Metallica! Rick Rubin! Death Magnetic! September 16 (-ish)!

http://www.happi.com/articles/2006/03/images/ap-04.jpg

Special edition!

According to the Norwegian music retailer Platekompaniet, METALLICA will release a limited-edition two-CD, one-DVD, deluxe "Death Magnetic" box set in September. The box set will be packaged as a coffin box and will also include an exclusive t-shirt, flag and USB memory stick.

The details of the deluxe box set are as follows:

* 1 "Death Magnetic" CD (exclusive digipack version)
* 1 CD with demos of songs from "Death Magnetic" (10 songs)
* 1 "Making of 'Death Magnetic'" DVD featuring never-before-seen material
* 1 exclusive "Death Magnetic" t-shirt (only available with the box set)
* 1 "Death Magnetic" flag
* A set of "Death Magnetic" guitar picks
* 1 fold-out, coffin box, poster with pictures of the band members
* 1 USB memory stick with METALLICA logo (enables digital download of "Death Magnetic" album)

Everything but good music. Excellent planning.

cynic

Er, apparently it's the 16th in the US. Could some kind mod fix that in the title?

ok

you buncha haters need to recognize that this was once one of the three or four best bands on the planet OK so even if they're dicks now you gotta give them some propers before you piss on them

and "Death Magnetic" is a proper metal title, certainly kicks the shit outta "Load" and for that matter "...And Justice for All"

xpost I couldn't care less if the guys are dicks, just that their music sucks exactly that: dicks.

I don't know, I just picture a gravestone with refrigerator magnets on it.

for some reason i really feel like buying this

And John -- I would like nothing more than for this album to kick ass. The Black album was the first CD I ever bought.

electricsound - What, the coffin box?

yes!

for the demos and the flag

yeah I mean the chances are slim I'd guess, I don't think they'd put up with the kind of producer who'd be the only kind able to get a great record out of them. but there's nothing on anybody's top ten list this year that's even a quarter as good as master of puppets so I feel like I gotta defend metallica, even though they have sucked for some time.

Defending Metallica in 2008 is like getting back together with the ex-girlfriend who cheated on you and lied to you the last 4-5 times you were together.

Highest possible respect for their work in the 80s. But do not set yourself up for further disappointment. Not even Rubin can clean up this mess.

The coffin box is $929 Finnish. Not sure how much that is in real money.

http://data1.blog.de/blog/k/kalpeakatsastaja/img/i%20want%20to%20believe.jpg

you buncha haters need to recognize that this was once one of the three or four best bands on the planet OK so even if they're dicks now you gotta give them some propers before you piss on them

4 great albums. can we talk about how much this is gonna suck now?

yeah go for it, they're awful

New song samples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYO9hxTVskk

Finnish currency is in Euros now.

929 Euros = 1 474.6946 U.S. dollars

Really? This pricelist has just the CD for €149.50, which seems kind of excessive to me.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3011/2632512014_feaaaef164_o.jpg

I don't need this album to equal their 80s stuff, I just want a Metallica album with some semblance of dignity. A good, solid 7/10-style record would make me happy.

I am my own best friend.

It was really weird to watch "Some Kind of Monster" because it suddenly seemed like they were such amateurs at songwriting, which is totally not the impression you get when you listen to "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets," or "...And Justice for All."

samples sound OK-to-good except for the vocals. I mean, Metallica was never about the vocals, but they had a tweaked dignity - the Rubin touch on that voice isn't what it needs, at all. But the sample from 1:00-end? I'll fucking take it, thanks. And if they wanted to release an instrumental disc of this, I wouldn't complain.

sounds vaguely black album-ish.

Agree with J0hn - from those clips the vocals really stand out as bad. Turn them down in the mix, Rick! The guitars are still so blues/southern rock-ish, too. When did Kirk start doing that shit? I never felt any kind of Blues Hammer vibe in any of their pre-'Black Album' stuff.

I almost wish they would take that further and just go for a total down-tuned Earthride type vibe.

"Silent Hedges" by Bauhaus came up on my iPod today and at first, I was all "Well this is a weird version of 'Call of Kthulu' here."

And then a few more tunes into shuffle, "When Hell Freezes Over", a demo version of "Call of Kthulu", comes on and now this thread. yikes.

I'll give them another chance. They were easily the best band of the 1980s and the fact that they're all dicks doesn't mean the music _has_ to suck.

I am actually kinda excited/anticipatory about this one. The song samples are already 1000x better than St. Anger, and I'm gonna try real hard to squeeze one of those coffin boxes out of label/management.

I mean, Metallica was never about the vocals, but they had a tweaked dignity

The vocals on Puppets and Justice are good. Earlier than that he's a bit screechy, later he's trying too hard and they sound affected.

That preview doesn't fill me with much hope, but I'm still going to check it out. I will probably steal it, just to rile Lars.

"It was really weird to watch "Some Kind of Monster" because it suddenly seemed like they were such amateurs at songwriting..."

I agree. It seemed like they were trying way too hard and/or thinking way too much. I can't imagine they were having those intense writing sessions during "Ride the Lightning", that album is just so fucking awesome

Rick Rubin hasn't produced a decent album in what, 20 years?

I guess his song on the Li'l Jon album was okay

From what I understand from the whole Velvet Revolver fiasco is that Rubin doesn't do a goddamn thing anyway. But anything has to be better than that bleach blond surfer dude who played bass on St. Anger. Who is a worse influence, him, Lars or their shrink>?

i'm cautiously optimistic.

um don't people love all those johnny cash albums he did?

my friend says the new Neil Diamond is pretty good.

um don't people love all those johnny cash albums he did?

hate 'em

99 problems was good

it suddenly seemed like they were such amateurs at songwriting, which is totally not the impression you get when you listen to "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets," or "...And Justice for All."

That totally is the impression you get - it's all charisma and kick-ass riffs that hold these albums together, the songwriting is easily the worst thing about all of them. Their idea of an epic song is to take three riffs and cycle between them every 16 bars for 9 minutes with no dynamics or development. Compare "To Live Is To Die" with, say, "Norvegr" (a song that does the exact same thing).

the overly reverent "he's a serious ARTIST DON'T YOU SEE" schtick Rubin laid on him was pretty obnoxious. Don't get me wrong, I love Johnny Cash, I own a ton of his records, but he was a very varied performer and songwriter and the overly dour, super-serious treatment Rubin gave him and the songs Rubin selected for him to cover were pretty predictable and uninspired. There's no fun, no joy in those records - they were all about propping up the mythologized image of Cash as a tragic, tortured figure and there was way more to him than that.

but what do I know

x-post

but what do I know

OTM

the songs Rubin selected for him to cover were pretty predictable and uninspired.

