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To me, Death Magnetic is, silly title apart, what Metallica should have released in the early 1990s - this is the album that is in every way the rightful successor to the incredible ...And Justice For All.

This is an album that is more progressive in a real sense, and in the traditional sense of what Prog Rock is than almost any Progressive Metal album I've reviewed, particularly the tracks All Nightmare Long and The Judas Kiss, which I recommend to all Proggers.

I see there are a couple of spiteful Poor ratings already - don't be put off by those, there are sub-standard moments on this album for sure, but there's bona fide real Prog and a couple of great moments too. Even if you didn't like this album, you would have to grudginly admit that it's not poor, in any sense of the word - unless you blanket hate heavy metal as an entity or Metallica as a band.

This is none of your I've got a Mellotron so I sound a bit Like Pink Floyd, none of your quiet/loud = Prog nonsense, and none of your crowbar in the silly time signatures, use a mode no-one except a rabid musicologist can detect, then play a simple song and call it Prog - this is genre-defining progressive metal music.

For Metallica and their fans, who probably don't care if it's progressive or not, this album is a very welcome return to form, but a bit late, as sadly, the music overall sounds dated, and, while there is Progressive writing a-plenty in these grooves, most of the writing is in the same progressive style that Metallica themselves pioneered in the late 1980s rather than Progressive per se as it was back then. It's a historical thing.

There are also the ballads to consider - although your average Barclay James Harvest album tends to be stuffed with ballads, so I suppose I really shouldn't hold that against the fearsome foursome. The Unforgiven III is actually *gulp* very good indeed.

On to the music;

The Prog connection is made immediately, in That Was Just Your Life, with the heartbeat recalling Dark Side of the Moon. The sinister guitar picking lets you know what's coming - any moment, you expect the slam... but when it comes, it's still unexpected, and throws you back in your seat in terror. Metallica tease with heavy riff portions, then career off into two more riffs that twist, turn, grow out of and feed off each other like untamed monsters in true ...Justice style.

There's little predictablilty here - the riffs change tempo and root, giving a satisfactory feeling of harmonic progression in places, while using the anchored technique to sustain dramatic tension between sections - e.g. just before the guitar solo. The solo itself isn't particularly remarkable, but a simple token because this is where a solo belongs.

Like Justice, however, it does feel over-long in places, as the riffs occasionally seem over-settled in. But the final instrumental section is a triumph of pulse-racing timing and changes with satisfying pathos.

The riffs and tempo changes are unrelenting in The End of The Line, growing ever more spiky and angular, and the song carries reminders of Metallica's earlier material, such as Creeping Death and even more Sad But True - but here Metallica experiment a little with harmonies, introducing some very creepy notes into the chords to create edgy clashes. Underneath, the riffs continue their twisting and turning, borrowing snippets from each other, building layers, creating an overall texture that only gives up its little secrets over time - repeated listening is ESSENTIAL to get the most out of material this dense in creativity.

Kirk really turns up the Nigel Tufnel for the guitar solo - I suspect it's completely deliberate, as I get a feeling of someone laughing in an extremely disturbing way - and the opening notes are quite shocking at full volume. This is a solo of malicious intent, not the throwaway Wah-Wah over-indulgence it first appears to be.

The song drops very unexpectedly into a more mellow section that sounds almost unlike anything Metallica have ever done before, and Hetfield uses the phrase The slave becomes the master as a carry-over into the next section, which seems entirely built to convey the lyrics rather than hey, I've got a riff - can you fit some words to it?. This is masterful and Progressive writing fully worthy of the Prog Metal moniker.

While the songs themselves have pathos, the same can't be said for the album as a whole. Broken Beat and Scarred seems like more of the same, as it's in a similar tempo frame and key - even the riffs are similar in style, to begin with. I found it useful to take a break before listening to this track for the first few times.

