Metallica
Death Magnetic

THE REVIEW

Five years have passed since the last studio work of the American band (the muddled and approximate "St. Anger"), and the "Four Horsemen" (having recruited former Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo in place of the makeshift Bob Rock) decide to release a new album: "Death Magnetic".

The artwork, all in all quite original, is noteworthy for the return to the old band logo, abandoned since 1991.

The Metallica, who since the "Black Album" have always tried to renew themselves, without ever really succeeding with results worthy of their name, decide here to make a true "return to the past", building a CD that (at least on paper) should refer to the sounds of "...And Justice For All". The result is, however, far from convincing.

The CD opens with a heartbeat followed by an eerie arpeggio, a prelude to the convincing and incisive riff of "That Was Just Your Life", a track that wouldn't be out of place on "...And Justice For All" if it weren't for a certain repetitiveness. The chorus is engaging.

"The End Of The Line" is the first of a series of missteps with which, unfortunately, Metallica's recent production abounds. The continuous rhythmic variations of Lars Ulrich's drums make the piece difficult to digest, not to mention the main riff, as pompous as it is predictable.

In "Broken, Beat & Scarred" Metallica tries to offer something new by producing a dirty and angry piece but, at the same time, mediocre and lacking a tangible melodic line.

Things go a bit better, at least in terms of melodic linearity, with the ballad "The Day That Never Comes", a collage of ideas from other group tracks (notably "Fade To Black") and the lead single of the album. Let's be clear, even here we definitely can't talk about a successful song but, at least, it is pleasant to listen to.

Track no. 5 is "All Nightmare Long", in my opinion, the best piece on the album. A hard track characterized by a chorus as angry as it is catchy, perhaps it represents what one would expect from the Metallica of the 2000s, a group capable of providing quality music while staying within previously mapped sound paths. The only flaw of the song is its length, more than seven minutes is definitely too long.

"Cyanide" is a fairly successful metal ride even if it doesn't shine for originality. It vaguely recalls the atmosphere of "Kill 'Em All".

"The Unforgiven III", the third variation on the theme of the successful song contained in the "Black Album", is characterized by an unnecessary piano introduction and the usual riff of the previous versions. At least the chorus changes, where Hetfield's singing becomes very melodic and interesting. Despite its coarseness (the piano intro above all), it's a good piece.

"The Judas Kiss" waters down some good ideas in eight minutes of duration that seem mere exercises in style by Lars Ulrich, who doesn't keep the same rhythm for more than twenty seconds. The result is a track too fragmented (as well as too long) to hold the listener's interest.

With "Suicide & Redemption", Metallica returns to composing an instrumental track, but never like in the instrumentals do you feel the absence of Cliff Burton, who knew how to give a unique touch of pathos to the group's instrumental tracks (the monumental "Orion", just to name one). Not that this "Suicide & Redemption" is bad, on the contrary, but it remains sterilely suspended. The music alone is not enough to communicate something to the listener, there is a need for support vocals, a need that is never felt in the previous Metallica instrumentals.

The CD closes with "My Apocalypse", a decent track that follows the same line as "All Nightmare Long"; practiced professionalism and nothing more. Kirk Hammett's solo midway through the song is beautiful.

Summing up this "Death Magnetic," it can be said that once again Metallica fails to extricate themselves from the creative torpor in which they have been immersed since 1991, and this "nostalgia," though well received by the public, should not be confused with a return to the genre that made Metallica great, but as yet another attempt to scrape the bottom of a barrel that has already been scraped clean.