The right honourable Holy Ferret’s view…

Metallica is to metal what Iraq is today in world politics - an entity loaded with some much political BS from both those who are pro and anti it, that any claims towards objective judgement are little more than an exercise in futility. Thankfully I never cares much for objectivity anyway, let futility is my bosom buddy! Our very own Deathshred King will be offering up his perspective on the album too following mine, so consider this a cross-examination of what is undoubtedly one of the years most talked of (rightly or wrongly) albums, from different perspectives. Metallica is a name with so many pre-conceptions, frustrations, blatant fanboyism, and unadulterated hatred, associated with it that it seems a somewhat futile gesture to try and give any kind of historically orientated segue to this review. For the record, my view of Metallica isn’t that much different form my view of most metal bands - they wrote a lot of good songs, and a lot of crap ones. Big deal. The world keeps turning.

First things first. What album does this sound the most like? Different ears will hear different things, all informed of course by the different attitudes that the aforementioned ears are slave too. Those looking to hate it, will no doubt point out Hetfield’s vocal lines are very much in the Bob Rock-era school, whilst those approaching it more optimistically will no doubt rejoice at the start-stop song structures and the epic composition of many of the tunes which certainly heralds back to the bands late eighties material. The truth is, Death Magnetic doesn’t sound like Load, nor …And Justice For All, it sounds like Death Magnetic. It has bits of everything Metallica have done so far, but assembled together in such a way though that the album asserts an identity of its own, rather than seeming too cut-and-paste. Identity is no indicator of quality though. St. Anger was, after all, a most unique record if ever there was one, but unique only in the way that a retard is unique.

The good news is that Death Magnetic is very much a metal record. There are hints of mellowness throughout the album, but they are there in contrast to he heavy sections, rather than the dominating aesthetic of the piece as a whole. As folks have no doubt heard already from the samples, Death Magnetic doesn’t repeat the St. Anger mistake of ditching guitar solos. That does not mean, however, that this ‘ere record is a return to 1988 and I would not advise any prospective buyer to approach the album with such an attitude. Only the first two songs and the last one sound like out-takes from ‘88, the rest are undoubtedly post-Black Album in their approach and for that reason I doubt this album will convert ‘Metallicash’-loathers. What you do get though is some VERY frantic and tasty soloing in places from Kirk Hammet, who I’ve always felt to be quite under-rated in his solo’s even during the bands hey-day, which is undoubtedly the highlight of the album. Many a song on the album is built around the ‘Free Bird’ structure, where you have a vocally driven first part, before the song goes off into a display of guitar pyrotechnics. The soloing is never self-indulgent though, it’s like meeting an old friend you haven’t seen for years and for some people it will have them praising Metallica’s return. Certainly, the album does have the potential to please old-school thrash fans in places, with several songs stepping well over the heavy line into very heavy territory, but at the same time I personally think it’d be ridiculous to say this album was created of the same mindset that bore Ride The Lightning. Neither is it anywhere near as good as that record, containing some rather annoying flaws that even absolute fanboys would be hard pressed to overlook…

The biggest and worst criticism of the album is that the riffs, indeed the song structures, are less-than-blessed by the same inconsistency that has plagued the band from the nineties onwards. When they’re good, they’re very good, and leave you thinking ‘why hasn’t the band played like this for so long?’. When they’re bad, they’re sloppy as hell and drag out the songs to unnecessary and uncomfortable proportions. The album is nearly 80 minutes long with just ten tracks. Now if this were a collection of highly disciplined and rigidly structured epics I’d be leaping for joy on this matter, but it isn’t. Even during their hey-day Metallica knew better than to make every song nearly 8 minutes long, and given their decrease in song-writing prowess over the past few years they’ve clearly set their sights too high here. The ambition is admirable, but not the execution, with many songs outstaying their welcome. Certain sections could have been could out, certain bits didn’t need to be repeated etc etc. Already fan-edits have started appearing on the torrent networks which cut down the songs to acceptable standards, which suggests that my observation here is far from singular. Only the final track, ‘My Apocalypse’, which is the shortest on the album, feels like an honest pretension free straight up metal song, devoid of self-indulgent over-complexity. On the flip side of the coin though, stylistically speaking, at least what they’re trying to do isn’t a complete mess to begin with. From the very first chords, you know that this was an album written with the mindset of ‘lets make a decent heavy metal album’. That much is worthy of respect, although it seems a bit ridiculous to appraise a band for ‘trying to make a heavy metal album’ when there are plenty of other bands out there who ‘make heavy metal albums’ as a given.