"Thirteen" (Glenn Danzig)
"Rusty Cage" (Chris Cornell) – 2:49
"Hurt" (Reznor) – 3:38
"Personal Jesus" (Gore) – 3:20

cash was a long time depeche mode fan though, he was doing a bob wills/western swing style version of "master and servant" in his live sets as early as 87

^^^all a bunch of dark, maudlin crap

x-post

The second Cash/Rubin record, Unchained, is the only real keeper. There was a band behind him, and he actually rocked out a few times - the aforementioned cover of "Rusty Cage" in particular. For that reason, it's kind of ignored now, because all the super-serious critics who fawned all over the most mournful of the acoustic stuff didn't want to hear a Cash with any life in him.

Rick Rubin hasn't produced a decent album in what, 20 years?

I like his work with System of a Down.

unperson I disagree. His first is the only keeper. Totally stripped down - it's just him.

Cash singing 'Master of Puppets' - that would be a keeper.

>Totally stripped down - it's just him.

Yeah, but can you explain to me why that's a good thing? Cash wasn't a folkie; his first band was a trio, and he always needed accompaniment, rhythm, support.

^^^ding ding ding

yeah God Forbid an artist does something unexpected, amirite guys?

first two cash records are great. if they'd stopped there i'd have no beef.

(first two cash/rubin obv.)

its not that it was unexpected, it was totally predictable! (not to mention boring). What more predictable way to deal with an aging icon than to give him a bunch of shitty "contemporary" songs to cover and act like absolutely nothing is required of the producer than to just record the man and his guitar.

anyway this should all be on some other thread

you predicted that Johnny Cash would sing a Misfits song? that's amazing.

i think your projecting a lot of stuff that happened AFTER the cash records were such a big success shakey...it's predictable now, only cuz those records MADE it predictable

the particular songs don't matter Mr. Que - its like whenever they pair any aging icon with young talent eager to work with their idols (see also: Willie Nelson, that stupid Sinatra duets record, etc.) In principle there's nothing wrong with a little cross-generational miscegenation (Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" is amazing, for example) but the lame marketing angle and the overly reverential treatment given the performer rarely result in any good music.

Shakey that's some bullshit, how can Rubin "act like absolutely nothing is required of the producer than to just record the man and his guitar" and then give him an "overly reverential treatment"? And isn't the reverence something an audience gives a performer, not a producer? And lastly: what's so reverential about letting all those voice crackings stay in the mix?

i guess i should add here that i just think records are okay--not great, but an interesting idea. way better than if Cash had just kept making the same record over and over. (and in a way you're right about the dourness-aren't there like five of these rubin records? prolly too many.) i dunno, i think it's good when artists stretch. i didn't really pay attention to the marketing angle. and i think cash should have been revered--who else deserves overly reverential treatment but him?

Euler I think its kinda quintessentially overly reverential to act like a performer is best served by being totally unadorned. (a la "he doesn't need anything else, he's JOHNNY CASH")

no one's saying Cash was "best served" by being unadorned. he did something different at the end of his life--why can't you just say "I think the songs suck," rather than trying to come up with some BS justifcation. you don't like the records, no big deal, right?

and i think cash should have been revered--who else deserves overly reverential treatment but him?

this is a good question... in some ways I think reverence is not a particularly healthy or interesting avenue for artists to travel. I mean there are people I revere, for sure, but it probably wouldn't be helpful to inject that reverence into those people's artistic processes.

and no its not a big deal that I don't like them, I was just thinking out loud about why I don't.

x-post

xpost to Shakey

hmm ok I guess, but I think there are lots of ways a producer can give an artist a "reverential" treatment, like piling on strings for instance.

btw I don't get that reverential feel from the Rubin Cash records...but I already revered Cash so I wouldn't get this extra vibe from Rubin's production.

they could use those cash records to torture terrorists with. ugh. a good producer would have said: "hey, john, we'll try again when you're feeling a little better." it's almost like he was hoping he would get cash's actual death rattle on tape. so that he could sample it for a funky new chili peppers single!

roflz

i only felt that way about the last one. he sounds pretty spry on the first one.

back on topic though: dave mustaine wrote most of the riffs/parts to the songs that would end up on kill 'em all, right? and cliff burton helped write almost every song on ride the lightning and master of puppets, right? and ...and justice for all is really when they started to lose it, if you ask me. it was the first time that they were boring anyway. they should just do albums of covers. they are always good at those even without cliff.

^^^scott brings true wisdom. the two smartest, most interesting guys in the band haven't been around for a long time.

Scott is wrong though because AJFA is up there with the best riff-wise, and their songwriting was always pretty bad (see Master Of Puppets the song). Never bought the whole Cliff cult anyway.

Backwards day was last week, Siegbran.

I'm with Siegbran. AJFA and the Garage Days Re-Revisited EP are the two Metallica records I listen to most often, with Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets and Kill 'Em All following, in that order. (MOP is way overrated, the title track and "Battery" aside.

mostly justice just suffers from being too long. it WAS the first time i ever found metallica songs tedious. but certainly not the last time! and the drums drove me up a friggin' wall. there is stuff on justice that i like. and cliff did have a hand in SOME of the music on justice as well. just saying: before he died: cool band. after: not so much (garage days and half of justice aside). this might have happened anyway. cliff probably would have left/gotten the boot anyway as lars/james went for the gold. and 3 and a half good records + awesome cover stuff + cool odds & ends is better than most bands can come up with anyway.

d/c

they should just do albums of covers.

Metallica covers.

(MOP is way overrated, the title track and "Battery" aside.

Blasphemy.

Agree with J0hn - from those clips the vocals really stand out as bad. Turn them down in the mix, Rick! The guitars are still so blues/southern rock-ish, too. When did Kirk start doing that shit? I never felt any kind of Blues Hammer vibe in any of their pre-'Black Album' stuff.

I have to say, I don't mind the bluesy guitar. In fact, "I Disappear" is maybe my favorite thing they've done in the last decade outside of S&M. If St. Anger had been along those lines, I probably would've liked it a whole lot more than their "extreme" move. It certainly wouldn't have been thrash, but it would have been a more honest record of what they wanted to do at the time.

As for the Johnny Cash stuff, I only have The American IV, and while it's really good, it's kind of too depressing to listen to. The "Rusty Cage" cover was pretty rad, too.