The chorus is superb, the changes well-crafted, but over-repetition still manages to creep its way in - while Metallica are using the same riff-writing principles that drove the amazing trio of albums that set them on the way to world domination, the buzz is missing, which was the biggest problem with ...Justice.

Then we have the first of the ballads.

Now, I'm not against ballads per se - I adore Barclay James Harvest's epic and symphonic-sounding constructions - but I have almost without exception despised every ballad that Metallica have ever written, and The Day That Never Comes is no exception.

I can't help hearing Echo Beach (Martha and the Muffins) in the opening bars, and the overall stiltedness off the riffs and misplaced angles jar horribly against my musical sensibilities. This simply means another trip to the bar the next time I see them in concert.

I quite like the middle section, though, based around the phrase Love is a 4-letter word - all of a sudden we're no longer in horrible ballad territory, but creative and unpredictable musical territory, with some machine gun riffs and Maiden style twin lead lines making it all very interesting. Pity the bass simply follows the guitars the whole time - if it hadn't, then I'd have to say that this is the full-blown prog metal thing, right here. It's not - but it's very, very close.

A Diamond Head inspired solo, reminiscent of that in Am I Evil, and peppered with Tufnelisms makes this section longer than it really needs to be, but Metallica sound like they're having fun, and this comes across.

All Nightmare Long follows, and what an intro - Halloween, here we come! Perfect punctuation leads to rapid-fire riffs and splendid boom-tish thrash drumming guaranteed to put a grin on your face. Again, the riff ideas split into a cosmos of fragments around your head until it becomes very difficult to focus on a single idea - this is excatly what I was hoping for from Metallica... back in 1991 - but nevertheless makes a nice change - a piece of metal music that's unpredictable and inventive for the sake of expressing the nightmare inherent in the musical logic and lyrics, rather than complexity for its own sake.

For this is an almost hideously complex piece - and I'm loving every second of it. On an album absolutely stuffed with 7- minute plus tracks, this one feels too short, clocking in at a mere 7:58.

My favourite song is, sadly, the least progressive (but it still contains very progressive writing): Cyanide opens with a riff so infectious it should be illegal, and pans out to changes so satisfyingly headbangable and scream alongable that it's an instant classic, putting Enter Sandman and One into the shade. The bridge features an over-Antaresed Hetfield over some brain-scrambling riff flurries and mellow picked sections which seamlessly feed into each other, and the multi- part instrumental section puts other Prog Metal bands to shame, inventing its own logic, which it rabidly persues all the way back to the final vocal section.

Metallica then do the unthinkable. I should really hate The Unforgiven III - I hated the first one and the second one, and I can hear the musical links - the melody hearkens back to its predecessors, but this is no carbon copy - and it's not a bad song either. OK, it gave me goosebumps on my first listen, despite myself - I really, really wanted to hate this like I do the other Metallica ballads. But it's really good. Damn their eyes.

Prog Metal fans - fill your boots. This single track puts Opeth's entire Watershed album to shame. Hetfield may not be the greatest singer ever, but his unmistakable tones are really put through their paces. Hammett may not be the greatest lead guitarist, but he squeezes emotion like a tube of squeeze cheese into the heart of his solo. The same can be said of the other two guys - you feel like every band member is playing this piece of music, not simply their little bit in their own little universe, and the elusive fifth member appears - the song itself.

The Judas Kiss is up next, and here the riffs get crazy - at first, it seems like it's for the sake of doing something complicated, but the sense comes with repeated listens, and the feeling of polyrhythms, crazy time signatures and dense complex modal harmonies pervades.

The instrumental section is a real tour de force, although I can sympathise with those who get fed up with Kirk's over- use of the Wah-wah as a vehicle of expression - and I do wish he'd learn a few more chops.

There are all manner of surprises in this piece - and there's no doubt in my mind at all that this IS Progressive Metal of the best quality.

