Death MagneticReviews: Death Magnetic
Binding: Audio CD EAN: 0093624986188 Label: Warner Bros. Manufacturer: Warner Bros. MPN: 508732 Number Of Discs: 1 Publisher: Warner Bros. Release Date: September 12, 2008 Studio: Warner Bros. Rating:  - Even with all their money, they can't buy the passion back.Everyone wanted them to go back to their roots...and as far as song composure, this is the closest they've been since Justice. The Black disc had a "THUMP" to the sound...the stuff prior to that may have had better tunes, but the recording never really captured the low bottom thump. So, this disc pretty much does the same. As far as the actual songs go...they are decent. Some tunes are extended with no real purpose, but just to have those long jamming songs. I have yet to hear anyone say "WOw! Check out this riff!" or "Lars sure pounds on this!" or even, "I have this song on constant repeat!" There is no real memorable moments. As I mentioned, the songs are decent. I dig Jame's voice and nothing sounds too polished like most other vocalists. It's the rawest part of the disc. If you want decent metal tunes at a sub par to par level, then this will digest well for you. Don't expect to be blowin' away. Funny how money can buy almost anything, but that old passion. Rating: - A step in the right direction, but still not enough...Yes, I have been a fan of Metallica going back to the very beginning. I've owned EVERYTHING this band has put together at one point or another, including bootlegged recordings from the days that Dave Mustaine was still playing with them onstage. This is almost a listenable CD if you remember the Metallica of the "...And Justice for All" and Black Album days. I say almost because Metallica seems to be grasping at sonic straws in an attempt to get back in the good graces of it's hardcore fan base. The problem is that they have forgotten what brought them to the dance in the first place. Before you dismiss me as another fair-weather or a bandwagon fan, hear me out. Listen to The End of the Line and then break out your copy of Kill 'em All (you DO have that classic CD, right?) and play The Four Horsemen. The entire structure of the verses and lyrics of this song are lifted from the interlude from Horsemen (at about the 2:37 mark) but lack the overall catchy riffs and originality of Horsemen. Maybe that's because Dave Mustaine wrote the song. Maybe it's because back then, there was inspiration and direction to the material being produced. This is but one example where it seems that James and Lars consulted their own back-catalog of material for inspiration and fall desperately short of the source material. Almost every song on Death Magnetic sounds desperate to recapture the glory of the past. The disk is full of songs based on the Fade to Black/One "melodic opening that builds into a thrash song" template. The problem is that the songs here are just that, thematic and overly repetitive. You don't have the journey from haunting melody to thrashing mosh-pit here. It's as though they thought that it was the formula and not the content of the song that made it work... That said, sonically it's INFINITELY better than the steaming pile of excreted bile that was St. Anger. It even surpasses the mixing of and sonic approach of the stylistically superior content of ...And Justice for All but falls miles short of their masterpiece Master of Puppets or even the Black Album for that matter. What is it about sound design that these guys are missing? It's not that it's the "classic" tin-can sounding mix and old school recording equipment used to record Ride the Lightning, Kill 'em All and Master of Puppets that makes those albums great... In fact, a little more spit and polish on Death Magnetic would have made it more listenable, but would not solve the song content issue. It's not all gloom and doom though, songs like The Day that Never Comes seems to fuse old and new school Metallica into an enjoyable song that still falls short of previous efforts in this vein like One or Fade to Black, or even The Unfogiven. And seriously, how many times do we need to repeat the line "This I swear?" All Nightmare Long is enjoyable, but entirely too repetitive, something that Metallica never used to do, but embraces completely these days... Even 10 minute long tracks from previous efforts like the previously mentioned One, or Damage Inc. weren't repetitive at all, or at least you are enjoying the song too much to notice repetitive hooks or lyrics. Here we have lines repeated ad nausium and riffs and hooks that are FAR to short and FAR too repetitive. James, if you are reading this I beg of you; Please disable copy and paste on your PC or write your songs on medium larger than an index card. While I can say that the collection of tracks here exceed the filth we've been getting from Metallica every since 1996 with a return to the long-track format and some hints of the greatness that left them long ago, these tracks STILL suffer from the problems that have plagued the band since the release of Load (hyper repetitive hooks and lyrics, substandard mixing and recording, and lack of dedicated direction). In the end, the result is a mediocre collection of tracks and fall far short of previously stellar works while managing to suprass anything else they've done in the last 12 years. Here's hoping that they continue to move in this direction though, as they are rapidly becoming less and less a metal act and more and more a pop act... Rating:  - Not what I expected, it could have been better, lots betterI decided, against my better judgement, to purchase this CD, and to be honest, I was a bit dissappointed. One reason, the CD 'booklet' had the pages cut out in the coffin shape, and cut through a lot of the lyrics. If you want to know what they are, you may have to go to a web site to fill in the blanks. Although I will give it points for a neat looking cover. Also the band seemed to go back to the garage days, I thought they were progressing forward, not going backward. I had the feeling they were bringing up some old stuff that they hadn't put out before, that wasn't worth their time. I loved the last few albums they put out, each one was better than the last, especially S&M. And there are a couple on this one I like, which is why I gave it at least a 2 star. Even several friends have the same feelings about this album, and now they listened to mine will not be getting this one for themselves. I'm glad I didn't pay more than 10 bucks for it though. Rating:  - Two songs are greatThe Day That Never Comes and Unforgiven III are awesome, but the rest of the cd didn't really do it for me. My cousins are all older than me and they swear that Metallica is the best band ever. I've started listening to Metallica's older stuff and I'm starting to agree. Some of these songs like Nothing Else Matters, One, and Unforgiven are incredibly good. Rating: - A nice try!!It's a NICE TRY from Metallica. As simple as it sounds. I'm not looking for a Master of Puppets hit, but you definitely recognize when someone makes an album just trying to find those lost fans. Overall, it's a nice album to listen while working, studying or Chatting... Death Magnetic ReviewsMore reviews:Buy Death Magnetic Sale Reviews Deals
Death Magnetic
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