And yeah, Master of Puppets still held up when I listened to it last night.

what the fuck, anti-cliff revisionism.

seriously

a propos of nothing i've been listening to a fair lot of old metallica on some channel at sirius at work for the past couple of days, maybe it's a new one, so random it's been a while ; I was like 13-14 yo when i discovered their back catalog, but i got into it yeah and have to say it was nice to hear that bit of sample on youtube that sounded raw and original, but maybe not urgent or hectic enough, though, like they could get:pretty crazy. and off i go to start a thread on hard shuffle or ya

Scott is wrong though because AJFA is up there with the best riff-wise, and their songwriting was always pretty bad (see Master Of Puppets the song). Never bought the whole Cliff cult anyway.

These two sentences are crazier than a shithouse rat

I'm a glutton for punishment and will buy Death Magnetic. If the coffin is under $100, I may even buy that too. I still love Metallica, and while this:

Defending Metallica in 2008 is like getting back together with the ex-girlfriend who cheated on you and lied to you the last 4-5 times you were together

is totally OTM, I gotta say, there's still chemistry between us, dude, so save the tears for morning.

As for Johnny Cash - only a fool would hate on him, duh, but I hated the way the media handled his death, which happened to be the same day we lost John Ritter. Cash had been milking his imminent demise for years, decades, even, while Ritter's death was wholly unexpected and somehow, sadder. Media: "Country icon Johnny Cash, beloved the world over, dead at 206. Tomorrow, more of our continuing coverage on the life and times of this American trailblazer. Oh, yeah, and Jack Tripper also croaked today for some reason. Now on to the weather."

Total Groucho Marx / Elvis scenario...

And if they wanted to release an instrumental disc of this, I wouldn't complain."

OTM John. I would buy instrumental versions of every Metallica album since Justice... if they were available.

Maybe if I keep low expectations of Metallica they might surprise me with something decent (and i actually like some of load). But I just cant see it.
Never really liked AJFA. The usual complaints about it..

http://mybroadband.co.za/photos/data/500/Thread_direction.jpg

Rick Rubin hasn't produced a decent album in what, 20 years?

-- Shakey Mo Collier, Thursday, 3 July 2008 16:02 (3 days ago) Link

Besides the Johnny Cash albums:

Slayer - Seasons in the Abyss
Red Hot Chili Peppers - Blood Sugar Sex Magik
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan - The Final Studio Recordings
System Of A Down - Toxicity
Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium
System Of A Down - Hypnotize/Mesmerize
Neil Diamond - 12 Songs
Dixie Chicks - Taking The Long Way

I still love AJFA -- probably for nostalgiac reasons, though I can't really tell b/c its influence as one of my formative musical experiences makes it very difficult to reexamine objectively, in the context of the rest of their catalog and all. I got it in sixth grade and listened to it just about every day (alongside Appetite for Destruction) on my walkman while delivering newspapers. The tinny, no-bass production thing probably never occurred to me (A) because I was 11; and (B) b/c the album was almost exclusively taken in through stock headphones.

FWIW I still like the "black album" too, warts and all. It's at least 50% classic to my ears, mostly due those gigantic fucking riffs & a soft spot for Kirk's wah-wah fetish.

The Load/Reload thing was such WTF disappointment that I really, really wanted to accept St. Anger as the take-no-prisoners return to form it was initially trumpeted as in many (the majority?) of its early reviews - kind of like when The Phantom Menace came out and, for a while, no one wanted to admit what a colossal dud it really was. But the album really is almost unlistenable, completely sacrificing memorable songcraft in favor of "kicking ass" in a really pathetic, middle-age-crisis kind of way.

As far as what to expect from new material, I believe that the band are incapable of recapturing the vitality of their best work. Based on their portrayal in Some Kind of Monster, they don't seem conscious of what "it" actually was to begin with. Even if Rick Rubin were able penetrate the Hetfield/Ulrich ego fortress (impossible, I say), all the back-to-basics production in the world won't matter if the tunes simply are not there. And they haven't been, for a very long time.

Some Kind of Monster > The Phantom Menace > The Black Album

The Phantom Menace has nothing on The Black Album. Actually, "The Phantom Menace," had it not already been copyrighted etc., would make a fine Metallica album/song title.

At no point on the Black Album does a Jedi jam his lightsaber into the heart of a giant metal door until it superheats and blows open.

>Mars Volta - De-Loused In The Comatorium

When I interviewed these guys, Cedric said he can't even listen to that record anymore. He hates what Rubin did to it/them. I don't agree with him; I'm just reporting.

haha yeah mars volta could have made an even worse record if rubin would have just let the dogs off the chain

although sometimes i fall for their bullshit santana meets mr bungle with an emo singer bullshit!

you know what i just thought of for the first time in a long time...how WEIRD AS FUCK it was that marianne faithful did a cameo appearance on a METALLICA record. you can't make this shit up!

Metallica, hey, if they're enjoying the music they're making now, so be it. I'm not. But to John D's original point, the first four albums were classic (and hell, I still enjoy the Black Album from a

But Metallica seems to be more interested now in putting on a facade of "being heavy" and "returning to roots" that for a lot of their sheep-ish fanbase, it doesn't matter that they actually aren't.

I'll give it a fair listen, just as I did St. Anger, but I hated that album. I could ignore the cringe-inducing lyrics ("My lifestyle determines my deathstyle"), but the music was just bad, other than the title track and "Dirty Window".

Part of me thinks that, lame or not, they probably enjoyed making the Loads more than what they're making now.

Part of me thinks that, lame or not, they probably enjoyed making the Loads more than what they're making now.

OTM

http://www.metallica.com/images/extras/DM_cover_600.jpg

vagina grave

how WEIRD AS FUCK it was that marianne faithful did a cameo appearance on a METALLICA record. you can't make this shit up!

I dunno, I mean Marianna Faithfull did an appearance on an Oxbow record too...she seems available for fucked up shit of all stripes.

Metallica not making Black Album-style pop metal is pretty useless these days.

WOW that cover is vag city.

http://images.amazon.com/images/P/B00000DR70.01._SCLZZZZZZZ_.jpg

I just hope they deleted everything Torben didn't like.

Metallica should take it one further and make the new album ONLY available on Guitar Hero....

if you fuck up a few notes here and there, it'll sound the way its supposed to

http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/images/jezebel/2008/07/hetfield072508.jpg

looks like ulrich and hammett decided to really embrace their feminine side for this album

! Cloven hooves!
Maybe this will be alright after all.

