•
Rating:
In your opinion, is the latest Iron Maiden album "A Matter of Life and Death," which has been a great success among fans and critics, as good as "The Number of the Beast" or "Killers," their iconic albums?
And is the latest from Motorhead like "Ace of Spades"?
And are the latest from Megadeth similar to "Countdown to Extinction"?
Is the latest Slayer like "Reign in Blood"?
I could go on with Anthrax, Helloween, Sepultura, and other bands... but what I want to say is that every band has its masterpiece, like "Master of Puppets" for Metallica, and if with every new release one were to compare the new work with the masterpiece, it would be a mistake since every album should be taken for what it is, avoiding comparisons with the past and acknowledging the fact that masterpieces are unique. And then, let's be clear, in 1984 it was easier to release an innovative or very "heavy" album; today there are myriad bands that are born and die quickly, with excellent productions, radio-friendly tracks, and modern sounds, and the old guard of metal finds it increasingly difficult to stay afloat amid experiments not understood or appreciated by fans and expectations that they often fail to meet.
So, what should we expect from this "Death Magnetic"?
Essentially, a return of Metallica to the more typically thrash sounds of their beginnings, as they themselves had widely announced; more solos, more riffs, more speed, and lots and lots of real metal! Personally, I had long been waiting to hear their "rebirth," their return to metal... after all of Hetfield's troubles with alcohol and his detox, I wanted to see his transformation from that "some kind of monster" he had become into a mature guitarist, one of the greatest and most important songwriters in metal history to make a grand comeback on the scene with a handful of memorable songs... I wanted to see what would come out this time with that great bassist, Trujillo, expecting bass feats like those he used to give us in Infectious Grooves or Suicidal Tendencies... I wanted to hear Kirk Hammett deliver again solos of great quality and inspiration like some of those spectacular ones on the "Black Album" and razor-sharp riffs, the ones that all metal bands envied Metallica for, because every time they wrote one, they had to check if Metallica hadn't already written it before...
Did I find all this?
Only partly... it seemed like I was listening to "The World Needs a Hero" by Megadeth, which after an album like "Risk" (which had little to do with metal anymore) returned with a work explicitly METAL as if to show that the masters were still alive and could amaze again, but without succeeding. This "Death Magnetic" is like that: it's the album of Metallica's return to thrash, but it's still halfway; there are flashes of old-style Metallica, there's good metal, there are fast solos and tempo changes, but some songs are boring, you can't wait for them to end to hear what's next, and some are entirely out of place...
Take, for example, "The Unforgiven III"; beyond the spontaneous question "was there really a need for a third part after the second was already unnecessary?" objectively this song is simply banal, and with its piano and violin introduction, its mid-tempo with distorted guitars, the classic tom passages by the good Ulrich in the bridge, the most clichéd chorus, and the solo that has nothing to do with that stunning original "The Unforgiven" one, it doesn't fit at all between the previous "Cyanide" and the next "The Judas Kiss".
The first is a pearl of rare ugliness, with an initial riff and quite clichéd refrain and a completely unnecessary acoustic bridge, not to mention the chorus, which has little to do with Metallica... "The Judas Kiss" is a bit better; at times it seems like hearing the accelerations of "Disposable Heroes," and even the solo seems more inspired, but despite everything, even this piece won't leave a mark. Different, however, is the case for the opener "That Was Just Your Life" and the following "The End of the Line," which kick off the album grandly, with a good drive and some fast, old-fashioned riffs, nice double-bass moments, and pleasant counter-time; I didn't like the solos, but they are fast and very thrash, and even if they don't make you shout for a miracle, they are two excellent tracks as a start.
