Metallica- Death Magnetic

It was never going to be hard to make an album better than St Anger. Metallica could've recorded the sounds of the group collectively farting and it'd be better than their last album. Death Magnetic was also going to better than that album. And fortunately it happens to be not only better than St Anger, but better than the unmemorable Reload as well. It's actually the best Metallica release since Load.

It's by no means perfect. The production is questionable throughout most of the album. The bass is barely audible (Rob Trujillo must be experiencing the same treatment as Jason Newstead did back with ...And Justice For All), Lar's drums are far too high in the mix and even I can tell with my untrained ears that the production clips all over the fucking shop, making a rather murker overall sound. Fortunately, like the aforementioned ...And Justice For All, the strength of the songs on the album means you can forgive the haphazard production.

The band have returned to their thrash sound of the 80's. It's not as complex as Metallica of old, but there's some ace riffs in there. 'That Was Just Your Life' opens like classic Metallica. A false intro that erupts into a fury of a song, at a pace you wouldn't have thought they'd be able to maintain. It's quite frankly ace and one of the album highlights. 'The End Of The Line' is also quite good, but suffers from sounding a bit too pieced together. 'Broken, Beat & Scarred' is probably the first misfire on the album. Not a particularlly memorable track at all.

'The Day That Never Comes' is the classic 'start slow finish manic' song in the ilk of Fade To Black and One. I'm mildly irritated by James Hetfields constant use of the syllable 'ah' at the end of every-single-fucking-line-of-the-song, but the slow arppegio's that make way form a maelstrom somewhere between One and Sad But True is more or less perfect. 'All Nightmare Long' is one of the best tracks on the entire album and another highlight. Hetfield may complain that he feels the song was pieced together, but fucking hell the pieces work so well together. Tempo changes abound throughout and Hetfield's growls in the way no other singer can. Kirk Hammet also contributes his first genuinely great solo of the album (the previous ones weren't worth mention, they were essentially Hammet on autopilot) of shred and wah brilliance all whilst barely containing a stop/start rhythem. When the song speeds up more though he contributes another typical hammet solo, but fortunately it works well enough leading into a breathtaking lightspeed riff. You'd think the band were still in their 20's not their late 40's. A brief pause and another heart-felt chorus brings the 7mins 57seconds of 'All Nightmare Long' to a spell binding close.

'Cyanide' doesn't match the brilliance of the previous song. It sounds like what The Black Album could've sounde like if it was more thrash. More easily digestable than some of the other songs on the album, but as entertaining as it is, it's kinda dull overall. It's still better than 'The Unforgiven III' though. Far and aware the worst song on the album, it's practically cringeworthy hearing another anti-ballad of sorts with more 'ah's' courtesy of Hetfield and rubbish lyrics, you'll be desperate for the song to finish. 'The Judas Kiss' is thankfully better. It's another hard rocking number with some good riffing, though overall it's not one of the stongest songs overall. Kirk Hammet offers one of his better solo's on the album though, with some ferocious shredding.

The comes the another album highlight. Metallica's first instrumental since 1987's 'To Live Is To Die', 'Suicide And Redemption' is epic in all meanings of the word. It's nearly 10 minutes long, it shifts through various stages and tempo's. You can also hear Rob Trujillos' bass more clearly than on other track! The heavy and ever developing riff pulls you in, chews you up and spits you straight back album. It then enters and epic slow section with a brilliant restrained solo from Hammet. It then erupts into another explosion of speed and riffing madness. Just sheer aceness really. The final song 'My Apocalypse' is the albums 'Damage Inc.' or 'Dyers Eve'. A short sharp metallica attack on the senses to finish the album with a bang. It's angry and another classic sounding Metallica track with a great chorus. Another highlight of the album I think.

There's a fair few, mediocre songs on the album (and one awful one but less on that) that are happily accompanied by some amazing songs. As said, the production is questionable on most the album and is the main drawback on it. Fortunately, the songs save it from being rubbish overall. It could've lost a track or two to shorten it but that's just being picky. Death Magnetic's a decent album, and whilst it definately isn't Metallica's best, it's the best they've done for over a decade. If they kept making albums like this for the rest of the career, I wouldn't mind at all.

7/10