Metallica
Death Magnetic

THE REVIEW

Needless to say, this album will receive criticism not only for being produced by the most controversial band in the world concerning the thrash metal scene and metal as a whole but, especially, for the dozens of reviews that will pour on DeBaser.

To be fair, I must say that Rick Rubin's advertising entry as a producer with Metallica must have granted no small (new and free) notoriety both to the album and, above all, to the band that with its latest abomination of nature, "St. Anger," had dug its grave with its own hands, presenting itself as a weak and tired band, as well as devoid of ideas.

That premise made, I think it’s now necessary to talk about the album. Much has been said about it, that it is an album that hints at Metallica's return to thrash, that it sounds like "... And Justice For All," that, in short, it lifts Metallica from the endless abyss into which they had sunk.

But is it true? Actually, the first two tracks are quite convincing: thrash metal as it hasn't been heard since 1989, right in honor of the great bestseller "....Justice," an album of pure tech-thrash. It's evident that Metallica wants to detach from the latest frivolities and to propose what they best knew how to do, however, (and here comes the bitter pill) without truly knowing how to do it like before.

Let me explain better. If the opener is an excellent business card, if "The End Of The Line" amazes with its continuous tempo changes bringing to mind the infamous 1989 and ".... Justice," if "All Nightmare Long" and "Cyanide" are two small gems of melodious and quick thrash, what disgusts me the most, and not a little, is Ulrich's drumming which, for heaven's sake, beats well on his instrument but does not fully convince, the total absence of the bass sound (as usual in Metallica's older productions before the "Black Album"), the muffled sound of the guitar distortion (it seems strange to me but it seems that it does not quite match the thrash I was used to, at least that of the old and true Metallica) and, above all, the crappy voice of James who sings in a really pathetic way.

They should have titled the album "Jamescantameglio" instead of "Death Magnetic."

I would cover the last layers on the two ballads. The first, also the album's single "The Day That Never Comes," bland and insipid, the second (may God have mercy on them) "The Unforgiven III," as if the already nature's abortion of "The Unforgiven II" wasn't enough to make us vomit. This "The Unforgiven III," with its sad and melancholic (and pathetic) piano intro, sounds really bad, it's ugly, pathetic, pitiful. I can't find other adjectives to demolish it (maybe in the comments some of you could help me and lend a hand) but it really makes the whole album fall into ridicule and tackiness which, in truth, is not the masterpiece that many fanatical fans and much criticism will proclaim.

In conclusion, an album built under the thrash formula with the aid of the fool's gold labeled Rubin. An album packaged for the nostalgic (among which I include myself) who will glimpse in some solutions (if not the entire album) the rebirth of the Four Horsemen and an album that bores after about the first half of itself.

In conclusion, a shitty album. A true swindle, yet another from Metallica that sets itself apart from crap like "Load," "Reload," and "St. Anger" but adds little (pardon: adds fucking nothing) but to want to call it thrash almost becomes an insult compared to bands like Testament, who this year produced a thrash metal masterpiece. If comparisons were made, Metallica would sink again into the same abyss they are trying in vain to escape from. Poor them. They don’t understand that it's not just the solos (perhaps the only decent thing on the album which this time are present... what a stroke of luck!) that make an album a great album...

Pathetic.