I went on Youtube yesterday and watched the live clip where they play "their new song".

it was hideous. I hope it's not really going on the new album. sounded like St. Anger redux.

oh yeah, what did you expect? master of puppets redux?

Trujillo looks like an action figure in that shot.

It has to happen some time right? I mean, every ageing band goes through the phase at least once. That moment where they all sit down and decide to 'go back to basics'. Proper speed metal. Six minute songs. Acoustic guitars in the intro, heavy opening riff, launch into the first verse with another palm-muted stomper. Epic twin leads. Badass, larger than life lyrics about death, fuck your personal issues.

We know you've grown as a band as well as individually, you're not sixteen anymore, it's all fine we won't think anything worse of you.

oh yeah, what did you expect? master of puppets redux?

No, but that's never been what I wanted. Hell, they couldn't even pull it off competently if they wanted to now, with the way James sings.

But it feels to me like the St. Anger type stuff is not the music they wanted to make, but that they made it in order to sell their more gullible fans that they'd gone back to basics and are making 'harder' music again.

Load and Reload may both suck, but at least they sounded somewhat enthused about it.

I think the enthusiasm you're looking for was mostly gone after Cliff died, to be honest.

I just want something that's listenable! Megadeth's recent output might be generic, boring, and not something I want to listen to more than once, but it's at least listenable! :)

I would buy instrumental versions of every Metallica album since Justice... if they were available.

The Apocalyptica covers Metallica for 4 cellos is very good, in my opinion. Check it out!

The band you love is dead! Stop trying to dig them up!

http://www.metallicaworld.co.uk/images/tattoos/metallica_back.jpg

I have. I don't plan on buying this monstrosity at all.

i bet that tattoo looked better before that dude got lovehandles

humanizing James Hetfield interview on NPR's Fresh Air:

http://www.npr.org/templates/player/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=14023112&m=14023108

Crummy footage of "Cyanide" played tonight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L5rFjCR9NeI

Too garbled to make much of it, but there are some promising moments, like Lars stepping out of the lazy groove he's been doing for the past decade, and some welcome dual harmonies, nawobbum style.

x-post The reason Rubin wanted to work with Cash in the first place was to rescue a living legend from the dinner theater circuit. Mission accomplished. I do agree that had it stopped after "Unchained" (the rare sequel better than the original) there'd be less debate, but I just can't argue with the presence of more Cash rather than less.

As for Metallica, the best route would have been a reality series after the movie. Or a sitcom, a la "The Monkees." But too late for that, I guess.

an animated series with Hetfield and company masquerading as costumed superheroes after nightfall....

New song posted here:

http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=601119

It's pretty good!

I think the new song's awful. A weak rehashing of the classic era with zero passion.

drums are mixed way too high

Song's not perfect, there's a little "One" rip-off that sticks out, but other than that I kind of like it.

It's all right, but the vocals are terrible. This kind of can't be fixed; the only way to make Hetfield's singing sound good is to under-record it, and dude's been around long enough now to not stand for that.

I wonder what song was in Lars' headphones when he recorded this one?

another new song:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAT_Tt_EZM0

damn this is kinda fuckin' hot!

more bark, less "singing"!

thrashiest thing they've done since..jeez...blackened?

lyrics have some lo_Ol moments but hell it's a new metallica song.

hard to tell from shitty youtube but sounds like rubin records on fuckin' macbook with the cheap protools or something.

Ok, that one's surprisingly unshit.

wow @ fake metallicas: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WX04ktKI9SY

Maditory (sic) actually do a better 80s Metallica impression than 00s Metallica do from the sound of that.

anyone else think My Apocalypse sounds really Slayer-ish at times?

NYT write-up on it.

I would like a "My Apocolypse" ringtone.

not half-bad. okay, maybe a quarter bad.

still.

wow @ fake metallicas

Hmm. Very good Metallica by the numbers, and not bad as a parody or homage, but certainly not as good as the stuff on the first 4 Metallica albums

Um, there's something called "The Unforgiven III" on here.

My Alolcalypse

Almost from the start progress equals integrity was an article of faith for the band. Each of its evolutions seemed to challenge hardcore metal’s cult values of speed and power and emotional guardedness.

fair or unfair?

the drums and the vocals are terrible. the guitar playing is awesome though, the beginning sounds like early 70's genesis.

Album version of "Cyanide" has now surfaced.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sm4EADT8k5U

It's gooood. They just go nuts with the NWOBHM passages in the break, and they don't feel tacked on whatsoever.

eww. just sounds like that song from the mission impossible soundtrack with a bit of "kill 'em all" plagiarism in the middle.

Listening to "Cyanide" right now. It sounds like...Prong. That opening riff, and the drumbeat, are pure Prove You Wrong-era Prong. I like it a lot.

Media: "Country icon Johnny Cash, beloved the world over, dead at 206. Tomorrow, more of our continuing coverage on the life and times of this American trailblazer. Oh, yeah, and Jack Tripper also croaked today for some reason. Now on to the weather."

Total Groucho Marx / Elvis scenario...

Other simultaneous musician/thesp deaths:

Thelonious Monk/Lee Strasberg (2/17/02)
Peter Tosh/Lorne Greene (9/11/87)

(2/17/0282)

fixed

"The Day That Never Comes" doesn't sound so good to me; even though it's apparently modeled on MOP-era Metallica, it wouldn't even be as good as one of the lesser tracks on those albums. And what's with Hetfield singing instead of growling?

MOP-era Metallica

someone has to make this collaboration happen.

>And what's with Hetfield singing instead of growling?

Where the hell have you been? He's been singing since "Nothing Else Matters" on the Black Album.

no, it's much different than that type of singing. if you listen to the song, you wouldn't even recognize it as Hetfield at all.

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3082/2820910585_b2c5264dab.jpg

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3068/2821750490_a46ec25135.jpg

It's leaked.

I can wait the week or two until it comes out. I'm probably going to end up buying the damn thing anyway.

I'm determined to get a timely review done, so the sooner the better for me! But yeah, I'll be buying.

I find myself wanting to take this song by song rather than the whole thing at once.

It's a good album. Really!

Could do without "Unforgiven III" and the instrumental, but other than that, this is one solid CD.

It's decent, but "good" might be pushing ot to far. All the musical near-quotes just make me want to play the early stuff. I can't imagine choosing to listen too this if I'm in the mood for Metallica. I guess it is nice to be able to say they don't suck now.

