Metallica’s Death Magnetic new album reviews

to all u fake posers “EETFUK”.How boring would it be to hear the same style over and over again.Embrace change and diversity.How can u tell me u like early metallica yet not be influenced by their later stuff,then say im a big fan.Theres more than just the music to be a fan of.What about the talents of each member of the band.Being a fan to me means growing with the band,which means embracing change,i mean for fuck sake,these cats arent 17yrs old anymore…..

Well at last a little TAL to brighten up my otherwise boring hashing and rehashing of in all honestly the most boring few years of ye old metal, life has had to offer. With the exception of the DioSabbath reunion my metal brain has been a sleep for ages. I liked load and metallica (but mainly all the albums before these)but reload was shit. Stanger could have been recorded by a monkey. I fucked around with my sterio for ages trying to squeeze a decent sound out of it but this was difficult enough for me to toss it after my love affair with”the unnamed feeling” ended. Nice to here the farmiliar chunk in the bits i squeezed out of the net of Death magnet. Sounds tasty. But even if it just not bad, I will have a cow of excitement of some actual music delivered in these times of NEED!!!

I really think St.Anger is a great album. I hated it when i first listened to it. Then, about a year thereafter, I watched some kind of monster. That made me listen to the album in a different context. It is such a good album. It is different. And that is why people didn’t (and don’t) like it initially. But give it a chance. I find the best albums are the ones that I do not like initially. It shows that the band has progressed. It would have been so easy for them to adhere to their formula. They didn’t. They went further. The result is genius. St. Anger, some kind of monster, invisible kid, sweet amber (wow), and, my favourite, the unnamed feeling. Go listen to it again!

Everywhere you go, people say the same thing. You’ve got a handfull of people saying ‘Metallica were way better in the 80s, and everything after that was shit.’ Then you’ve got people saying ‘The black album is the best album ever’ and you’ve got people who like Load era Metallica.

For God’s sake, its the same hit, over and over again.

You either like Metallica, or you don’t. I’ve never known a band cause so much commotion, especially just before releasing a new album.

Personally, I see the strengths of EVERY Metallica album, and I enjoy them all. None of them are ‘shit’, but some of them aren’t as good as the others. After 91, Metallica became a lot more accessible to newer fans. Call selling out if you want, nobody cares. The fact is, if they hadn’t have changed, half the people waiting for Death Magnetic would have never heard of them.

We’re all armchair quaterbacks here, lets just leave the music making to the professionals. And if you don’t like Metallica, go listen to Judas Priest, Arch Enemy, or Iron Maiden or Trivium. There’s plenty decent bands out there, just stop bitching about Metallica like they stabbed you in the back or something.

They’re unquestionably one of the top 5 metal bands of all time, period. There is no argument. The fact that they’re still releasing music is fucking awesome, and I won’t get stuck in 1986, because I need to hear new songs. Here they are. Enjoy them. Or go elsewhere.

I listened to the whole album and :
It doesn’t really sound as a copy of KEA, RTL, MOP, AJFA. None of these. Instead, it sounds as a sum of all the styles they adopted in their life as a band; so you’re gonna get James singing sometimes “St.Anger style”, sometimes “Load/Re-Load” style, sometimes just screaming. You’re gonna get old style instrumental parts but mashed with other influences taken through their whole career and only in a few parts you’ll hear the deja-vu. It’s definitely not a masterpiece, but it’s not crap either, and for the moment i prefer the second part of the album, taking “The Judas Kiss” as the highlight (“bow down, sell your soul..” etc). Some songs sound as they were a cut ‘n’ paste jam thing (something that killed St.Anger), but there’s more variety so you’re never gonna get bored. If i had to make a best/worst poll, i’d say
-best: That Was Just Your Life, All Nightmare Long, The Judas Kiss, My Apocalypse
-worst: The End Of The Line (maybe it’s me, but in certain parts it sounded to me as a bad copy of Creeping Death and in others a bad copy of something else.. and i never liked “Death Is Not The End” which this song has some parts), Cyanide.
Then, side note: The Unforgiven III, beside the title, has nothing to do musically with the previous ones.. why not change some lyrics and the title?

