same thing differently.
And what's with all these people bashing the production/mixing? Since when is everyone an expert at how to produce an album? I don't hear anything but good and bad. This is GOOD. If everyone is an expert at this stuff, why don't they go out and make an album themselves? Take all your critical energy and form a band. But, once again, STOP WHINING! I have a question for you supposed "real" fans: When Metallica comes to your area, are you going to go see them? Of course you are. Nuff said.
I hope my years of Metallica listening, which I tried to illustrate above, give people thinking about buying Death Magnetic confidence in what they're getting. Don't over analyze, don't live in the past, just pop it in and enjoy.
Free Music Review: The Metallica Album I've Waited 17 Years For...
Hit: 5 Stars
I'm one of those Metallica fans that believes the first five Metallica albums (Kill'em All through The Black Album) are just plain sacred and that the last three albums (Load through St. Anger) are just plain garbage. That said, when I heard that Metallica had a new album coming out in 2008 the first thing I thought was "Hmm, will it be a rap/metal cross over this time like Limp Bizkit, or will it be a full fledge country album this time out".
Thank God Almighty it is neither.
Death Magnetic is a solid work from Metallica that is a brutal metal attack from start to finish. Even Rob Trujillo has regained his balls from his days in Suicidal Tendencies.
The opening track "That Was Just Your Life" is a perfect opening to this album. It starts off with a thumping heartbeat and then goes off into a Thrash Riot that is just plain killer. From there we go too "The End of the Line"; now when I first heard the song title I thought "Hmm...is this a cover of the Overkill song by the same name"? It's not, it's a song with a great main riff that hooks you from the start to the finish and it never lets up.
Next is "Broken, Beat and Scarred". This song channels the spirit of Slayer (Hetfield even sounds like Tom Araya at times) and is the first "classic" on the album in my opinion that will be on many Metallica mixes I make for years to come.
Next we go to track four, "The Day That Never Comes", is nothing special in my opinion. This was not a good choice for the first single and video from the album. Slow start but a great finish.
"All Nightmare Long" is track five and the second "instant classic" in my opinion. Any song that chants "Hunt you down without mercy" is tops in my book. This song is best described as a straight forward metal thrasher that busts heads.
"Cyanide" is an excellent track with some good bass parts throughout. I believe they played this song on Ozzfest so many of you probably already know it.
Next we have "The Unforgiven III"...why Metallica why?!? This is not a bad song at all, it just doesn't compare to the sheer beauty of the original or the sheer emotional impact of the original. This to me is the Resident Evil 4 of the Unforgiven Trilogy, great song, just not a good Unforgiven song if you catch my drift.
"The Judas Kiss" is a good track and holds up well on its own.
Track nine..."Suicide and Redemption"...the instrumental that took four album listenings to realize it's an instrumental. The main riff is so hypnotic that it literally took me four listenings of this album before I realized that James wasn't singing. Good song though.
Then we end with "My Apocalypse", what I consider "instant classic" number three for all future Metallica mix CD's that go in my car. This song hits the "Kill'em All" vibe right on the head. Heavy, fast, brutal and just plain unforgiving.
As the name of my review says, I've waited 17 years for Metallica to make this album. It channels all the energy and classic power that the first five Metallica albums have and leaves behind the generic garbage that Metallica did with the "Load" albums and St. Wanker. I can finally allow Metallica to be a part of my life again.
Funny story, I used to tell myself that Metallica died in a plane crash after the Black Album so that I could keep respect for them after hearing and seeing the abominations they crapped out between '95-'03. Now days, I tell myself that Lars, James and Kirk actually survived the crash with the help of an American Indian Shaman (Rob Trujillo) and that after 17 years they were found. However, they had to eat Newstead to survive the first week after the crash before the Shaman (Trujillo) showed them how to live off the land.
Now he's their bass player...go figure.