I won't cover the last two pieces, as the overall style is more of the same - but that's not to say that it's the same music over and over, because Metallica play with the textures, twist riffs inside out, back to front, upside down and inside out - and THAT IS WHAT PROG IS ALL ABOUT.

Well, yeah . definitely I am not the right person to review any Metallica album because I am actually not a fan at all even though I do not hate the music. It's basically most of my friends are metalheads as compared to proghead. That's one of the ways to keep young, isn't it? So why I am finally getting into Metallica? Simple: influence from friends plus my deep love with Dream Theater's "Stream of Consciousness" (Train of Thought) where most of my metalhead friends told me that this album of Dream Theater is very Metallica. Whenever I spin Train of Thought I always stuck with Stream of Consciousness due to its crispy melody, heavy riffs and solid composition. Then I was recommended by friends of mine to spin "And Justice For All" that unfortunately I did not like the drumming on the opening track "Blackened". So, I did not play the other tracks of that album. Later I tried black album and I do enjoy some tracks especially "Enter Sandman".

But, when I listened to "Death Magnetic" where my colleague Hardiansyah Rizal introduced me the album through "All Nightmare Long" track, it blew me away with ist excellent composition. I said to Rizal right away that the song is really "prog" because it has changing tempo and style throughout the song. And then I tried to spin the whole album and I found joy in listening to it in its entirety.

.and let me try to give my views on this album.

Like it or not, I have seen two international magazines (Classic Rock & Rolling Stone) and some local magazines had their cover story for this new album by Metallica. There are many reviews already on the net about this album. There is no need to justify how the album has influenced metal and rock scene all over the world. With my minimum knowledge about previous albums of Metallica, let me try to write my own words about this album.

The album starts "That Was Just Your Life" with an ambient effects that reminds me to Jethro Tull's "A Passion Play" ambient, followed by simple guitar fills that reminds me to Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under". Of course, they are all not the same because Metallica's music is nothing to do with Jethro Tull and Metallica is older than Dream Theater. What follows is a dynamic drumwork and heavy guitar riffs supporting vocal line in fast tempo. It's a so energetic track. The track is truly heavy and fast, and I do enjoy it very much. There are tempo and style changes that indicate a sense of prog. "The End of the Line" (7:52) has some flavor of Rush music style, performed faster with stunning riffs and melody. I like the way how double guitar play riffs and melody combined with dynamic bass guitar as well as drum work. The guitar solo at 4:44 is truly stunning even though it's quite short. The song tones down at the ending part of the track "The slave becomes The Master ." and returns back to high energy music.

"Broken, Beat & Scarred" (6:25) starts with excellent combination of guitar riffs and drum which do not sound like straight rock music. Metallica has made the music not truly sound like typical straight heavy metal music. The music runs faster at 3:46 followed with truly rockin' guitar solo in fast speed. "The Day That Never Comes" (7:56) brings the music down with catchy guitar fills followed with soft guitar riffs and drumwork. The vocal line sounds differently with blues tinge. Keep praying / Just keep waiting. Waiting for the one / The day that never comes / When you stand up and feel the warmth / But the son shine never comes, no .. It's a nice song which only peaks up with heavy music at minute 3:59. The speed then moves faster featuring guitar solo. The part at 5:44 on guitar notes are truly stunning! It's an excellent composition. I believe Dream Theater members will be amazed by this album.

Luck. Runs. Out.

"All Nightmare Long" (7:57) starts with a music with similar style like Dream Theater's "Pull Me Under" with heavy drumwork, followed by very fast and heavy music. The intro part has stimulated my adrenalin to run faster due to its beautiful and solid composition. Oh man .. I really love this track and I keep repeating this track because I love the way the vocal line is handle. So powerful! Luck. Runs. Out. Structurally, this is a progressive track as it has many tempo and style changes. This is the first track I listened to from this album and made me amazed with the dynamics of the song. Oh .. I love this kind of metal music. It's truly progressive metal tune.