I went to Best Buy yesterday to buy this, but apparently it doesn't come out until Friday. Lame.

http://pics.livejournal.com/billylickalolly/pic/0003ayt2.jpg

Ok, can I say I have no idea why people are cumming or even mildly smiling over this?

The album's listenable (which, ok, I'll admit I said that was "all I'm asking for"), but...James sounds like a dead clown. His voice sounds shot to hell and I hear digital pitch correction about 75% of the time.

Nothing about the songwriting is bad. Nothing about the songwriting is particularly 'good' either. It's leaps beyond St. Anger, but...well St. Anger was dogshit.

I've tried desparately to get into any of the six tracks I've heard, but...they're just not interesting! I just think a lot of the overhype is due to people who are so ecstatic that Metallica don't sound like complete anal drippage anymore that they've overrated it to hell, just like Megadeth's mediocre The System Has Failed.

and Unforgiven III? Come on.....though ok, to be fair, how many "Sear Me"s did My Dying Bride have?

The layered booklet is pretty cool, although it doesn't really like going back into the jewel case.

Jewel case? All I saw were digipaks. (which I tend to prefer)

Best Buy only had jewel cases, so I got what I saw. And I'm on the fourth track right now, and quite enjoying the record. Some production stuff I don't like, but the songs are totally solid.

The clicking base drums are starting to get to me, though...

bass

Ya know, this isn't that bad of a record.

Kinda like if they had made one in 1990 between Justice and the black one.

Jamez gets some crooning in on, I don't know off-hand, Track 4? And the crazy part was realizing how Thurstony Moore it sounded.

Personally I like album's overall dry tone, especially the drums. Reminds me of the Rubin sound of 88-90, Slayer, Danzig, Wolfsbane, etc.

I like it - a lot. I've listened to it more than a half dozen times since downloading it last week, and I went out and bought one (jewel case, $10; the digipak is a version that has the album and tracks from it, formatted for Guitar Hero and Rock Band and shit like that, and at Best Buy it cost $40 - double vinyl was $15) at lunchtime yesterday.

I went and bought the OST to Side Show and the new Dragonforce instead.

I wanted to like the new DragonForce more than I do, it's definitely their best one to date, but it wears thin after a couple of plays. Too relentless and hammering. It gives me a headache.

Well...I will say, Dragonforce is guilty of having really gay choruses. I'd rather listen to Symphony X, but well...I've bought the best Symphony X albums already and while the new Cryptopsy actually sounds like it's pretty good, it's one month after my death metal phase ended :(

I actually like "The Unforgiven III," but they really should have called it something else.

Yea, like "Creep" by Stone Temple Pilots....

I'm quite into this, contrary to my expectations. There are at least five properly good tracks. No idea why they released The Day That Never Comes as a single, it's the pussiest song by far.

my friend burned me a copy, can't imagine I'll play it much. James sounds like shit vocally.

I like how our expectations have been lowered so much that Metallica putting out a totally decent album is considered a triumph.

It was a brilliant idea. Metallica did it on purpose.

why else did they let their psychologist write lyrics

Let me say first that I wanted this album to be good like everybody else -- but this guitar tone is the aural equivalent of baby shit. A passionless, going-through-the-motions imitation of MOP is about last on a list of 7 million albums I'd like to hear in my life. In what world is this a decent album? Invisible Oranges cat had it 100% when he said the press needed to STFU in the runup to the release of this, too. Saw Carcass and Suffocation over the weekend and the venue played this through the PA between bands -- it cramped everyone's style so bad you could smell it; it was even more embarrassing juxtaposed with a bunch of middle aged guys who can still fuckin tear it up like those bands can.

Yes, metallica once ruled the world, but that doesn't mean we gotta suffer any more of this shittin' in our mouths and callin' it a sundae.

people who should go ahead and quit: a list thread

FINALLY someone who doesn't like the album!

Don't know about you, BJO, but I've seen a ton of "surprisingly unshit", "kinda hot!", and "decent" on here.

An embarrassing amount of, I mean.

Based on the several tracks I've heard, I thought it was alright. Definitely not as good as the early stuff, but okay. I think the most obvious weakness is James' lyrics, which seem more and more forced and juvenile as time goes by. The music also has a forced quality to it, but less so than the last album for sure. I also wish they'd turned up the bass. Need to listen to it more, I suppose.

I'm fully aware that me liking this album is akin to those losers who bought Hell Freezes Over.

PP, you like this ish??

The Masters of Puppets. Now that would be a great name for a band!

I only listened to side one so far, but I was very very pleasantly surprised. I can only imagine what a world it would be had they been produced by Rick Rubin 18 years ago and not Bob Rock.

And there's bass inside it!

(But don't get me wrong: Favoring something because it sounds like it could've been released in 1990 isn't the strongest case for saying it's a great record. All I can say is that sitting here at my desk job and listening to this album has not been a bad experience.)

I will be on New York radio station WNYC tomorrow at 2 PM EST debating the merits of this record with Ryan Schreiber. I'll be arguing in favor of the record, Schreiber will be arguing the official Pitchfork position, which is anti-. You can listen at 93.9 FM if you're in the New York area, or online at wnyc.org. Or you can ignore this announcement. That's fine too.

To paraphrase estela, if agreeing with Pitchfork is wrong, then I don't wanna be wrong.

After the second listen, I still like it. The parts where they break away from the songs and kick out the jams are really, really great. Also, as much as I want to criticize the chorus for being stupid, "Hunt you down without mercy, hunt you down all nightmare along!" is freaking catchy.

that's the only song on the album that feels at all vibrant to me

I wasn't expecting to love this album, either way. And the bits I have heard of it so far are pretty good...I like the clean sound a lot.

That said, the lyrics to "Broken, Beat and Scarred" sound like something that would become a fist-pumping epic to sullen teens who have heard of Nietzsche but haven't quite gotten around to reading him yet...if only it wasn't a bunch of middle-aged guys delivering the message.

It should be noted that, while I like this album, I think Death Angel and Testament put out far better records this year.

it's interesting that the official p-fork stance is anti- when they wrote so many nice things about it in the run-up

Also, as much as I want to criticize the chorus for being stupid, "Hunt you down without mercy, hunt you down all nightmare along!" is freaking catchy.

