Death Magnetic Review

TerminalDeath Anybody (Here, I mean Metallica / Thrash and/or Heavy Metal fans) will give you one of these two answers about the album.
1. It’s awesome
2. It sucks.
If there is a #3, please do mention it in the comments below but these are the generalized opinion of the pro-Death Magnetic and anti-Death Magnetic fans. People who say that the album sucks do give clear reasons as to why the album really sucks. If you do have a solid reason, please post it in the comments section. I belong to the 1 st group. I think the album is awesome. I didn’t find any reason to hate or negatively criticize the albumin any way because this was my first metal album ever and I didn’t know anything back then except that the music was great.

Metallica’s return was very anticipated. But, Death Magnetic was a widely debated event.Some agreed with the album being great and fantastic while others claimed that the album was dull, lifeless, boring and call Metallica’s return a meaningless one. Criticisms listed were the stale production and the fact that the songs are far too long and that James Hetfield's vocals have lost all the edge they once had on classic releases such as Master Of Puppets. As Matt mentioned,there are good points and bad points about the album

Before proceeding with the review, let me let you know that I’ve read another review on the album by Matt. The review was very lengthy and extremely detailed. I am taking a lot of stuff from his awesome review. He’s rightly pointed out the static-sounding production. People consider it an issue. The songs are too loud and there isn’t any bass playing. It isn’t as bad as St. Anger though and neither does it have that Metallica clean and Metallica crisp thing to it. Considering their age at the point of time when the album was released, I’m sure they’ve done well. The speed isn’t faster than songs of their fastest albums but their guitars are enjoyable. Yep, I enjoyed it especially from harder songs like The End of The Line, Judas Kiss and Broken,Beat & Scarred. The solos on the album are not too great as ones like in their popular albums. But, they’re better than most of their self-titled album’s song except maybe “The Unforgiven” and “Nothing Else Matters”. The riffs are good though and the solos are still likeable.

I’ll take a special mention about Lars’ drumming. He’s done better on this album than on the others’ by a few steps. This album shows his focus and he’s the thrashiest on this album.
Now, coming to the length of songs. Yeah, they are pretty long. Most of the songs exceed 6 minutes and more. The total album length exceeds 75 minutes which is longer than usual. I’m not complaining about the length. Its fine. The bass playing is almost “not there” in this album. The songs would’ve sounded better and would’ve gained attention more if there was bass playing. I don’t really mind the bass though.

Of course, when the album released with the title “Death Magnetic”, people were expecting something hardcore awesome from Metallica.Half the M fans were satisfied while the rest left cursing. Honestly, I think they haven’t done that bad as to deserve the criticism. As mentioned,Hetfield’s voice is aging with him, Lars’ drumming abilities are going down too. Needless to say, the album does have one of Metallica’s best All Nightmare Long.

The catchiest songs in the album seem to be Judas Kiss,Suicide & Redemption, All Nightmare Long, The Unforgiven III and That Day That Never Comes. Let me be honest here, my tastes are totally different. I did find some of the above catchy but my favorites from the album turn out to be different – The End of The Line, My Apocalypse, Broken, Beat & Scarred,That Was Just You Life. Certainly yes, they’re all subjective. Is there anyone who stands by my favorites? No? Its fine. I’ve never met an M fan who loves these songs to the core.

Here’s my review on each of the album’s songs (not in order).

That Was Just Your Life: Its a good start to the album. Not to mention, the heartbeats are great. James has done well in this song and the core riffs are good. The fast paced vocals and the guitar tone is excellent.
All Nightmare Long: All Nightmare Long is Top 1 in the original list. This is easily the best song of the album as well as it’s thrashiest song. It has a beautiful solo and a great chorus that auto-drives you into liking it. Every part of the song is good especially towards the end during the last chorus.
My Apocalypse:The Apocalypse, in my opinion, is not as great as the others but is definitely good.
Broken, Beat & Scarred: As I mentioned in the original page, the song has a well-appreciable start and a good feel to it. This one's just like the classic Metallica style.
The End of The Line: This one is the third metal song I've ever listened to and has great lyrics. The End of the Line is an example of Metallica's perfect distortion in all their songs.
Suicide & Redemption: Although, this version of Suicide & Redemption is only instrumental, it proves that all Metallica songs have perfection in what they do.
Unforgiven III: The Unforgiven III is an obvious third version of the song and it beats the chorus of death.

I only listed down the songs I liked from the album. I hope you enjoyed my review. Thank you for reading.

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