"Cyanide" (6:39) is another excellent follow-up with great riffs. At minute 3:12 the music changes into different style. The guitar solo is stunning especially backed with excellent combination of dynamic drums and heavy guitar riffs. I feel like I am playing Dream Theater now..

The music tones down into nice piano touches and string section as intro of "The Unforgiven III" (7:46). Hmm .. I cannot believe this is Metallica as it's so sweet and mellow. What follows is a nice guitar fills in repeated style supported by drum. I never imagine that I truly love this melodic song and I cannot believe that this is composed by Metallica - a band that connotes to something truly happy. It reminds me to their "Nothing Else Matters" of Black album. The guitar solo that starts at 5:36 is really great and it reminds me to vintage rock music in the 70s. Metallica rules! The music brings back to "The Judas Kiss" (8:00) which also another excellent one.

Another favorite of mine is "Suicide & Redemption" (9:57) which starts brilliantly with powerful bass lines followed by stunning guitar riffs. There are riffs (minute 1:35) that remind me to Black Sabbath's "Hole In The Sky" (of "Sabotage" album) even though they a not alike. But this is truly an excellent track that satisfies me. Structurally, this is not a straightforward track at all. Suicide & Redemption is Metallica's answer to Dream Theater's Stream of Consciousness! Well, Dream Theater has to face it that this long and prog instrumental track is killing. I am totally "nggeblak!" with this track man .! Fantastic! The album concludes nicely with "My Apocalypse" (5:02).

I cannot help it ..This is a masterpiece work!

Having spun this album for more than five times with no dissatisfaction at all, I have to say straight to the point that this is a masterpiece progressive metal music. This album is definitely not a "prog related" music because in every single track there are significant characteristics that categorize this album as a progressive metal album. The only drawback of this album is the production, which is not quite good. I don't know why Rick Rubin does it this way. By saying that this is a masterpiece work, you might challenge my proggy-ness .but, I am sorry my friends, I have to tell you frankly that I admire this album. I will definitely have to trace back their previous albums. Any recommendation which one to start first? - Keep on proggin' ..!!

Peace on earth and mercy mild - GW (i-Rock! Music Community)

So Metallica is in the archives... meh...

5 years have passed since Metallica delivered one of the worst albums in the history of not only metal, but music! I´m talking of course about St. Anger. An album with the most horrible drum sound ever, no interesting riff, pretty mediocre lyrics, boring long same-y passages which could be seen as the instrumental sections of the songs and not one solo, fill nor harmonic desplay from Kirk Hammett. The album was absolute [&*!#] and no MTV awards, TV specials or Rolling Stone review (4 stars...) can tell me otherwise, this was pure and utter [%*!#]ing [&*!#]!

And now Death Magnetic is out. And it´s way, way better than St. Anger... but 75 min of sound check makes a better album than St. Anger, so there is no credit in what I´ve just said. But one thing is for sure: Metallica, the Metallica we all love, is back. Why? Trash metal is back! So we can all be happy and rest our heads while these 7 min songs blast out of our loudspeakers, always with a smile in our lips... right? Wrong! Death Magnetic might see Metallica being Metallica again, but it´s a pretty mediocre Metallica for that matter. No song really can hold ground against... pretty much any of their ´80 material, not even with The Black Album. Yes, it might be their best since the former mentioned Black Album, some might even say it´s their best since ...And justice for all ´cause it is with the Black Album Metallica started to slip (still I would go as far as saying it´s one of their very best)... and this may be true, but, again, that´s only ´cause they have delivering crap after crap, with the culmination of the already mentioned St. Anger. At first look though we are pleasently surprised. Hey, there are some long intros! Hey, there are a lot of tempo changes! Hey, there are SOLOS! Hey, this even qualifies as Prog metal! And then you listen to it again... and it´s not that perfect, but pretty close to what they once were. And then you listen to it a third time, a fourth time... and... it´s not that good. Hetfield has forgotten how to sing metal, he seems to be singing a louder version of Lynyrd Skynyrd which does not meet with the music at all. His lyrics are just plain out stupid; "What don´t kill ya makes ya most strong" is barked repeatedly ...I must say I think I heard Power metal bands with better lyrics than these. The music is really not that exciting either, I don´t hear any lick, riff or "idea" behind these songs that really makes me think twice before writting this. The production and mixing is pretty awful too. Completly pale, what you see (4 musicians) is what you get. There is no real use of all the elements the studio can provide. The sound is not raw nor is it polished. It´s totally pale, no substance, no "wall of sound", nothing... But I have left the worst for last: Lars Ulrich´s playing. My God, this must be not only one of the most overrated drummers in metal (with this I don´t mean he is mentioned as the best that much... but just to mention him once among the best is already too much), he is down right one of their worst, and this seems to be his "swan song" in suckyness. He down right ruins the (very little) feeling a song might have, perhaps the best example of this is the intro of "The Day That Never Comes" which just has to be heard to be belived. He really seems to want to [%*!#] it up, and man does he succeed!

