Album Review: Metallica's Death Magnetic

Metallica was once the undisputed masters of thrash metal, an innovative and aggressive force in music. Sadly, many fans were disappointed when Metallica slid further and further away from their metal roots and became a hard rock band. Their 90's albums, Load and ReLoad were a far cry from the brutal aggression and passion of their earlier works. And then, in 2003, there was St. Anger…well, let's pretend that never happened.
 
Clearly, the fans were ready for a return to the good old days of Metallica so the band attempted to please them. Their most recent album: Death Magnetic juggles both their thrash era and their newer pop metal era. Does it succeed? Let's take a look track by track.


Track List:

1-That Was Just Your Life
We're greeted with a clean guitar tone weaving an ominous riff. Then, drummer Lars Ulrich enters the equation and it's not pretty. The recording quality on the drums makes them sound abrasive and fuzzy throughout the whole album…a bizarre mistake to exist in this advanced era of sound design.
But about the song-- it has a strong guitar riff that brings to mind "Blackened". Otherwise it's a forgettable opener.

2-The End of the Line
An admirable balance of thrash and pop metal eras of Metallica. The verses have the shout-then-sing feel of "Creeping Death" and the chorus has a catchy pop hook with their vocalist singing, "Hooked into this deceiver/Need more and more." Well, James Hetfield, I admit you hooked me with this one.

3-Broken, Beat & Scarred
This shows the weak side of Death Magnetic. It's meant to be a mid-tempo brute of a song but it feels shallow and unfocused. Not only is the scratchy drum quality distracting but the songwriting is weak. There are no memorable hooks or riffs.

4-The Day That Never Comes
One of the better tracks on the CD. The first half is a Fade to Black-esque power ballad and the second half features interesting twin guitar solos and a speedy rhythm reminiscent "One". Not very innovative, but a surprisingly solid song.

5-All Nightmare Long
After a tired, gloomy guitar intro, the band bursts into a breakneck speed and a refreshingly tight sound. The catchy chorus has a lot of potential but it is undermined by a thorn in modern Metallica's side: the new Hetfield. Their vocalist has tried to mature in sound by adding a southern rock flavor and an accent ("All nightmare long-ah!") but it lacks power and sincerity. It brings down an otherwise powerful track…and the whole album for that matter.

The new James Hetfield-ah!

6-Cyanide
This is a popular song but I don't understand the appeal. It's a hard rock song with a plodding tempo and an overdose of Wah Pedal effects. True, the bassist, Robert Trujillo lays down a solid bass track, but other than that this song is very dull and repetitive.

7-The Unforgiven III
A power ballad that doesn't have the beauty or passion it's reaching for. Hetfield's coarse, gritty delivery weakens the mood of the song. Then, at the song's climax lead guitarist Kirk Hammet plays a grinding, atonal array of notes instead of the soaring solo you hoped for. This song is emotionally misguided and weak.

8-The Judas Kiss
A straight-forward thrasher that spends too long meandering with uninspired guitar melodies. James Hetfield's melodies are also forgettable.

9-Suicide & Redemption
A bland instrumental without the memorable melodies of Metallica's old instrumentals like Orion and Call of Ktulu. The bass work is interesting but it gets lost in the noisy mix.

10-My Apocalypse
The introduction features fast, tight drums. The toms sync satisfyingly with the main riff. Then, the track inevitably sags under the weight of Hetfield's barking, one-pitch vocal delivery. Somehow this song earned a Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance. How? That's a mystery to me.

Metallica in all their mid-life crisis splendor.

Key Tracks: The Day That Never Comes, All Nightmare Long, The End of the Line

Death Magnetic has very uneven songwriting. Some songs are actually pretty impressive like The Day That Never Comes and All Nightmare Long, but even they lose their luster because of a huge flaw: production quality. Rick Rubin, the genius behind Slayer's Reign in Blood and System of a Down's Toxicity produced this album. For some reason he forgot all his production wizardry on this project.

The guitars sound small and timid, the bass is weak, and the cymbals have an unpleasant hiss. Yes, the snare sound is an improvement over St. Anger's ringing gong but that's not saying much. The sound quality may not seem like a deal breaker but it definitely is to me. It's hard to enjoy the songs when they sound so poor.

Conclusion:

Death Magnetic is a noble attempt to balance Metallica's roots with their new sound but it is a misguided effort. James Hetfield's vocal style doesn't have a lot of emotional strength, half of the songs are forgettable, and the recording quality doesn't help matters at all. It has moments of inspired work on the key tracks but the album is overall quite flawed.

Score:
2/5 Fair

                                           Video clip of "All Nightmare Long".