Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic’ hit shelves last Friday, but is it attracting fans? Entertainment writer Matt Johnson reviews the heavy metal release.
Five years after the less than stellar “St. Anger,” Metallica has released “Death Magnetic” in an effort to get back to its roots.
Fans around the world have been hoping for an album more like “Master of Puppets” or “Ride the Lightning,” but can Metallica satisfy those cravings?
Unfortunately not, but “Death Magnetic” is better than what Metallica has been releasing since the critically acclaimed “Black Album,” although it isn’t on par with the work the band did in the 1980s.
A good way to describe it is “paint-by-numbers Metallica.”
It seems like Metallica took what made it a metal legend 10 years ago and tried to do the same thing with a slight twist.
The album starts out decent enough with “That Was Just Your Life,” which is sort of “Blackened”-ish in essence.
“The Day That Never Comes” is in the same vein as “One.”
It has a slow, melodic introduction, an irreverent chorus and an instrumental section.
“The Unforgiven III” is the reason there is a “skip track” button on MP3 players.
“Cyanide” is more of a “Master of Puppets” throwback, but it probably wouldn’t belong in the top five tracks on that album.
On “Death Magnetic,” though, it’s probably a top-three track.
The brightest track on this album is “Suicide and Redemption,” which is the first instrumental song Metallica has created since 1988.
The song shows that James Hetfield and the gang can still create technical arrangements that keep heads banging for the duration of the song, even if that duration is close to 10 minutes.
Overall, it could be said that Metallica has taken a small step forward with this album.
It’s just too bad it took them 17 years to take that step.
What all Metallica fans need to realize is that they will never hear another album that lives up to “Master of Puppets” and “Ride the Lightning again.”
The bottom line is that the time is coming for Metallica to call it quits. “Death Magnetic” is proof of that.
The creativity that it showed back in its early work is gone, and it’s never a good sign when an artist of any kind is no longer creative.
Metallica has been tarnishing a stellar body of work since it released “Black Album”, and it’s time for it to stop.
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ok call it quits when they sell 490000 albums in what? 3 days?
“The bottom line is that the time is coming for Metallica to call it quits. ‘Death Magnetic’ is proof of that.” — Are you serious??? This album proves that Metallica is back! That Was Just Your Life, Judas Kiss, All Nightmare Long, etc. are fantastic. Best album in nearly 20 years. You should stop smoking whatever you’re smoking.
Dude you dont have no idea what you are talking about , obvisiouly you are not a fan if they suck so bad why do they sell out evrywhere they go? keep that in mind
this guy’s talking crap. after the horror that was st. anger, metallica decided to get back to its roots by playing with more of a thrash style. however, they didn’t try to recreate the music of their old albums because even they know that they are not as good as they were before. But they have taken a huge step forward in music creation for the band with this album and the number of sales and the fact that it’s hit no. 1 at all billboards worldwide speak for themselves.
since when does the amount of record sales have to do with the quality of an album? kidrock sold a bajillion albums and hes ….well…hes kidrock. and of course they are going to sell out shows everywhere, theyre metallica! opiate of the harley-riding musically braindead masses! dont get me wrong i love metallica except the crap they put out after 91. death magnetic is a decent album and definitely has its share of killer guitar lines (all nightmare long verse, suicide and redemption, etc) but im not going to say its the best thing ever just because its better than st anger or because it sells a lot of copies.
paint-by-numbers album = dead on
I agree with Johnson one hundred percent.
I find that the contents of this article to be extremely intricate, and well thought out. It was amazing, dare I say inspiring. However, I have no relevant comment to this article since I listen to Rap mostly. And some techno too.
You sir are a deaf sh**.
You couldnt hear a decent song if it came and slapped you around the face!
hi matt you rock and i love you keep it up :)