In the end, i’d say it’s a very good effort from Metallica even with some weak moments, i really think this is the best they can give right now. an 8 out of 10.

Death Magnetic is the upcoming ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica. It is scheduled for release on September 12, 2008 by Warner Bros. Records.[1] The album will be the band’s first to feature current bassist Robert Trujillo, and the first to be produced by Rick Rubin.[2] Death Magnetic also marks the first time in the band’s history in which all band members contributed to each song on an album, and is the first album in twenty years to feature an instrumental track, since … And Justice for All. It will be their first studio album released through Warner Bros., although they still remain with Warner Music Group, which also owns Elektra Records, the band’s previous label.

Since May 12, 2008 (2008-05-12), the album has been heavily promoted on its specially dedicated website, entitled Mission: Metallica, which features daily updates of exclusive, behind-the-scenes sneak previews with photos and video clips from the studio.[3] On June 14, 2008 (2008-06-14), the album’s official title was announced, followed by the revealing of its cover art on July 17, 2008 (2008-07-17), which depicts a metallic coffin with a black and white design around it (representing iron filings in a magnetic field). The cover also features a slightly altered version of the original Metallica logo, used on the band’s first five albums. Although the album doesn’t have a title track, the words “death magnetic” are mentioned in the song “My Apocalypse”.

Album title

On July 16, 2008 (2008-07-16), James Hetfield commented on the album’s title:
“ Death Magnetic, at least the title, to me [...] started out as kind of a tribute to people that have fallen in our business, like Layne Staley and a lot of the people that have died, basically — rock and roll martyrs of sorts. And then it kind of grew from there, thinking about death… some people are drawn towards it, and just like a magnet, [and] other people are afraid of it and push away. And the concept that we’re all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about — no one wants to bring it up; it’s the big white elephant in the living room. But we all have to deal with it at some point.[4] ”

Writing process

As early as January 16, 2004 (2004-01-16), Metallica frontman and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield revealed that the band had roughly 18 songs that did not see release on their 2003 album St. Anger, and that they may be reworked in the future, if not potentially released as is. Hetfield also said that they had been playing new material during studio jams, but that there was no mention of plans for a ninth studio album as of yet.[5] On March 12, 2004 (2004-03-12), drummer Lars Ulrich reported that the band had performed thirty-minute jam sessions prior to live performances, and that the jams are recorded for future reference. Select music from the jam sessions may be used on the album, as Ulrich stated, “I definitely look forward to sifting through some of that stuff when we get back to the studio in January.”[6] On that note, by October 2004 the band had already compiled nearly 50 hours of pre-set jamming, with hundreds of riffs, chord progressions and bass lines.[7] On September 30, 2004 (2004-09-30), Launch Radio revealed from an interview with Hetfield that the band hoped to return to the studio in spring of 2005 to begin recording their ninth studio album for Warner Bros. Records.[8]

On March 10, 2006 (2006-03-10), it was reported that the band was planning to use the following six months to write material for the album, in addition to the previous two months they had already been spending writing music. It was also revealed that Ulrich, Hetfield and Robert Trujillo were active contributors in the process at this point; guitarist Hammett was an infrequent contributor due to his wife’s pregnancy. [9] Lars Ulrich also stated that the band was getting along much better in the studio than they did during the recording of their 2003 album St. Anger.[10] On April 16, 2006 (2006-04-16), Lars Ulrich revealed that the band had composed “six to seven” songs, (except for vocals), from their findings of the riff tapes recording during pre-sets of the Madly in Anger with the World tour.[11] He also said that by this point, the band’s new material was reminiscent of “old school” Metallica works, and that it certainly does not feel like a St. Anger “part two”.

