Metallica – Death Magnetic
I’ve been MIA lately with my posts, so I thought I’d start things back up again with one of my all time favorite bands, Metallica. The have finally released their 9th studio album, Death Magnetic. The album has been out for almost a week now and has been getting a ton of air time on the local radio stations here in the Boston area.
It’s been over 5 years since their release of the disappointing St. Anger album, thus there has been a lot of hype and excitement surrounding Death Magnetic. A lot of early reviews prior to its release were applauding Metallica for getting back to their roots, ala the era of Ride The Lightning and Master of Puppets. I’ve probably listened to the album in its entirety 5 or 6 times so far. I wouldn’t go so far to say its on the level of Puppets or Lightning, but its way stronger than the St. Anger effort. Then again, the album has only been out a week and those others have been with me for 20 years…
The most interesting thing about Metallica to me is they seem to be able to re-invent themselves with every album. The classic albums from the 80’s were arguably their best albums. The Load/ReLoad albums were a new twist for Metallica, having a more “mainstream” sound. Death Magnetic definitely has a more refined sound to it than St. Anger, which sounded really rough. I’d say every album they’ve released has its own personality which makes them utterly unique.
I will say this about Death Magnetic. It definitely sounds like a culmination of all of the Metallica albums to date, rolled into one. In a way it makes it a unique album and an album that definitely has a great sound. You can hear pieces of the old 80’s songs, the 90’s songs, and yes, even a little bit of St. Anger in the tracks on Death Magnetic. I think this makes it an album that will definitely stand on its own as a a great Metallica album in the future. You can definitely say Metallica is back to its true self in Death Magnetic.
That said, its a decent effort that I’ll keep spinning in my iTunes playlists. Favorite track on the disc? Track #3 – Broken, Beat & Scarred
Note: Also check out the review of Death Magnetic over at RollingStone.com. Definitely on point for the most part with my thoughts.