Metallica
Death Magnetic

THE REVIEW

First of all, this is the first review I'm writing on this site since I just registered to access... putting that aside, let's get to the point...

I will be very clear and concise and with a few words I will give my opinion on the new Metallica album "Death Magnetic" released in Italy on September 12th, 2008. I must say that since the now distant 1991, the year in which the magnificent "Four Horsemen" produced the wonderful self-titled album "Metallica" also called "Black Album", I hadn't heard such a beautiful album from them. "Death Magnetic" did very well this time, the initial arpeggio of the first track "That Was Just Your Life" with the background of a beating heart is somewhat reminiscent of the legendary "Enter Sandman" yet then a wonderful distorted electric guitar enters immediately giving a very strong impact and here starts the grandiose riff of this song that will echo throughout the track. Even the chorus vaguely reminds of the aforementioned "Enter Sandman", overall I rate this excellent beginning a 9; the second track is titled "The End Of The Line", its initial riff is taken from an unreleased song that was already played to the audience back in 2006 during some live shows. Then anyway, a good old-style thrash is unleashed (I don't want to dare say it's like the golden days of Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning because after all, they also are 45 years old and can't have the same mindset and initiatives of that time, one matures and approaches things differently); the third song "Broken Beat And Scarred", a bit hard to get into your head at first listen (in my opinion at least) but it's also a good track; then we move on to the fourth song "The Day That Never Comes" which was also the single released a few weeks before the album, nice beginning but you need to listen to the second part of the song several times before fully appreciating it, still, it's good; the fifth song "All Nightmare Long" is the one I've listened to the least and it doesn't convince me much although it has a good melody; the sixth "Cyanide" is particularly engaging but even more so, here comes the seventh, melancholic, tear-jerking, and poignant song "The Unforgiven III", a great melodic piano introduction that opens the doors to a great masterpiece, after the grand "The Unforgiven" from the self-titled album "Metallica". It's true this song might be very commercial but in my opinion, it has the essentiality of Metallica which is expressed in their compositional simplicity yet knows how to drag listeners into a deep penetration within the inner depths of the human being, they are masters at this, well-structured and with a masterful part by James Hetfield throughout the song especially in the chorus; the last 3 songs remain and I must say that after this masterpiece the Horsemen created the eighth magnificent track titled "The Judas Kiss", very overwhelming in all its fullness; we arrive at the ninth all-instrumental song "Suicide And Redemption" on first listen it seemed a bit heavy but then I discovered there are some beautiful riffs and in the middle, there's an excellent interlude that strongly reminds of the Great Master Hammett, Metallica's soloist; finally, here comes the volcano that explodes and the Four Horsemen gallop towards the end of the world with "My Apocalypse", a very explosive finale that really brings back memories of the first album "Kill 'Em All", an excellent ending.

In my opinion, Metallica has done a good job, Hetfield's vocal performances seem more than satisfactory, Hammett's solos leave a bit to be desired in some parts, Ulrich's commitment and rhythmic arrangement were evident, Trujillo a bit less, but on the other hand, it is a characteristic of Metallica to keep the bass subdued, after all, they won't have any more bassists like Burton, (no offense to anyone, I'm not trying to discredit Newsted's or Trujillo's work, but there was only one Burton).

I will have a lot of fun playing some riffs from this album on the guitar because their sound is very good and their way of structuring them and the exquisite catchiness they provide along with their geometricity has always fascinated me since I started playing.

I leave room for criticisms of this album, which surely will be many, but I must say that this time Metallica deserves a good 8 and 1/2 or 9 overall.

An excellent return, they couldn't have done better.

Luca.