I don’t like to pick at certain tracks too much, as I consider it a pointless exercise, given that songs are so personal and one man’s classic is another’s poison, but what I will say is that the album is almost certainly two songs too many. They’d have been better putting out an eight track album, ala their classic period, and disposing of two of the tracks, savouring only their best parts for inclusion in the other eight songs. Even the lyrics seem dragged out at times, speaking of which; the album continues to tread the territory the band has trod for the best part of the last eighteen years. Songs about poverty and oppression were cheesy enough in 1986, but downright hypocritical today, considering the band are all millionaires. As such, the lyrics generally remain more personal in nature, although there are certainly no shortage of cringe inducing parts (”love is a four letter word!”). No sign of reference to “fire and desire” or though sadly.

One of the biggest faults, quite surprisingly, lies with the production. Rick Rubin, typically a master of slickness, has made quite a few sloppy mistakes here. In 2008, with mastering technology as good as it is, an album should not be released with so much blatant clipping as this album displays. The curse of the ‘loudness war’ strikes again. So much so that I’d compare it to Rush’s Vapour Trails in terms of its audio-twatiness. Lars’ drums in particular sound ridiculously loud, like he has some kind of snare drum fetish that he can only exorcise by inflicting it upon the rest of humanity, and given that he isn’t the most precise drummer in metal to begin with this does the album a big disservice. The album’s sound generally aims to be ‘functional’ for the most part, which, considering that Metallica are one of the biggest metal bands in the world, seems somewhat a low aspiration. Having said that, if St. Anger is there idea of experimentation, best stick to conventionality me thinks. The one advantage of the less overt presence of Rubin though is that for the first time in a long time Metallica sounds like Metallica, not Metallica trying to please der fuhrer. Whilst that’s admirable though, there’s no excuse for lazy production from a band this big. Would you buy a book printed on toilet paper? No. Would you watch a feature film shot on a mobile phone? No. Would you listen to an album produced so sloppily? No. One almost wishes Rubin had taken a more hands-on approach and said “guys cut that bit out” it’s unnecessary. With the Bob Rock era you had one extreme, but Death Magnetic displays almost too much of the opposite.

A nice surprise is the instrumental ‘Suicide & Redemption’, which genuinely astounded me that it could have been written by the same band that wrote a song with lines “fran-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tick-tock”. It has many moments of greatness, as indeed does the album in general, but there’s simply not enough of them to fill 80 poorly produced minutes. Death Magnetic is a long way from being a classic album, or even a very good album, however it does put the band back in the right direction and could prove to be a stepping stone to a great album in the future. It’s of about the same quality as a lot of work produced by older bands, who are still trying to remain relevant. It will not be talked of in the same sentences as new albums from the likes of Helloween or Iron Maiden, but it will be talked of in sentences where the effect achieved is not one of instant embarrassment, which is a bigger compliment than perhaps it should be. With all the great albums released this year though, you’d have to have a lot of spare time in order to warrant giving this repeated listens, although at least it does leave itself open to such a prospect. It’s an album of mostly good songs that simply weren’t mixed well and go on for way too long, which is a shame because with a bit more polish this would easily have been a 7.0 - 8.0. So whilst the corpse of Metallica has not been revived as a manic flesh hungry ghoul like many wished, it isn’t saving kittens stuck up a tree either. Rather it leaves the kitten to stave to death, whilst it sharpens its teeth for a future acts of gratuitous undead violence. An above average album from a band I presumed to be well and truly past it.