On May 20, 2006 (2006-05-20), Kirk Hammett revealed that the band had 15 songs written and were writing on average two to three songs per week. James Hetfield also praised producer Rick Rubin for his production style in giving the band their own freedom and keeping the pressure at a minimum, despite the sessions becoming sometimes briefly unfocused.[12] On May 27, 2006 (2006-05-27), Metallica updated their website with a video featuring information regarding the album. Lars Ulrich, who spearheaded the video, said about the new album:
“ If you’re in the studio, everybody presumes you’re recording or making a record [...]. Last time there was no real separation between the writing process and the recording process. [With] St. Anger nobody brought in any pre-recorded stuff or ideas; it was just make it up on the spot, be in the moment [...]. So this time we are doing exactly what we did on all the other albums — first we’re writing, then we’re recording. The only difference is [...] that we’re writing where we record. So we’re writing here at HQ because this is our home, [...] we’re writing in the studio.[13] ”

Recording process

On January 17, 2007 (2007-01-17), Lars Ulrich stated in an interview with Revolver that the band would be conceiving the album much like they did their albums prior to working with ex-producer Bob Rock; they would sit down, write a select amount of songs, then enter the studio to record them. He also quoted current producer Rick Rubin by saying Rubin doesn’t want them to start the recording process until every song that they are going to record is as close to 100 percent as possible.[14]

On March 5, 2007 (2007-03-05), Lars Ulrich revealed that the band had narrowed a potential 25 songs down to 14, and that they would begin recording those 14 songs on the following week. He also expanded on Rick Rubin’s style of production, saying,
“ Rick’s big thing is to kind of have all these songs completely embedded in our bodies and basically next Monday, on D-Day, just go in and execute them [...]. So you leave the creative element of the process out of the recording, so you go in and basically just record a bunch of songs that you know inside out and upside down, and you don’t have to spend too much of your energy in the recording studio creating and thinking and analyzing and doing all that stuff. His whole analogy is, the recording process becomes more like a gig — just going in and playing and leaving all the thinking at the door.[15] ”

On March 14, 2007 (2007-03-14), the band’s official website issued a statement: “Metallica left the comfort of HQ this week to descend upon the greater Los Angeles area to begin recording their ninth original album. This is the first time they’ve recorded outside of the Bay Area since they spent time at One-on-One Studios recording The Black Album in ’90 and ’91.”[16] This was confirmed on July 24, 2008 (2008-07-24) on Mission: Metallica, as a video surfaced showed the crew moving into Sound City Studios of Nirvana fame.[17]

On June 4, 2007 (2007-06-04), bassist Robert Trujillo revealed that only select portions of the two new songs debuted in Berlin and Tokyo respectively will be featured on the album.[18] To the surprise of fans, Metallica played “The Other New Song” once again on June 29, 2007 in Bilbao, Spain.

On July 1, 2007 (2007-07-01), Lars Ulrich stated that all backing tracks were done in May. He said that all that the album was missing were vocals and overdubs, which were to be recorded in August. They hope to have finished the album by October or November, when the album will be mixed.[19] He predicted the album would be out in February 2008. He also revealed that the songs they are working with are quite long. By December 2007, it was reported by Rolling Stone, that overdubs and Hetfield’s vocals still had yet to be recorded. On January 21, 2008 (2008-01-21), through pictures on Metclub.com’s “Top Secret” section, it has been revealed that Hetfield began recording vocals for the album.