But with all said and done I must, again, point out that the old Metallica is back, not in the greatest of form, but they are back none the less. Some fans even seem to really like this album, in the archives for example, there are quite a few who think of it as a great comeback. I for one can think without such fanatism and write this review not because of my love for Metallica, but for the respect I once had for the band, the true Metallica, the ´80 Metallica. And maybe they are back with this one, but meanwhiles we get this pretty mediocre album... but Metallica has gotten me used to them.

METALLICA becomes METALLICA again - unfortunately.

This will not be a pleasant review. Despite being a huge BLACK SABBATH fan, I must make clear I never took to METALLICA. I detested this band in the 1980s, considering them bereft of any real musical merit, and this album does nothing to change my mind. I'm extremely disappointed in myself. I pride myself on pastoring a broad musical church, and I usually find something to love in any honest effort, irrespective of genre.

Not here, despite a desperate and thorough search.

I've tried very hard to think about why I find this album so very disappointing, and what follows is as close as I can get to the hollow emptiness this record induces in me. My sincere apologies to those who love this band: I am not setting out to offend. There's no spite in this review, and I do not object to this band being included in ProgArchives as 'Prog Related', for the way they defined their genre in the 1980s.

The root of my problem with this album is the narrowness of the music. The trouble with using such a limited palette as this to create music is that the end product is almost always monotonous. I use that word advisedly: mono-tone. The guitar tone hardly ever varies, and this leaves the only trick to be played a speeding up of the pace - hence 'thrash'. So fast are the riffs that the guitar becomes a de facto percussion instrument. This further limits any melodic or tonal quality of the music.

Song after song on this album utilises the same narrow tonal palette. With the vast breadth of sound available to musicians, I have a great deal of trouble considering a band innovative if they limit themselves to such a small portion of the vast breadth of sound available. Unless, of course, they create something intriguing with it. Fact is, these lads simply aren't talented enough to deny themselves 95% of the aural gamut.

Listening to this album is like scaling a cliff and discovering an endless plateau. All the drama is contained in the first minute of the record, and after that it's all dead level. OPETH have it right: if your tonal palette is limited, then employ dynamics (variation in volume) and diverse instrumentation (acoustic guitar, keyboard, growls and sung vocals) to give the music depth. Use guest singers, Incorporate other genres, like psychedelica. This METALLICA album, by contrast, is about as shallow as music gets.

The production doesn't help. The volume is pushed well into the red, leaving the music nowhere to go. So we get loud, loud or loud, and all the finer aspects of the music (I'm assuming there were some) are lost in the mix.

Here's METALLICA for the deaf. Guitar: ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch-ch. Drums: boom-cha-boom-cha-boom-cha-boom-cha. Bass: * silence * (Do they actually have a bassist? And to think Les Claypool tried out for this band - and was rejected!) Vocals: la-la-la-la-la-laaa.