The right honourable Deathshred King’s view…

My friends, today you are reading what is a massive undertaking from me, and no doubt from my colleague as well. How else could I describe reviewing the highly anticipated album from the most controversial band in the history of heavy metal? From them becoming the most powerful force in metal, to selling millions on word of mouth alone, to losing their revered bass player, to breaking their promise of never making a music video, to releasing a radio friendly and highly commercial metal album and then their alleged selling out with the Load twins–this band has made metal fans all over the world shed enough bitter tears to fill Lake Eerie.

In an unprecedented move for the band that at one point tried to outlaw digital distribution of music, they abandoned their secrecy tactics and let all their fans peak into the creation of the album. Through their new website the general public was granted access to footage from their studio. We’ve heard demos that were scrapped or expanded upon and changed; we’ve seen songs being constructed from simple ideas; we’ve witnessed what the new bass player has brought to the creative process.

The pressing question that was on everyone’s mind was whether or not this is a metal album. Without hesitation I will state that it most certainly it. As if to prove that very point, they chose the first track to be the most metal song they wrote in a decade and a half. I will be very frank here, and I realize that this comment will be taken with a tremendous amount of skepticism, but ‘That Was Just Your Life’ would not be out of place on …And Justice For All. It has a very, very similar feel to songs like ‘Shortest Straw,’ ‘Dyers Eve’ and ‘Blackened.’ In fact, on my first few listens, I half-expect James to shout “dear mother, dear father!” during the chorus.

On the whole, the album seems to draw most of its metal influence from …AJFA. The lengthy songs and the amount of riffs, guitar solos and tempo shifts rivals it for the title of their most self-indulgent album. Many of the melodies and harmonies evoke memories of tracks from their entire discography. Despite that, this is not the same band from twenty years ago. Their views, attitudes and undoubtedly musical preferences have changed over the years. There’s a certain kind of groove to their new songs that was not present on their older albums that purists will not like.

The opening track may be somewhat deceptive, because the rest of the album is not full on thrash. It is metal, however. The main lead in the mid-tempo rocker ‘Broken, Beat & Scarred’ is absolutely vicious. There are many times throughout the album where one cannot help but pump the metal horns and headbang. The chorus of ‘The Judas Kiss’ especially delivers in headbanging goodness. I predict that those two songs and the opening track will be fan favorites on their tour. At times listening to the songs feels strange, because as Ferret properly noted, it is a melange of all their albums, including St. Anger. Hearing tracks like the aformentioned ‘Judas Kiss’ and ‘All Nightmare Long’ shift from Load-like rockabilly grooves to full on thrash of …AJFA has a startling effect, but this strange formula is effective enough to warrant the band exploring it further.

Those who have been following the development of the album with close interest, as I have, will know their demo that has been floating on the internet for some months titled ‘Death Is Not The End.’ I expected this song to appear on the album. However, I was surprised by the fact that they took sections of the song which they used for the second track, ‘End of the Line,’ while using the solo section for track five, ‘All Nightmare Long.’ While the solo section fits perfectly with the rest of ‘All Nightmare Long’ the aforementioned parts of ‘End of the Line’ leave a lot to be desired. It is a matter of taste of course, but in this reviewer’s humble opinion, the riff does not work well with the rest of the song, nor is it really good and should have been scrapped all together.

Could the band be accused of using the poorly implemented “copypasta” techniques of St. Anger? At times, it does indeed seem that they used a similar writting approach. Some songs feel somewhat disjointed. They are too busy for their own good. Most of them start off with unnecessary, meandering introductions that do not lead anywhere. A shining example of this would be ‘Unforgiven III.’ It has a pretty, orchestrated intro whose sole purpose seems to be pretty. It isn’t referenced again at any point during the song.