On February 29, 2008 (2008-02-29), according to Sterlingsound.com, it was discovered that Ted Jensen from Sterling Sound Studios would be mastering the new record. Supposedly, he signed on to do it on August 24, 2006 (2006-08-24). Their name has since been removed from Ted Jensen’s list of projects, however.[20] According to Blabbermouth.net and other sources, Greg Fidelman, who has served as an sound engineer, has also been tapped to mix the album.[21]

Lars Ulrich confirmed on May 15, 2008 (2008-05-15) that Metallica recorded 11 songs for Death Magnetic, although only 10 will appear on the album due to the constraints of the physical medium.[22]

In an interview with a Turkish television station prior to Metallica’s concert in Istanbul this year, James Hetfield confirmed that an instrumental will appear on Death Magnetic, since revealed to be “Suicide & Redemption.”[23]

Release

In January 2008 (2008-01), a statement was made by Stereo Warning that the album would be delayed until September of 2008,[24] but was quickly denied by Metallica’s management since an album without a defined release date can not be “delayed.” The album, which was since completed on August 10, 2008 (2008-08-10),[25] is now scheduled for release on September 12, 2008 (2008-09-12), and will be issued in a variety of different packages. On September 2, 2008, a French record store allegedly began selling copies of Death Magnetic, nearly two weeks ahead of its scheduled worldwide release date.[26] It is currently unconfirmed whether Metallica or Warner Bros. will be taking any action against the retailer.

Release versions

* Experience 2

Digital download of Death Magnetic at 320 kbit/s, ringtones, two live shows, additional two hours of exclusive “making of” footage, 250 photos. Also includes exclusive Mission: Metallica footage of the writing and recording of Death Magnetic, as well as riffs and excerpts from it, exclusive photos and live tracks.

* Experience 3

A physical copy of Death Magnetic CD. Also includes the same extras as Experience 2.

* Experience 4

A set of Death Magnetic on five vinyl LP albums, in a 180-gram box, with five individual sleeves and a Mission: Metallica lithograph. Also includes the same extras as Experience 2 and 3.

* The Box Magnetic

A collector’s edition white coffin-shaped box, available in three different sizes (M, L, or XL), which includes a Death Magnetic CD in a special carton box, an additional CD with 10 demos of the songs from the album,[27] a DVD of additional “making of” footage not seen on Mission: Metallica, an exclusive t-shirt with the Death Magnetic logo, a flag, guitar picks, a fold out coffin-shaped poster with the members of Metallica,[27] and a collector’s credit card with a code for a free download of a performance in Europe in September.[28]

First songs performed

During their Escape from the Studio ’06 tour, the band debuted two songs, temporarily titled “The New Song”[29] and “The Other New Song”.[30] “The New Song” debuted on the European leg in Berlin, Germany on June 6, 2006 (2006-06-06). The song, as performed, is approximately eight minutes long. The title was rumored to be “Death Is Not the End” as Hetfield repeatedly sings the line throughout the song.[29] This song would appear again in multiple Fly on the Wall videos on the Mission: Metallica website, showing the band partway through the song’s recording, as noted by the slower tempo and lack of lyrics. “The Other New Song” debuted August 12, 2006 (2006-08-12) in Tokyo, Japan, and is much shorter, taking just below four minutes to perform.[30]

On August 9, 2008 (2008-08-09), Metallica debuted the first album track, “Cyanide,” at Ozzfest, in Dallas, Texas, and on August 22 at the Leeds Festival, they debuted the first single, “The Day That Never Comes.”

Digital premiere through video games

In an October 2007 (2007-10) interview with the creators of the Rock Band video game, it was stated that Metallica has given rights to MTV Games, the game’s publisher, to have the first single off Death Magnetic available for playability on the game before the album’s release.[31] The band have since revealed the first album’s first single to be “The Day That Never Comes.”