Whee.

And could someone tell me if LARS ULRICH is really as bad a drummer as he sounds? Couldn't he get a young session musician in to play for him? I hear RINGO STARR is looking for work. And why, oh why, is he mixed so high?

Any semblance of 'progressiveness' comes from the frantic attempts to add variations to this restrictive formula. Nonsensical chord changes and tempo shifts are the equivalent of change-ups in baseball: get a slow or fast one past the batter as he's likely gone to sleep. If you're a one-trick pony, you've got to learn to do something different or it's out of the circus and down to the knacker's yard. This one comes straight from the glue factory.

At least there are solos to relieve the monotony of the percussion-like riffing. Well, I suppose they are solos. They sound like desperate, out of control shredfests, again employing a limited range, purposeless, unmemorable. They are not prepared for (PINK FLOYD does this best, leading the listener into a solo), nor are they given any context. They could appear anywhere in any of the songs and make as much - or little - sense as they do currently. Not a single solo is in any way necessary in the structure of the song.

And this is the single biggest tragedy. METALLICA is about the sound of the music, not the structure of the music. People are impressed by the speed and volume of the sound, but (a few 1980s efforts excepted) the results are unmemorable. These 'mini-epics' would benefit from a good dose of compositional values. They have no shape. The progressive listener derives no pleasure from the form the sound takes.

I have in front of me the Official METALLICA Song Building Kit. I'll just put aside the t-shirt, and let's have a look at what's in the box. Hmmm. Here's the contents sheet. Verse (x3). Chorus (x2). Instrumental jam (x2). Guitar solo. Instructions: select elements at random. How easy is that?

And the lyrics. Are you kidding me? 'Venom of a life insane/Bites into your fragile vein' might be considered meaningful by the MANOWAR crowd, but such asinine stuff is not really suitable for adults. I suppose I'm a better person for surviving the lyrics: after all, as Hetfield says, 'What don't kill ya makes ya more strong'. What an original and innovative lyric. Urk.

Try this at home. Take any METALLICA lyric from any song on any album, and insert it into any other song on any other album. Do it randomly. Guess what: it fits! Now, ask yourself the question: why is that?

I thought this band's 1980s albums were rather poor, but honest (if limited) work like 'Ride the Lightning' and 'Master of Puppets' are veritable feasts of sonic bliss compared to this. Perhaps 'Death Magnetic' is not the worst thing METALLICA have ever done; I don't know. I've never listened to 'St. Anger', and I'm dreading the exercise.

Professional reviews of this album are largely positive, but largely consist of variations on the theme of "hearing Metallica sound like Metallica again" (AllMusic.com). So far is this band from the progressive spirit, reviewers who panned every 90s attempt to break free from their monolithical 80s sound now rejoice at this regressive album. "Just like the 80s! Best thing since '.And Justice For All'!" This, fellow proggers, ought to send you a clear message. METALLICA is not a progressive band in any sense of the word.

Best song is the instrumental 'Suicide and Redemption'. The first two minutes of 'All Nightmare Long' is rather tasty, until the thrash reappears. Sounds like I don't like thrash, eh. The odd thing is, I adore DREAM THEATER's take on METALLICA ('Train of Thought'). This is because the thrash is set in a far more meaningful context, and the music has true dynamic range. Makes this stuff sound very poor indeed, as if it needed any help.

Irrelevant and one-dimensional music that serves only one purpose: as a revenue-gathering exercise. Run a mile.

Monster Magnetic!

Metallica are back in top form - after all the hype our patience has been richly rewarded with a monster of an album, the band racing on all eight cylinders, the battery as powerful as ever. All the new songs here are good, The Day That Never Comes and The Unforgiven III will be live classics, the former being the best song I have heard from them since the And Justice/Black album era. The band have slightly moved away from their Prog influences here (I believe "...And Justice" and "Black" albums to be their most Progressive) , but this album would sit happily next to Prog metal bands like Opeth. Considering the negative reviews on the sound quality, there does seem to be something of a grainy digital edge to the music but no loss in sheer ball-breaking power, there are a lot worse sounding albums out there believe me - I agree some remastering would be in order but I write this review from the CD, the vinyl may give better results when it eventually arrives... Amazing comeback for the Kings of Metal, long may they reign!