Speaking of ‘Unforgiven III,’ I have a bone to pick with them. It is bad enough that they referenced themselves and made a sequel to the original. But to make a second sequel is absurd! I really hope they can avoid the temptation to name every subsequent ballad they write from this point on a numbered Unforgiven. In the eyes of many metal fans the band has already become a caricature of themselves, and pulling self-important stunts like that is not helping matters. In case you haven’t notice, I do not support self-referencing by musical artists. Someone stop the madness!

The song itself isn’t bad. Of all the song on the album, it is most similar in style and composition to songs on their Load album. I never had a problem with that period in their creative output, so I do not consider that a negative. I understand many people will, however. ‘Unforgiven III’ is a song in the same vein as ‘Bleeding Me’ and ‘Until It Sleeps,’ only not as memorable as either of those songs. But its chorus is catchy enough, and the buildup towars the end that leads into the solo is fantastic. I would be surprised if this song does not become a major hit for them.

Going back to the point about awkward arranging on the album, which I wholeheartedly agree with Ferret on, a counterargument might be made that they’ve written songs in this manner all along. Was the transition in ‘Fade To Black,’ which was essentially in two parts, really that smooth? What about ‘One?’ How about the labyrinthine arrangements on the entire …And Justice For All album? Perhaps it isn’t the band that has changed so much, but metal fans have developed higher standards over the years that the band has spent away from metal? The very things Metallica songs have been called brilliant for in the past are now making them sound archaic.

But wait a minute. There is a disconnect here. While I was playing the devil’s advocate, I forgot one very important fact. The overly riffy arrangements of their classic songs have always been justified by the ubiquitous quality! At no point have I ever wanted to press the fast forward button during ‘One’ or ‘Fade To Black.’ Despite most songs on …AJFA having dozens of riffs, I never felt like some of them were filler. I wish I could say that was the case for Death Magnetic.

Make no mistake, there are a lot of quality riffs on the album. It is a shame that they sometimes are lost in a sea of other, mediocre riffs. It almost seems like they had some creative guidance during the writing of the album, someone to keep them in line and let them know when their songs were becoming self-indulgent. After listening to the album many times, it is apparent to me that Rick Rubin was not that person. From the various interviews I’ve read during the time of production of the album, it became known that Rubin took a positively hands-off approach to producing the album, I even recall seeing photos of him taking light naps during their rehearsals.

The biggest failure of Rick Rubin and the band though, in my opinion, is the inclusion ‘The Day that Never Comes’ on the album. Had I produced the album, I would’ve done everything in my power to convince them not to realease this song. Tragically, they went for overkill and made this their radio single. To me, the song embodies everything that is wrong with this album. It is a mashup of uninspired riffs, poor singing, forced attempts to capture the feel of their older songs (the solo at the beginning is suspiciously similar to ‘Fade to Black’ only not nearly as good, the harmonies throughout harken to ‘Sanitarium’ and the staccato break at the end is a poor man’s ‘One’).

Although I agree with Ferret that the production on this album is less than perfect, I have not encountered any clipping problems during my listen. The impression I get from the production is that of a “raw,” underproduced sound that they were going for with St. Anger. Only this time they got it right. It is produced like Metallica albums of old. Of course those who expected an Andy Sneap-like level of polish will be disappointed. However, I don’t think this is nearly as big of an issue as it was on St. Anger, to the point of limiting potential enjoyment of the music.

There are many things to like about this album, such as the abundance of metal riffs, some of the most technically demanding lead playing from Kirk Hammett, fast tempos, and complex arrangements reminiscent of …AJFA. On the flipside, there are many pitfalls, such as a couple of poor songs, the abundance of mediocre riffs, and clumsy, gratuitous arrangements. As Ferret noted, this album will do nothing to change the mind of those who have already given up on the band. It is, however, a solid metal album and I am curious to see what this band will do in the future.

This entry was posted by the_holy_ferret on Friday, 12th September, 2008 at 13:37 and is filed under Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response below. You may view a   printable version of this page. You may download this page in   PDF format.