On July 14, 2008 (2008-07-14), it was revealed at the Microsoft E3 demonstration, that the entire Death Magnetic album would be made playable for the game Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock at the time when the album is released, and later in October, in the new Guitar Hero game, Guitar Hero World Tour.[32]

Reception

In a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, Velvet Revolver drummer Matt Sorum described his impressions of the unfinished songs:
“ Lars is a good friend of mine. He played me the demos from San Francisco, and I turned and looked at him and I said, ‘Master that shit and put it out.’ It’s ridiculous. The demos were sick. Eight-minute songs, all these tempo changes, crazy fast. It’s like, ‘Dude, don’t get slower when you get older, but don’t get faster!? How are you gonna play this live?’ And then me and Lars were out partying all night, and he had to go in the studio the next day and do this stupid like nine- or ten-minute song, and I was laughing at him — because he played me the demo of it, and it was [sings really fast drum part], so fast. I called him, and said, ‘Dude, how are you feeling?’ He was like, ‘Dude, I’m hurting.’ They’re cutting everything to tape, no flippin’ Pro Tools — live, no clicks.[33] ”

Six of Death Magnetic’s ten tracks were revealed to members of the UK music press at a listening party on June 4, 2008 (2008-06-04), where it was confirmed that there are two eight minute songs present on the album.

The album’s first single, “The Day That Never Comes”, is described as the most downbeat track on the album, and is said to be reminiscent of their 1990 Grammy-winning epic breakthrough single “One;” Rock Sound has also compared it to the likes of Thin Lizzy.[34] The band have abandoned the solo-free approach that they followed on St. Anger, returning to complex, multi-layered arrangements such as those typically found on the band’s fourth album …And Justice for All.[35]

Thrash Hits was one of the first websites, along with The Quietus to comment on Death Magnetic[36], suggesting “it is a vast improvement on 2003 album St Anger.” Metal Hammer has noted on Death Magnetic’s “sharp riffs” and “uncharacteristic bouncing grooves,” and compares the band’s sound throughout these six tracks to other bands including Slayer, Led Zeppelin and even Rage Against the Machine.[37]

While Metallica was on the first leg of its 2008 tour in Europe, a third party at Metallica’s management Q Prime demanded that media impressions and blogs be taken down for reasons undefined. However, when notified upon their return to the United States, the band was reportedly angered by their management’s demands, and drummer Lars Ulrich rectified this issue by posting as many links as Metallica could find on their official website, along with an apology.[38]

Track listing

1. “That Was Just Your Life” 7:08
2. “The End of the Line” 7:52
3. “Broken, Beat & Scarred” 6:25
4. “The Day That Never Comes” 7:56
5. “All Nightmare Long” 7:57
6. “Cyanide” 6:39
7. “The Unforgiven III” 7:46
8. “The Judas Kiss” 8:00
9. “Suicide & Redemption” 9:57
10. “My Apocalypse” 5:01

CODE
http://rapidshare.com/files/142424391/Metallica_-_Death_Magnetic__2008_.rar

note: I was told that this was a genuine 320kbps mp3 rip, if anyone can verify, that would be great thanks.

The reason why so many fans are so argumentative just shows how far Metallica have reached out. There are so many different opinions becos of the huge age gap of Met fans. People been saying in forums that they have been listening to Met for 10 yrs, which if you think bout it…aint that much. One of those people is me, so iv only had the joy of anticipating a new album only twice (anger, DM). This will be alot more exciting for ‘us’ than the older generation die hard fans who have experienced album releases like Puppets, Lightning and Justice (and im jealous of you guys who did, cos the music must have blown your minds away and that time).

So I think we shud all just forget the arguments on the album and just pay the respect on how far Metallica has gone through the years and what their music can do to a person. I mean this album is good, and hopefully a newbie would come along and pick it up…and think ‘wow’…then slowly track back through their older albums and be even more WOW!! I mean this is what happen to me 10 yrs ago and I think this album would have the same affect to any newcomers. (I picked up S&M as my first Met album and thought if they were that f-ing good with a symphony, they must be awesome without one)

Am i the only person who can enjoy Megadeth and Metallica? Both have had their ups and downs but theyre the 2 greatest bands ever. Both of them have good tunes on EVERY SINGLE ALBUM. People down United Abominations but have you guys listened to it? Washington is next Sleepwalker Burnt ice are all badass. Aside from St. Anger every metallica album is badass.People down load and reload, sure it wasnt all great, but there was good tunes. Songs like untill it sleeps king nothin or on reload the unforgiven 2 or the memory remains. Megadeth and Metallica are the fucking masters of heavy metal and people need to stfu if they feel otherwise. And, btw Death Magnetic kicks ass.

