Metallica
The Day that Never Comes

And so the day came. I read "new Metallica single". I click "play". I'm greeted by a screechy guitar, which to my utmost horror reminds me of "The Outlaw Torn" from "Load". Then the second guitar comes in, and a wave of bile takes me back to the "Re-load" sound and my disappointment from the mid-90s. The drums come in and (perhaps, it seems?) the bass too, and I realize I'm in a mid-tempo. "Oh mama signur!".

Firstly, I criticize the choice, after almost 5 years of silence, to debut with a semi-slow as the leading single for the future album. The beginning as a whole too closely resembles "The Unforgiven 2". The underlying arpeggio is the usual Hetfield riff we've heard a thousand times since "Fade to Black". The slow mid-tempo turns into the typical Metallica two-guitar arpeggio in Morricone western soundtrack style. And I tell myself, "well, at least now the piece is returning to its roots, anduma un pò mej". At the minute and a half mark, Hetfield's voice enters, a little bit "lazy" and too sweet, but still comforting.

At the 2-minute mark, the distortions come in, and here we go off track. I can't understand why Bob Rock's sounds from the "Black Album" have been abandoned for over fifteen years, but I was hoping for a return of that "baaa-ba-ba-ba" impact in the style of "Sad but True". Thick, full, warm. No luck, we're still at the "garage-band" effect, like "I play with the cable in my little Marshall", which I personally detest. The guitar solos are only sketched out and too trivial. The voice too muted, Trujillo's bass muffled and almost inaudible. Positive notes: Lars Ulrich has put the snare wires back on (wow!) and Kirk Hammett has finally shelved the wah-wah effect (mega-wow!). It's something, but I expected much more.

The structure and length of the song are identical to "ONE", and indeed at 3/4 the piece has a rhythm change reminiscent of those in "And Justice for All", but lacking the necessary double bass drum at full speed and the distorted bass riff of the late Cliff Burton. The drums only keep a 4/4 time and don't follow the guitars, so the piece never really becomes "thrash". Unfortunately, the "tractor-like" open bottom string no longer has the machine-gun style punch from "Master of Puppets", but at least it's there! The piece ends with very anonymous solo responses and a too-weak drum underneath. Luckily, the next track on my iTunes is "Psychosocial" by "Slipknot", reminding me there are still some bad folks out there.

In summary, a mediocre and too "fake-retro" piece but at least, the semi-pop sounds of Load and Re-Load have been left behind. Let's be content, time passes for everyone, and let's hope for the best with the upcoming album.