Prog rating 4/5 Metallic Melodic Music Mayhem rating 5/5

Metallica - 'Death Magnetic' 3.5 stars

I was surprised to say the least.

If you are a fan of old Metallica, or the '.And Justice for All' album, you will be very pleased to hear this. This album is, by far, their most progressive effort. The line between Metallica and prog is a little steep in my opinion, but the amount of riffs they pack into one song meets some kind of qualification. The massive amounts of riffs are tied into each other pretty well, assuring smooth transitions. There are some sure standouts, but the other songs keep up just as well.

Recommend this to Metallica fans and those who are scarred from the waist down by the likes of 'Load', 'Reload' and 'St. Anger'.

Finally, the long awaited comeback of classic Metallica. In case you don't know much about Metallica, they stopped making decent and progressive albums from The Black Album onward. This was their awesome comeback. They released the awful St. Anger prior to this, and this is arguably their best album in my mind. Every song is from 5-10 minutes, so it is also relatively progressive.

The opening THAT WAS JUST YOUR LIFE is a very progressive song with a great prog-metal type opening and an awesome riff. THE END OF THE LINE has a similar song layout, and is also very strong. BROKEN, BEAT, AND SCARRED is more of a straightforward metal song, but is great nonetheless. THE DAY THAT NEVER COMES starts out slow, and slowly progresses into a metal section, and is arguably the best song here. ALL NIGHTMARE LONG is another more metal song with a nice chord progression. CYANIDE is a shorter song here, and the highlight is really the lyrics. THE UNFORGIVEN III is a continuation of an epic placed on previous albums. It has a classical type opening and progresses into a wicked guitar solo. The most progressive and best song on the album. THE JUDAS KISS has a really cool riff, and I particularly like the sound of the guitar here. SUICIDE & REDEMPTION is a 10-minute instrumental that is really awesome. The skill of the band is showing the most here. MY APOCALYPSE is a great closer to a superb album, and is so good that occasionally I listen to the album twice in a row because of it.

In case you didn't get this from reading the review so far, this is a superb album in every way, shape, and form. This is a must own for any metal, Metallica, prog metal, or even regular prog fan. If you aren't going to check this out because of the previous St. Anger, don't let it fool you. This is nothing like St. Anger.

Final Score: 5/5.

An admirable attempt at returning to their glory years.

The opener tells you immediately that this is not the Metallica of the 90s nor St. Anger. The first minute is influenced by prog, having two distinct creepy motifs playing in harmony and then having two new bone-crushing riffs on top. Best introduction I ever heard on a Metallica album and the song itself is fast-paced, complex, unpredictable, and with a sense of musicality and melody. This song is a classic, almost as good as their best songs from the 80s.

Unfortunately, this is the best song here, but most of the songs here keep the complex song structures and should please Metallica fans. You can notice Hetfield returning to his roots, Hammett playing solos and trash riffs again. The closer "My Apocalypse" should please almost everyone: a brutal tune with excellent guitars and a very fine performance by Hetfield.

Some of their weaknesses come back tho: the inaudible bass *sigh*, and Ulrich sounding mediocre, especially in the second half of the One-inspired "The Day that Never Comes" where he plays a boring beat for almost four minutes. Also, there is not a lot of variation in the album, but I can say the same thing for any of the classic-era albums. You'll also notice atrocious production where it really seems like they played really loudly then tried to compress and compress. I know it's supposed to sound raw, but with a bit of polishing and common sense, you can make the album sound meaner, darker, heavier, without losing the rawness.