The other songs range from the instrumental "Suicide & Redemption," which with its ten minutes of duration will not become the "rion" of 2008 because it results monotonous and definitely a bit tiring, to the final "My Apocalypse," which with its fast riff harks back to the times of "Seek and Destroy." Then there's the very metallic "All Nightmare Long" and the verbose "Broken, Beat and Scarred," ending with the ballad "The Day That Never Comes," which begins with an arpeggio that reminds us of the old "Nothing Else Matters" and ends with furious riffs, incendiary solos, and guitar embellishments like on "One."
In conclusion, this "Death Magnetic" brings the four horsemen back to the thrash territories that made them famous, but one should not expect a second "Master of Puppets," a technical album like "...And Justice for All," or a worldwide hit like the Black Album, because those are gone and will never return. We should just toast to the fact that Metallica is back to "making metal" and writing heavy songs like before, without worrying if Hetfield's voice is not what it once was, if the new tracks will hardly become classics, if we will never hear a metal fan hum "Cyanide" or "The Judas Kiss," and if at Metallica concerts, after the promotional tours, we will probably continue to hear only the old classics, from "Master of Puppets" to "Creeping Death," from "For Whom the Bell Tolls" to "Fade to Black," from "One" to "Sad but True," while stuff like "The Unforgiven II and III," "All Nightmare Long," or "Frantic," "Some Kind of Monster," or "Mama Said," "Broken, Beat & Scarred," or "My Apocalypse" will remain confined to the albums from which they came.
"Death Magnetic" is a mediocre album; those who are fans of Metallica will love it and buy it in deluxe package edition, while others can easily do without it, and if they want it, they will find many other albums more heavy, more technical, faster, more melodic, more thrash, or simply more beautiful than this one.
Tracklist Lyrics and Videos
01 That Was Just Your Life (05:04)
Like A Siren In My Head That Always
Threatens To Repeat
Like A Blind Man That Is Strapped
Into The Speeding Driver’s Seat
Like A Face
That Learns To Speak
When All It Knew Was How To Bite
Like A Misery That Keeps Me Focused
Though I’ve Gone Astray
Like An Endless Nightmare That
I Must Awaken From Each Day
Like Conviction
A Premonition
Not Worthy Of
So I Deny
I Deny
I Blind My Eyes
And Try To Force It All Into Place
I Stitch Them Up
See Not My Fall From Grace
I Blind My Eyes
I Hide And Feel It Passing Me By
I Open Just In Time To Say Goodbye
Almost Like Your Life
Almost Like Your Endless Fight
Curse The Day Is Long
Realize You Don’t Belong
Disconnect Somehow
Never Stop The Bleeding Now
Almost Like Your Fight
And There It Went
Almost Like Your Life
Like A Wound That Keeps On Bleeding
To Remind Me Not To Think
Like A Raging River Drowning When
I Only Need A Drink
Like A Poison
That I Swallow
But I Want The World To Die
Like A Release From Prison
That I Didn’t Know I Was In
Like A Fight To Live The Past I Prayed
To Leave
From Way Back Then
Like A General
Without A Mission
Until The War Will Start Again
Start Again
I Blind My Eyes
And Try To Force It All Into Place
I Stitch Them Up
See Not My Fall From Grace
I Blind My Eyes
I Hide And Feel It Passing Me By
I Open Just In Time To Say Goodbye
[Solo]
Like A Touch From Hell To Feel How Hot
That It Can Get If You Get Caught
Like A Strike From Heaven Turns That Key
And Brings You Straight Down To Your Knees
Like A Touch From Hell To Feel How Hot
That It Can Get If You Get Caught
Like A Strike From Heaven To Reprieve
That Brings You Straight Down To Your Knees
Almost Like Your Life
Almost Like Your Endless Fight
Curse The Day Is Long
Realize You Don’t Belong
Disconnect Somehow
Never Stop The Bleeding Now
Almost Like Your Fight
And There It Went
Almost Like Your Life
That Was Just Your Life.
03 Broken, Beat & Scarred (04:02)
You rise.
You fall.
You’re down, then you rise again.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
You rise.
You fall
You're down, then you rise again.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
Rise, fall, down, rise again
What don’t kill you make you more strong....
