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

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.