I got the new album the whole thing is pretty awesome. The four they didnt release are all better than the six that were released

Metallica sound tired now. They’re making songs that no really longer capture what they were about. Being a professional musician I’ve listened to various songs and they’re played without real feeling or it’s just lost in the production. Metallica at times had the X factor that sets a band apart. That’s why their songs off the early albums were haunting [esp after the departure of Mustaine and their first bass player].

Even if you’re into Depeche Mode or not, their Black Celebration album, like Metallica’s Justice For All was a landmark album. It had the X factor.

If you listen to the first garage days EP, that captured a live feeling they’ve never really got back to.

Some bands have it, but I think Metallica’s mojo is now a mini me!

Just Listened too the Whole Album a couple of times.

I am pretty much a die hard metallica fan…I like everything they release. St. Anger is by far the weakest album they have released, and the albums have been getting weaker since Black. They got Stronger from Kill to Justice, weakened from black to Anger.

Personally, I got tingles when listening too parts of this album, something I haven’t gotten since Justice. There is definatly an old school influence, but worked too sound modern. Personally I think this is the best album in 20 years. Out of the 10 songs….6 are magnificent, 2 are half-decent too good, and 2 are slow.

Just too put it into a classification…first number is magnificent, 2nd is good, 3rd is slow.
Kill: 4/6/0
Ride: 6/2/0
Puppets: 7/0/1
Justice: 8/1/0
Black: 4/4/4
Load: 2/6/6
Re-Load: 1/6/6
St. Anger: 2/2/7
Death: 6/2/2

Metallica will always be a heavy metal legend to me like Sabbath. I dont expect them to play heavy metal the way they did it 15 – 20 years ago. The folks are getting old and they have nothing to prove anymore. I have the album already and so far I’m enjoying it because it’s making me bang my head at times. Hammett is back. The album is combination of all the albums they released. There are noticeable justice riffs, kill em all solos and the classic Hetfield growls. It’s worth having it. Just don’t expect this album to be a Master of Puppets 2 album… it’s not.

Happy Listening

I give 8,5/10. It is not perfect but it is awesome! A good mix of old Metallica Stuff with new Soul.You wanna headbang? Go for ” All nightmare long” or “My apocalypse”. You wanna little slow? “Day that never comes” and “Unforgiven 3″ gonna make you happy. You want to have the best time , next time you see the guys live on stage? You can not ressist “The Judas Kiss” ^^ . Sorry for my shitty english i am from germany and need a little more practice again . Everybody gives this album under 6/10 ,go fudge yourselfs and hear Hanna Montana and some Disney metall!

Metall up your A….!

DK

I just got my cd in the mail yesterday as I pre-ordered from the fan club….I only listened to it on the way to work this morning…no opinions yet…I have to listen to a cd a couple of times first…I love all of Metallica’s albums except for St. Anger…I actually bought it, listened to it, then gave it to a friend’s son…garbage…I can’t wait for their tour!

Well … im am a metallica fan since day one. And a fan of many other groups that emerged that time. Anthrax, venom, slayer, megadeth, testament, coroner, annihilator etc etc… we would buy any metal record that time since cds, or internet didnt exist. Of all the groups we use to hear Metallica was always the one ……….. (THE ONE) always was, is, and will be. No matter what people say no matter what comments they will post. If you dont appreciate the history and the contribution of the greatest group EVER then your a pop music guy and you should stick to that. As for their new album …. History is repeated!! Perfection is redefined.
Any hardcore metal fan will appreciate the sound and lyrics of this amazing piece of art. 100% ear smashing metal , amazing solos , meaningful lyrics 100% METALLICA