Free Music Review: Amazing album from an amazing band
Hit: 5 Stars
So basically I have been listening to this album non-stop since the leak came out on September 5. This is basically the album that should have either followed ...And Justice for All or the Black Album
The album starts off with a heartbeat and a slow creepy intro which then transforms into one hell of a thrash meteal song. Its easily Metallica's best opening track since Blackened. Very refreshing to hear James sounding so angry and powerful again, though we all know his voice will never be what it was before the black album. But this is nothing to sneer at, its awesome. 10/10
Track 2 called 'End of the Line' is what the intro to their 'New Song' which was played live became, and it has changed for the better. Lyrics kind of have a creeping death flow in the verses. Take one listen and you'll hear what I mean. 9/10
Track 3 Broken Beat , & Scarred. Let me say for the record I REALLY like this song, though the vocals are not the best Hetfield has written. I know its for lyrical rhythym flow but he could have flowed lyrics which where grammatically correct. All Nitpicking aside, the song rocks with a VERY catchy hook. 9/10
Track 4 is the single and following the tradition of the 4th track being the ballad. With all the reviews about this song I am going to just leave it as it rocks like all the preceding songs. 9/10
Track 5 All Nightmare Long is another fast paced thrasher with a very catchy chrous. The break down is yet again from The New Song that was played in 06 but its much better now. 10/10
Track 6 Cyanide Definitely one of the weaker tracks but still better than anything they have written since the black album. Lars attempts an interesting off-beat midsection which kind of works...but sounds confused. 6/10
Track 7 The Unforgiven III Not really a disappointment, but its not as good as the first. There is no backward horn which defines the Unforgiven and The Unforgiven II so that's a let-down. I really think this song is called The Unforgiven III mainly because they used the formula from The original and the lyrics have a lotto do with Forgiveness. Again one of the weaker tracks and probably would relate most to the Load-era metallica 7/10
Track 8 The Judas Kiss this one takes away any tinge of Load and Reload from the last 2 tracks and is powerful as hell and James sounds AWESOME
Very nice solo by Kirk too 10/10
Track 9 Suicide and Redemption The INSTRUMENTAL! :D I for one love it, people complain saying it doesn't really go anywhere. I find that accusation untrue, and I really enjoy the midsection of the song where Kirk and James duel solo. Not the best instrumental. Its not Ktulu or Orion but its an awesome modern day metallica instrumental 8/10
Track 10 My Apocalypse Is it Thrash? Hell yeah it is I love it when James spits out the lyrics
"Crushing metal, Ripping Skin
Tossing body mannequin
Spilling Blood, Bleeding Gas
Mangle flesh, Snapping spine
Dripping bloody valentine
Shattered face, spitting glass"
the lyrics are defintely better than St. Angers lyrics and the chorus definitely remind me of Pantera's Rise. Pretty close to a whiplash solo aswell. 10/10
All in all Death Magnetic is not Justice, its not Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning its basically Metallica doing what they do best. Being thrash. They do however look to their past albums and there are some parts to the song where there is a pause I just wanna scream out Whiplash, especially in My Apocalypse. Metallica have definitely made an album worthy to be in their catalogue.
Free Music Review: LOAD/RELOAD FANS PLEASE READ!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
My experience with Metallica began in 1991 with the release of the Black Album. As a lover of all kinds of music, this album appealed to me because it was well-crafted, compelling and had some really strong songwriting. The fact that it is considered "soft" compared to their previous work was a non-issue for me since I had never heard "Kill 'Em All", "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets" or "...And Justice For All" (and still haven't).
I had all but forgotten about Metallica by the time they resurfaced in 1996 with "Load", but I thought it was a bold, exciting, and worthy follow-up to the Black album. "Reload" was still good, but clearly leftovers. Not being a die-hard Metallica "fan", I didn't over-analyze these albums; I simply enjoyed them for what they were: strong, solid, heavy, well-produced rock music with enough diversity to keep my attention and interest until the end of both albums. I appreciated the sheer bulk of music that Metallica had offered to its fans with these two releases and again, didn't over-analyze it.
Then came St. Anger, along with it's companion piece, "Some Kind of Monster", the Metallica documentary. Whether I wanted to or not, I began to over-analyze Metallica at this point; it was just too gosh-darn fun NOT to. Based on my experience with Metallica's music, St. Anger was a step backward. Granted, for fans of their earlier work, it may have been a GOOD step backward, but for me, I couldn't relate to the long songs, lack of guitar solos, and "messy" production. I ended up liking St. Anger, but it's at the bottom of the list as far as my favorite Metallica albums.
"Death Magnetic" was the first Metallica album that I really looked forward to with any sense of anticipation and excitement. Again, I'm not a "fan"; I just like a good chunk of their catalog. After several listens, I felt compelled to write a review of this album from the perspective (which I know is shared by SOMEONE out there) of someone who couldn't care less about anything Metallica did before the Black Album.