Best chorus on the album easy, especially when it comes in after the false ending. Am I giving Hetfield too much credit by reading the lyrics as a slightly tongue in cheek evocation of Kill Em All? Probably.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/node/145135

^they say it sounds "like epic 80s metal" here. o_0

didnt realize cosmo wrote the pfork review

it is both fair and well-written

I will be on New York radio station WNYC tomorrow at 2 PM EST debating the merits of this record with Ryan Schreiber. I'll be arguing in favor of the record, Schreiber will be arguing the official Pitchfork position, which is anti-.

This should be good.

http://www.pitchforkmedia.com/article/record_review/145305-metallica-death-magnetic

Link for those too lazy to dig around the website. It is fair and well written, and I can't really argue with Cosmo's assertions, but my impressions are more positive overall.

I have some disagreements with his review, but I'll talk about those tomorrow. The biggest problem I have is that I don't think he should have ever taken the assignment. If you read his IO post, he wrote:

"I will listen to Death Magnetic out of completism and professional obligation. But I will not do so out of curiosity. The press sucked that away several hundred blog posts ago. I haven't even heard it, and I'm tired of it. It won't stop calling. I'll return its call in due time. Right now, though, I just want to tell Metallica: please go away."

Coming in with that kind of attitude was ultimately dishonest, it seems to me.

I don't really disagree with any of the specifics of the review but I get a lot more enjoyment out of it than that critic seems to. Though the more I listen to it, the more I realise that while they have their old energy back, I can't really see any of the new songs ever being regarded as classics.

I can argue with some of that.

Calling out Metallica for self-plagiarizing is like calling out John Fogarty for making songs that sound like "Run Through the Jungle". They're Metallica, right? The biggest fault against the band has been how far they've strayed away from their roots, in a bad way. Now they've returned to form and are getting criticized for it.

And if you're going to enjoy the record, you do have to put away any images of Jamez zhopping at Armani or Larz' dad sitting there on the couch saying "delete that." Railing against Metallica for making a record like this in their forties is an irrelevant argument. So fucking what? (ha, see what I did there.) I keep saying that if Death Magnetic had been released in 1990, Metallifans would be ranking it tied with Justice on their Metallilists.

It is what it is. I'm not telling my friends to run out and buy the record. But it's a nice release from the band, there's guitar solos on there, the drums weren't recorded inside a grain silo, and there are faint hints of someone playing a bass back there.

the guitars sound like shit and the solos are retarded, so i don't think metal fans would have liked it at any time

If I didn't know better, I'd say that you had it out for this record.

Cosmo's point about the vulnerability is a good one. I think the reason that the Death Angel and Testament records were so damn good is because they are still writing about world events and things that piss them off externally, as opposed to the more internal route that Metallica took. Another difference is that those bands weren't as massively successful as Metallica, so they don't try nearly as hard to live up to their reputations as Metallica do.

give it a year and yall will too xpost

I felt similar about the last Iron Maiden record, Rox.

sorry if i'm coming off as just a hater, but i worry that any appraisal of this record in any way favorably comparing it to MOP or any of the other older metallica albums is so missing the point of what made those albums great, which was GREAT songs and GREAT guitar sound/creative playing. these things are missing 100% from this record. there is not a trace of that here. and those qualities, while they exist in the past, are what made metallica monstrous and to be feared and huge and awesome, and they are worth standing up for, IMO.

of course there are other differences: energy, verve and some other abstractions, etc, but these are the ones that i'd say this album is completely devoid of

I don't think anyone here (except maybe Phil) is arguing that Death Magnetic is nearly as good as Master of Puppets! This lemon is just a lot closer to lemonade than anything they've put out since The Black Album.

>any appraisal of this record in any way favorably comparing it to MOP or any of the other older metallica albums is so missing the point of what made those albums great, which was GREAT songs and GREAT guitar sound/creative playing. these things are missing 100% from this record. there is not a trace of that here.

I'm not arguing that this is as good as MOP; what I'm arguing is that this album combines the strengths they exhibited on that album and Justice with the best aspects of the very flawed Load and ReLoad.

In direct response to roxy, I like the guitar sound on this record a lot. I like Kirk Hammett's solos on this record a lot.

I wouldn't describe Hammett's soloing as retarded, but it certainly is ludicrous. Which is as it should be.

the thing they used to have over other bands was that shit was so catchy, even if it was a 10 min instrumental. now they're thrashy again but almost the whole album was in one ear out the other (not like i'm walking around with a walkman and a cassette 94/7 like young me did with master of puppets, but still).

I'm not even saying it's as good as Justice, which quite honestly was phoned-in on the rebound from Cliff's death and two years without a proper album release. (Hell, it even sounds like it was recorded from a telephone in some parts.)

I just wonder if any of you would've bitched in 1989 about Steel Wheels not being as good as Let It Bleed or Some Girls.

justice is amazing and probably my favorite metallica album for real

...And Justice For All: 20 Years Later

Justice is arguably the most well-written Metallica album, Puppets is easily the most well executed.

lars sounds like he doesn't give a fuck on the new one (in a bad way)

at least they fixed that godawful snare

But they broke their bass drum instead.

^^^^^^^^^

every metal band has clicky bass drums these days!

"that dates it to THIS PERIOD"

TS: Death Magnetic vs Divine Intervention - which is the better "our classic album part 2"

?

I'll take this album over Divine Intervention, easily. Clucky kicks and all.

(It's weird, I find myself nowhere near as obsessive about kick drum sounds as other metal fans)

and justice for all has the trebliest, most attack-heavy bass drums of all time but it works.

Divine Intervention is my least favorite Bostaph-era Slayer album. (I'm a big fan of Diabolus In Musica, an album I think is sorely underrated.)

I'm not obsessive about kick drums. They are just egregiously distracting on this album. Did they really need to put them so high in the mix?

sonically it pretty much sounds like shit overall.

but like i guess i'm at the point where i sort of EXPECT big major label rock records to sound like shit.

Divine Intervention shoots loads of cum all over Death Magnetic from a large height. D.I. is one of the most underrated Slayer albums and is easily in their Top 3.

..........It is what it is........
― Pleasant Plains, Monday, September 15, 2008 3:44 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

I'm not obsessive about kick drums. They are just egregiously distracting on this album. Did they really need to put them so high in the mix?

Rubin did that on South of Heaven. I like it.

Divine Intervention shoots loads of cum all over Death Magnetic from a large height.

what an odd metaphor.

ok, i am really fucking shocked that i am digging this at all.

the production is totally ass but the riffs are decent and the songs flow well together in context. not classic by any means, but not bad.

there was nothing that made me cringe (even the ballad works ok in the context of the album), which has to count for something i guess.