Through black days
Through black nights
Through pitch black insides
Breaking your teeth on the hard life comin’.
Show... your... scars.
Cutting your feet on the hard earth runnin’.
Show... your... scars.
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard.
The dawn,
The death,
The fight to the final breath.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
The dawn,
The death,
The fight to the final breath.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
Dawn, death, fight, final breath.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
Dawn, death, fight, final breath.
What don’t kill you make you more strong.
They scratch me
They scrape me
They cut and rape me
Breaking your teeth on the hard life comin’.
Show... your... scars.
Cutting your feet on the hard earth runnin’.
Show... your... scars.
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
But we die hard
[Solo]
Breaking your teeth on the hard life comin’.
Show... your... scars.
Cutting your feet on the hard earth runnin’.
Show... your... scars.
Bleeding your soul in a hard luck story.
Show... your... scars.
Spilling your blood in the hot sun’s glory.
Show... your... scars.
Breaking your life, broken, beat and scarred
We die hard.
We die hard.
We die hard.
05 All Nightmare Long (06:00)
Luck. Runs. Out.
Crawl from the wreckage one more time.
Horrific memory twists the mind.
Dark, rutted, cold and hard to turn.
Path of destruction feel it burn.
Still life… incarnation.
Still life… infamy.
Hallucination. Heresy.
Still you run, what’s to come, what’s to be?
Cause we hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Feel us breathe upon your face
Feel us shift, every move we trace
Hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Yeah!
Luck. Runs. Out.
You crawl back in,
But your luck runs out.
Luck. Runs. Out.
The light that is not light is here
To flush you out with your own fear
You hide, you hide but will be found
Release your cript without a sound
Still life… immolation.
Still life… infamy.
Hallucination. Heresy.
Still you run, what’s to come, what’s to be?
Cause we hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Feel us breathe upon your face
Feel us shift, every move we trace
Hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Yeah!
Luck. Runs. Out.
You crawl back in, but your luck runs out.
1, 2, 3, GO!!!
Then you crawl back in,
Into your obsession.
Never to return.
This is your confession.
Hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Feel us breathe upon your face
Feel us shift, every move we trace
Hunt you down without mercy
Hunt you down all nightmare long
Yeah!
Luck. Runs. Out.
You crawl back in, but your luck runs out.
Your luck runs out.
06 Cyanide (03:42)
Sleep and dream of this
Death angel's kiss
Brings final bliss
Come believe me!
Empty they say
Death, won't you let me stay?
Empty they say
Death, hear me call your name?
Oh, call your name!
Suicide, I've already died
You're just the funeral I've been waiting for
Cyanide, living dead inside
Break this empty shell for ever more
Wait, wait patiently
Your death-black wings
Unfolding sleep
Spreading on me
Empty they say
Death, won't you let me stay?
Empty they say
Death, hear me call your name
Oh, call your name!
Suicide, I've already died
You're just the funeral I've been waiting for
Cyanide, living dead inside
Break this empty shell for ever more
Say, is that rain or are they tears?
That stained your concrete face for years
The crying, weeping, shedding strife
Year after year, life after life
A narrow freshly broken ground
A concrete angel laid right down
Upon the grave which swallows fast
It's peace at last
Oh, peace at last
Empty they say
Death, won't you let me stay?
Empty they say
Death, hear me call your name
Oh, call your name
Suicide, I've already died
You're just the funeral I've been waiting for
Cyanide, living dead inside
Break this empty shell for ever more
Forevermore!
Forevermore!
It's just the funeral I've been waiting for!
08 The Judas Kiss (05:39)
When the world has turned its back
When the days have turned pitch black
When the fear abducts your tongue
When the fire's dead and gone
So what now?
Where do I head?
When you think it's all said and done
When you are the ostracized
Selfish ridden dead goodbyes
Twisting of the tourniquet
When the pieces never fit
So what now?