This album is amazing. The greatest testimony I could give would be to say that I am NOW interested in Metallica's back catalog (everything BEFORE the Black album) for the first time. I think that this album has managed to capture everything that I loved about Metallica and also everything that I didn't KNOW I loved about Metallica. The melody; the solos; the fierce, aggressive rhythm guitar of James Hetfield; the sheer capability of Lars Ulrich; the driving bass of Rob Trujillo and the always-complementary guitar work of Kirk Hamett. I honestly STILL don't notice that the songs are all 7+ minutes long; every single moment of these songs is fun to listen to.
It feels like each song is a journey that, after listening several times, you still can't WAIT to go on again. I'll be honest, I miss the precision/sound quality of the Bob Rock production (Black, Load, Reload), but I can't argue with the fact that St. Anger proved that Rock couldn't (or wouldn't) take them where they were headed.
A song-by-song review would be fun, but I don't want to rob you of the pleasure of discovering the nuances of this music on your own. My favorites right now are "All Nightmare Long", "The Day That Never Comes", "The Unforgiven III", and "Suicide & Redemption". If you liked/loved the Black album, Load, Reload & saw potential in St. Anger for Metallica's "new" direction, you will LOVE this album. Again, I think I'm going to the store today to pick up all of their older stuff SOLELY based on this record. St. Anger did NOT make me want to do that.
Free Music Review: Metallica....the Stanley Kubrick of rock and roll....a magnificent album, as good as anything they've done....
Hit: 5 Stars
This is a great, great album, one of Metallica's best and one of the best albums I've heard in a long time. Metallica is totally rejuvinated from the St. Anger misstep. They play like a band possessed. Every song on here is a Metallica masterpiece. Metallica is the Stanley Kubrick of rock and roll, taking years between albums (and obsessing and obsessing over them), but when it's released, it's either awesome or pretty close to awesome. Even the much maligned St. Anger has some brilliant moments. Death Magnetic can stand next to Master of Puppets, ...and Justice for All (an album Death Magnetic gets compared to a lot here), or Ride the Lightning.
I absolutely love The End of the Line. It has one of the trickiest time signatures of any Metallica song, and the band gives a shattering performance of it. Cyanide is one of my all time favorite Metallica songs, with a killer bass riff (courtesy of Robert Trujillo, his first studio album with Metallica), and absolute killer guitar riff. All Nightmare Long is another scorcher. It's equipped with not one but two killer guitar solos by Kirk Hammett. His soloing, which has always gotten better with each subsequent album (sans St. Anger, where no solos were to be found for some reason), is fantastic here. Suicide and Redemption, the band's first instrumental since Orion off the Master of Puppets album (To Live is To Die is mostly instrumental, it has some lyrics written by Cliff Burton), has another massive bass line by Trujillo and it's a great Metallica epic. All of these songs go on for quite some time (like all classic Metallica songs).
Metallica is functioning as a whole band here. They all take songwriting credits (even Trujillo), and they don't play any games with the production here. ...and Justice for All had Newsted's bass mixed in the back supposedly as a "hazing" ritual, which lessened the album a bit in many eyes. Here Trujillo's bass is right up there, along side Ulrich's incredible drumming, and the brilliant twin guitar attack of Hetfield and Hammett. Hetfield's lyrics are much better than St. Anger, which had some of the worst lyrics of Metallica's career.
Metallica has shaken off the dust of the St. Anger debacle (more of a misguided attempt to recapture the old sound than a horrible album), and has come back fast, loud, strong, creative, and brilliant. Despite this, there are some naysayers here screaming "this is not as good as their old stuff", and for those people, why don't you stop listening to Metallica then? What the hell do you really want? Kill 'em All Part 10? Part 11? Go form your own thrash metal band, then. Get lost. I'm tired of hearing your incessant complaining. Metallica doesn't need you; I don't need you. Go find some other band to trash.
Metallica is an awesome band with incredible staying power. In a business where bands are lucky to be around for a few years, Metallica has been around for 25 YEARS. There's a reason that Metallica has stayed on the top of their game for all those years, as opposed to most of the other 80's metal bands (Poison for example), who are nothing but nostalgia acts now. Metallica will never be a nostalgia act. There is a reason that this album opened up at #1. It's because Metallica is one of the greatest rock bands EVER, and 4 or 5 years from now, their new album will come out, and I'll be writing another review on how awesome their new album is.