Wanna hear me defend Death Magnetic (and take shots at Ryan Schreiber and Cosmo Lee)? Click here to download an MP3 of my appearance on WNYC's "Soundcheck" from this afternoon.

The bit about Pitchfork writers being seen as the kids who were pantsed in school by the metal kids was terrific, Phil. And good move questioning why Pitchfork would even bother reviewing this album. That's what bothered me five years ago...not that St. Anger wasn't deserving of a negative review, but that they had absolutely no business reviewing it.

Wow, "Unforgiven III" does sound like "Creep".

It also sounded a little like "Friction" by Television.

Faintly embarrassing on Jools Holland tonight, specially James and Kirk's synchronised gurning.

And while we're on the subject of Jools Holland, who the fuck was that girl with a flat cap for hair? She was RUBBISH.

this album is surprisingly good!

lyrics are the weak point though

The bit about Pitchfork writers being seen as the kids who were pantsed in school by the metal kids was terrific, Phil. And good move questioning why Pitchfork would even bother reviewing this album. That's what bothered me five years ago...not that St. Anger wasn't deserving of a negative review, but that they had absolutely no business reviewing it.

Cosmo Lee is a metal kid.

Yeah, we know that, but as far as the metal community's perception of Pitchfork, the overwhelming majority believes otherwise. Check other message boards, Pitchfork is absolutely reviled. I'm actually constantly defending P-Fork, but it's like talking to a brick wall.

James yodels.

Is "My Apocalypse" the fastest song they've ever done?? Goddamn, that songs rocks!

Talk about brickwall, has anyone read this:

http://www.metalsucks.net/?p=7485

Basically it states that before mastering every single track was brickwalled already in the final mix. Making the final master a disaster.

Adding even more intrigue, the folks at Guitar Hero made their own (apparently superior) mix, a flac recording of which just appeared on the torrent sites a few hours ago. Very interested in hearing it...

hmmm hetfield's crooning is at odds with the riffs and structure of these songs, but musically we get some interesting bits cropping up from time to time. vocals and lyrics are bad, and the drumming lacks creativity and flair, but these elements are to be expected and i can take solace in the fact that the album at least sounds inspired from time to time.

compared with metallica's 80s output, this obviously doesn't measure up and we shouldn't expect it to. by any standards it's probably a below-average album, but the fact that it's such a comprehensive step-up from the inexplicably bad st. anger is a point of merit. having seen 'some kind of monster', i was convinced that the band had lost all concept of its fans, its origins, and its very reason for existing. the fact that james, lars and co. seem to be consciously trying to reignite some spark and amend previous missteps is commendable.

commendable, like a deadbeat dad finally paying half his child support.

metallica owes us, and owes us big.

"it's fast, c'mon guys! old man hetfield's angry about somethin'!"

for all its anger and speed on occasion, the album plays out pretty sluggishly. god knows why the songs needed to be so long (yet again)

many of their older album have huge songs too, and no one complained. however, those albums were 45-55 minutes, where this one is 75 or so. There is truncated version floating around on the torrent sites, one that was 'shortened into a better album.'

i tried to do that with STANGER but the production was so shit it was almost impossible to get decent edits. would've made a good 15 minute ep.

I heard the GHIII version, and it's quite good. The dynamic range is easier on the ears and there's a variety in sound quality that makes it a lot more appealing to listen to.

commendable, like a deadbeat dad finally paying half his child support.

― REIGN IN FUDGE (GOTT PUNCH II HAWKWINDZ), Wednesday, September 17, 2008 1:49 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

heh, pretty much!

Stuff I agree with, so far:

This lemon is just a lot closer to lemonade than anything they've put out since The Black Album.

I like Kirk Hammett's solos on this record a lot.

for all its anger and speed on occasion, the album plays out pretty sluggishly.

Cosmo Lee is a metal kid.

musically we get some interesting bits cropping up from time to time.

vocals and lyrics are bad, and the drumming lacks creativity and flair

commendable, like a deadbeat dad finally paying half his child support.

Favorite track so far, by far: "Suicide & Redemption," which has no words. Guitars in the otherwise boring "The Day That Never Comes" are good, too. And Hetfield's singing sounds kind of beautiful whenever he goes up to his higher register to recite the title line of the otherwise useless "All Nightmare Long." (I'm still trying to make sense of the rest, but not expecting much.)

Funniest (though not necessarily most entertaining) part of "Suicide & Redemption": The part toward the beginning that always reminds me of "Earache My Eye" by Cheech & Chong.

Cosmo Lee rules.

Musically, I'm all over it. Lyrically...ugh. "What don't kill us makes us more strong" just makes me cringe every time I hear it. My vague theory is that it's because James is actually singing now, so he draws more attention to himself and the lyrics. Or something. But I'm just overjoyed that there's extended wailing-Kirk solos, big meaty long songs with awesome tempo changes...like they're finally not afraid of just being Metallica again. It ain't always pretty, but damn it's a relief.

"cosmo"

metal kids don't write for pitchfork.

DEATH TO POSERS

IF YOU ARE A FALSE DONT ENTRY

>:[

so, 'death magnetic' too loud = it sucks?

wsj (sí, wall street journal) asks

it's just tedious to listen to compared with the dynamic range of the GHIII version

the interactive section on the WSJ link should have compared the Death Magnetic with Master of Puppets or Ride the Lightning, not ...And Justice for All.

as to be expected, lars likes the new album loud.

Metallica’s drummer, the usually quiet and demure Lars Ulrich, has spoken out on the controversy surrounding the mix of the band’s new album, ‘Death Magnetic’.

lolz

I'm pretty much done with this album now.

that good huh ?

It's not bad at all, and if I was fifteen I've no doubt I'd be wallowing in it for many months to come. But now I've checked out what they're up to quite thoroughly, I'll go back to the old stuff thanks.

i've actually been listening to the track 'broken, beat & scarred' quite a bit recently. totally intrigued by that riff in the verse, and it's got a great groove.
pretty much worn out by the rest of it, and i still haven't made it through the whole album, mainly due to the fact that most of the songs are so obviously overlong and follow such lazy structures.

just listened to this again...

man...i keep wondering why i never want to listen to this, and this time the overcompression and horrid digital recording quality is just screaming at me...even at low volumes it's just ridiculously shrill and aggravating on a sonic level. zero bass as well.

ladies and gentlemen, rick rubin!

omfg this video

Slightly better quality

yeah thanks for the video metallica, better luck next time on the music

Was all the more awesome because I saw it on the treadmill TV at the Y.