In Summary:

The excellent: "That was Just Your Life"

The very good: "My Apocalypse"

The good: "The End of the Line", "The Day That Never Comes", "Cyanide", "The Judas Kiss"

The decent: "Broken Beat and Scarred", "Unforgiven 3", "All Nightmare Long", "Suicide and Redemption".

It is a flawed album, but this is still a step in the right direction for Metallica and trash-metal fans should try it.

Death Magnetic is the ninth full-length studio album by American heavy metal/ thrash metal act Metallica. It´s been five years since the release of the disappointing St. Anger (2003) and new bassist Robert Trujillo ( Suicidal Tendencies, Ozzy Osbourne...etc) has now had the time to become a full member of the band. I´ve read interviews with Robert Trujillo from around the time when he joined Metallica and he often said in those interviews that he loved the old Metallica albums and that he enjoyed playing the old songs more than anything. I´m not sure Robert Trujillo should have all the credit for the sound on Death Magnetic but this is very much a back to the thrash metal roots album. More importantly though the album is a much appreciated return to form after three very weak and disappointing albums. Metal Up Your Ass baby!

As mentioned above there are plenty back to the roots thrash metal elements in the music on Death Magnetic. The music is not only retro old school eighties thrash metal though as Metallica wisely utilizes some of the melodic elements they introduced on Metallica (1991) which means that the music on Death Magnetic sounds contemporary and fresh. What is most important about the songs on Death Magnetic though is that they are all memorable and powerful which is something that can´t be said about the last three studio albums by the band. If you ever need a soundtrack to do the toxic waltz Death Magnetic certainly applies. Another thing I greatly enjoy about the music on Death Magnetic is that the style is now again what I would call REAL metal and not weak metalized hard rock/ heavy rock as on Load (1996) and Reload (1997) or the disastrous attempt at sounding contemporary and experimental as on St. Anger.

There are ten tracks on the album and most of them are pretty long which means that the total playing time is 74:42 minutes. I had my fears that such a long album would be a bit too much and that there would be filler material on the album. Fortunately that´s not true at all. All ten compositions are excellent, memorable and powerful. Take a listen to songs like All Nightmare Long, The Judas Kiss ( try and imagine Chucky Billy singing on this track and this almost sounds like Testament) or the really fast- paced closer My Apocalypse. Strong and powerful thrash metal songs that blow me away everytime I listen to them. But the album doesn´t lack variation which the almost progressively structured The Day That Never Comes, The slightly orchestrated The Unforgiven III and the heavy instrumental Suicide & Redemption proves. The album is just filled to the brim with heavy riffs, aggressive yet melodic vocals, powerful rythms, enjoyable guitar soloes ( well they sound like they always have, so nothing new there) and the return of what I see as a trademark Metallica feature: The multilayered harmony guitars. I just love when they appear. It sounds so grand. In many ways Death Magnetic is the missing link between the powerful thrash metal of ...And Justice For All (1988) and the melodic heavy metal of Metallica.

The production by Rick Rubin ( Beastie Boys, Slayer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash...etc.) definitely deserves a mention too as it brings so much to Metallica´s sound on Death Magnetic. While the album has a powerful and metallic sound it also possesses lots of warmth and debth. It´s a combination that´s seldom heard in metal or in other words in seldom works. Rick Rubin is in a league of his own though and who else could help re-ignite a seemingly tired Metallica in such a succesful way?

After listening to Death Magnetic I Suddenly remember that I used to be a passionate fan of a band called Metallica 15-20 years ago. All those intermediate years of disappointing albums had really made me totally indifferent towards the band but I guess my fan days aren´t completely over because with the release of Death Magnetic I have high hopes that Metallica have now gotten their act together and will start releasing quality heavy metal/ thrash metal again. Death Magnetic certainly qualifies as being just that and a 4 star rating is fully deserved. It´s like the return of a long lost son. Welcome back.