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

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