Face facts. Metallica has not made a good album since Justice. Taking out every worthwhile aspect of your music does not constitute maturity.

IAWDC*

(*I AGREE WITH DIS CHALLOPS)

man...i keep wondering why i never want to listen to this, and this time the overcompression and horrid digital recording quality is just screaming at me...even at low volumes it's just ridiculously shrill and aggravating on a sonic level. zero bass as well.

a similar charge could be leveled at "...And Justice for All" though. I actually prefer the production on this one to that one.

a year on and it's still shite

roxy totally otm on this thread

What, you expected it to get good all of the sudden? Is there some kind of "time release" music technology, like a vitamin?

no, i just hope those who gushed over it on release will now admit it's shite.

i really think we're at the point where it's impossible to make like a big budget "name brand" major label rock record that is actually good. they all just sound like shit now

Mastodon kinda did it but even then it doesn't hold a candle to their first couple of albums.
If Torche and Baroness become a name brand it could be possible. I think Qotsa's best days are sadly behind them though, even if i liked their recent albums, they just werent as great as preceded it.

but that would probably be better on its own thread

yeah yr right, nu metallica would suck a dong even if they did that shit in robert pollard's basement or the most expensive studio in the world

all bands run out of steam. Some quit and some shit over their legacy cuz it makes them money and still sell out stadiums. Some fans put up with it because they still mainly play the old songs live.

and if one truly awful album is followed by a "decentish" album then it's regarded as a "return to form".

"Mastodon kinda did it but even then it doesn't hold a candle to their first couple of albums."

I disagree with this. I think their new one is much better than Remission, and its up there with Leviathan. I think these guys are getting better.

anyway i still reckon you should start a separate thread and paste those posts on it.
xp

best major label rock albums of the decade

i just hope those who gushed over it on release will now admit it's shite

No such luck, bud. I was listening to it yesterday. I still like it a lot. And when I saw them in February, the new songs went over huge with the crowd. I expect the same thing to happen when I see them in a couple of weeks at MSG.

I still like this too, my only two complaints being the horrible compression and the "what don't kill you make you more strong" chorus lyric.

the horrible compression

Yeah, I will admit I don't actually play the physical CD; I downloaded the Guitar Hero version and that's what's in my iPod - that, and the audio of the Newark show I was at, purchased from their website.

'What, you expected it to get good all of the sudden? Is there some kind of "time release" music technology, like a vitamin?'

There's a natural tendency to embrace vilified crap years later. I can't think of a counterexample (initially thought of as crap, remains crap). Is there one?

There's a lot of crap that starts out crap and remains crap.

I mean remains thought of as crap. I'm sure a lot of crap was initially correctly identified, but the years tend to make people second guess that correct assumption. People are just too forgiving!

How about most, if not all, of Mick Jagger's solo work? I think that's the epitome of crap.

I bet there's at least one person on ILM who will make a spirited defence of Mick Jagger's solo work.

I can't think of a counterexample (initially thought of as crap, remains crap). Is there one?

St. Anger?

I still think this album's pretty good.

"love is a four-letter word"

"splatter some color on this gray"

i typed that into google and the only hit it is What's going on with High on Fire?

ah, it's "i'll splatter color on this gray"

good to know

It never ceases to amaze me how while Hetfield's lyrics weren't exactly intellectual back in the day, everything 1991-present makes old Jaymz' lyrics look reminiscent of Plato in comparison.

hell even the Black album, which had its share of cringe-inducing moments is more tolerable than the 'lol wtf' stuff James writes now. I'd prefer it if all James did was grunt the word "bonzai" over thrash riffs.

I'd prefer it if all James did was grunt the word "bonzai" over thrash riffs.

<3 this so much

"Can't you help me be uncrazy?"

yeah, it's weird-- Jaymz's lyrics from Ride the Lightning through Black Album are pretty good. The stuff shown in Some Kind of Monster are downright embarrassing-- although Kirk's contributions are jaw-droppingly embarrassing.

dude's life rattle determined his death rattle

i rage i glaze i hurt i hate iirc

Ha ha, you listen to Metallica lyrics. (Sounds like an Anal Cunt song title: "You Listen To Metallica For The Words.")

Yeah, I'd actually say that from Ride through the black album that James' lyrics at least approached the intellectual. He seemed very informed and literate and capable of describing his insights and opinions in a poetic way.

For me, as a Metallica-listening preteen, the first intimations of trouble were definitely the nursery rhymes in Enter Sandman. I felt that was such a cheap move.

Especially since Megadeth had just used that same exact prayer on "Go to Hell".

Yeah, but for some reason I liked it when Megadeth did it, maybe because I didn't expect as much from Megadeth at the time. I mean, that was on the Bill & Ted soundtrack.

I mean: Slaughter! Steve Vai! Faith No More! Kiss! Megadeth! Winger! Primus!

Battle Stations is a jam though.

My point was when "Enter Sandman" came out, not only was it a little lame, but I was also like "wait, didn't I just hear someone do this over the summer? And wasn't it Metallica's EX-GUITARIST?"

My first truly raised lyrical eyebrow was the "... And Justice ..." nugget: "See your mother, put to death. See your mother ... die!"

Well, yeah. You just said it, James. Whether it works or not, the redundancy's always bugged me.

What's the grammatical term for reversing the order of words, the way they so often do in metal? Like, not "puppet master," but "master of puppets?"

There used to be a children's furniture store here called Cradles of Distinction.

maybe they should give Lars a go at singing. might be humorous

I maintain there are four cracking tracks on this album (That Was Just your Life, End of the Line, All Nightmare Long, Cyanide)

I like this record but I consider it more of a Rick Rubin success than a Metallica one.

lol

sorry if i'm coming off as just a hater, but i worry that any appraisal of this record in any way favorably comparing it to MOP or any of the other older metallica albums is so missing the point of what made those albums great, which was GREAT songs and GREAT guitar sound/creative playing. these things are missing 100% from this record. there is not a trace of that here. and those qualities, while they exist in the past, are what made metallica monstrous and to be feared and huge and awesome, and they are worth standing up for, IMO.

I got overexcited about "wow, a not terrible new metallica album" back then but let's be honest this roxy post was ridiculously OTM. plus I got a long tattoo once when this album was playing in the shop and fuckn' A you do not wanna have to sit through this record during a tattoo sitting.

eternal smdh @ critics racing to out-"surprisingly not that bad!!" each other about a weak album

I stand by my review.