Where do I head?
When you think it's all said and done
Bow down
Sell your soul to me
I will set you free
Pacify your demons
Bow down
Surrender unto me
Submit infectiously
Sanctify your demons
Into abyss
You don't exist
Cannot resist
The Judas Kiss
When the storm has blacked your sky
Intuition crucify
When the ego strips your reign
Assassinate the living flame
So what now?
Where do I head?
When you think it's all said and done
Venom of a life insane
Bites into your fragile vein
Internalize and decimate
Patronize and complicate
So what now?
Where do I head?
When you think it's all said and done
Bow down
Sell your soul to me
I will set you free
Pacify your demons
Bow down
Surrender unto me
Submit infectiously
Sanctify your demons
Into abyss
You don't exist
Cannot resist
The Judas Kiss
Judas lives, recite this vow
I've become your new God now
Followed you from dawn of time
Whispered thoughts into your mind
Watched your towers hit the ground
Lured your children never found
Helped your kings abuse their crown
In the heart of feeble man
Plant the seed of my own plan
The strong and powerful will fall
Find a piece of me in all.....
Inside you all,
So, bow down
Sell your soul to me
I will set you free
Pacify your demons
Bow down
Surrender unto me
Submit infectiously
Sanctify your demons
Into abyss
You don't exist
Cannot resist
The Judas Kiss
10 My Apocalypse (04:09)
Claustrophobic
Crawl out of this skin
Heart explosive
Reach in, pull that pin
Fear thy name: extermination
Desecrating hail of fire
So we cross that line
Into the grips
Total eclipse
Suffer unto my apocalypse
Deadly vision
Prophecy reveal
Death magnetic
Pulling closer still
Fear thy name: annihilation
Desolating hail of fire
So we cross that line
Into the grips
Total eclipse
Suffer unto my apocalypse
My apocalypse
Go
Crushing metal, ripping skin.
Tossing body, mannequin.
Spilling blood, bleeding gas.
Mangled flesh, snapping spine.
Dripping bloody valentine.
Shatter face, spitting glass.
Split apart
Split apart
Split apart
Spit
Spit it out.
What makes me drift a little bit closer?
Dead man takes the steering wheel.
What makes me know it’s time to cross over?
Born to repeat until I feel.
See through the skin, bones they all rattle.
Future and past, they disagree.
Flesh falls away, bones they all shatter.
I start to see the end. In. Me.
See the end in me.
Claustrophobic
Crawl out of this skin
Heart explosive
Reach in, pull that pin
Violate, annihilate
All wounds unto my eyes
Obliterate, exterminate
As life itself denied
Fear thy name as hell awakens
Destiny inhale the fire
But we’ve crossed that line
Into the grips
Total eclipse
Suffer unto my apocalypse
Tyrant awaken my apocalypse.
Demon awaken my apocalypse.
Heaven awaken my apocalypse.
Suffer forever my apocalypse.
Loading comments slowly
Other reviews
By farmit
"Death Magnetic would undoubtedly win the Grammy for the most talked-about album ever."
"Welcome back, Metallica!"
By Anatas
"They should have titled the album 'Jamescantameglio' instead of 'Death Magnetic.'"
"'The Unforgiven III' sounds really bad, it's ugly, pathetic, pitiful."
By Psycroptic
With this album, the rediscovered Four Horsemen ride high again on the treacherous paths of Thrash Metal.
Death Magnetic is better than the infamous Black Album, which I never considered more than a good album.
By progandrea
"Death Magnetic shows that a new golden age for Metallica is impossible."
"All nightmare long' is the song that shows how Metallica, especially Hetfield, can still give a lot."
By Descanting
"Robert Trujillo represents one of the two main strengths of the work; incidentally, the other is the rhythm guitar."
"If the entire CD had been at the level of 'The Judas' Kiss,' one might have even been moved by such well-crafted metal in these dark years for the genre."
