Death Magnetic

[nathan79]

Metallica FTW!!! Jesus Christ! They really did it. Death Magnetic not only holds its own with their 80's material, it actually surpasses it - even the hallowed Master of Puppets. I'm not sure how a bunch of guys pushing 50 did it, but they did. Great vocals, insane solos, and proggy time signatures litter this jewel and make up a masterpiece even greater than the sum of its parts. There are even times on this album when James Hetfield attempts (and largely succeeds) to say something intelligent. There WILL be haters, but that's only 'cause of that 2003 fiasco that made it cool to bash Metallica. Seriously give these guys another try. In some ways this album is more of the same, but that's what everyone's wanted from them for the last 20 years. All I know is that Death Magnetic is awesome in everyway, and my pick as an early Grammy contender for Album of the Year.


FYI, by more of the same I mean Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets... and Justice for All.

[kronos6948]

I couldn't disagree more. This album sounds highly derivative, and they obviously ripped themselves off from their older albums. It's like they pick and chose parts from their old stuff, changed them very slightly, and put them into new songs. While my friends and I were listening to it, we would point out the songs that it sounded like. It actually was quite fun to do.

I really hoped for a return to form, a la Master of Puppets, but this really just seemed hackneyed to me. Goes to show that a lot of the writing back then was done by Cliff, and when he died, the real good stuff died with him.

[nathan79]

That was exactly the response I expected from you. No offense, but I really doubt Cliff wrote the majority of any Metallica music. Derivative? Yes! But it's not like Justice wasn't derivative of Puppets or Lightning. DM also has elements of Dream Theatre, Rage, and Thin Lizzy among others, that were hitherto unheard of in Metallica's repertoire (sans Whiskey in a Jar). You can't fool me Kronos. You were looking to be negative right out of the gate. Why don't you try picking apart exactly what you like better about their older Stuff? I mean you can take a song like The Day That Never Comes and draw direct parallels to One. On the other hand, the lyrical direction is modern and completely different. And unlike One, the follow up track doesn't let me down (All Nightmare Long). Furthermore I found myself skeptical of a song called Unforgiven III (part II sucks). However, with an open mind, I found myself treated to perhaps the best song Metallica has ever done. Pissing on something we use to respect gives us horseshit self-confidence. I personally prefer to avoid those pitfalls, in order to look at things clearly. Then again, I'm a big Rush fan, so Master of Puppets will always make me think of Fly by Night.

[kronos6948]

Originally Posted by Nathan79

That was exactly the response I expected from you. No offense, but I really doubt Cliff wrote the majority of any Metallica music. Derivative? Yes! But it's not like Justice wasn't derivative of Puppets or Lightning. DM also has elements of Dream Theatre, Rage, and Thin Lizzy among others, that were hitherto unheard of in Metallica's repertoire (sans Whiskey in a Jar). You can't fool me Kronos. You were looking to be negative right out of the gate. Why don't you try picking apart exactly what you like better about their older Stuff? I mean you can take a song like The Day That Never Comes and draw direct parallels to One. On the other hand, the lyrical direction is modern and completely different. And unlike One, the follow up track doesn't let me down (All Nightmare Long). Furthermore I found myself skeptical of a song called Unforgiven III (part II sucks). However, with an open mind, I found myself treated to perhaps the best song Metallica has ever done. Pissing on something we use to respect gives us horseshit self-confidence. I personally prefer to avoid those pitfalls, in order to look at things clearly. Then again, I'm a big Rush fan, so Master of Puppets will always make me think of Fly by Night.

Seriously, though...I had high expectations for this album. Rick Rubin has produced a crap ton of stuff I loved. I really thought that this would be a great album...but I was highly disappointed.

As far as what I liked about the older albums that I feel that this is lacking in, is that the older stuff has a lot more speed and feel. The melodies work a lot better, and each of the older songs has a sound structure, whereas the new stuff feels thrown together.

As far as The Day That Never Comes, I not only draw parallels from One, but also Sanitarium, as far as the musical parts go.

You didn't like "Shortest Straw"? I thought it was a good tune, and you have to remember that it was written back when there were 2 sides to tapes and records....and this was the first song on the second side...a perfect opener for the second side as far as I was concerned. But that being said, this wasn't my favorite song on the album. That honor goes to Dyers Eve...

Which brings me to another point about the new album...Songs like Battery, Master of Puppets, Fight Fire with Fire, and Trapped under Ice were all powerful tunes played with tons of speed...what Thrash music was all about. There's really none of that to be found on DM.

When Cliff was with the band, you'll notice that the song structures were better written. That's because Cliff was classically trained in music theory. He was the only one in the band that was. So, while he may not have written all the parts (who does, in a band for that matter?), he put a lot of structure into the music. Listen to Orion. Listen to his bass runs in that song (not the solos). He compliments everything with 3 part harmonies. As much as I like Rob Trujillo (loved Suicidal Tendencies), he's just a different type of bassist. He holds the bottom end whereas Cliff wrote melodies.

Admittedly, I'm a huge fan of Cliff. He was my inspiration to pick up a bass, and the reason why I gravitate towards melodic metal. He was also the driving force behind keeping the music for the people, and not becoming a corporate shill, which is why he never wanted to do a video for MTV. Back when this was going on, I couldn't understand why he would feel that way. But, being an adult now, and seeing how the rest of the band reacted to Napster, I can understand where he was coming from, and it looks like the rest of the band didn't agree with him. But I digress....

Simply put, the album still sounds contrived to me. I'll give it another listen, and I'll listen hard. I'll give it a fresh pair of ears. I'll pretend it's a band I've never heard of before, and give another opinion.

[nathan79]

Wow! That response blows away anything I could muster up. I will say that my musical tastes run a pretty wide gamut. Last night I listened to Kittie, Foo Fighters, Birthday Massacre, Busdriver, and Hank III. Therefore, my opinion could definitely differ from a more hardcore metalist such as yourself. With Death Magnetic, I found that many of the hidden nuances became more apparent or flowed better with each subsequent listen. I've heard the damn thing 30 times already (sorry Lars), and I just can't get enough. Frankly, I'd really like to hear some other people on this forum get into this discussion. popSiren's variety format makes it difficult to sustain quality debates.

[kronos6948]

Originally Posted by Nathan79

Wow! That response blows away anything I could muster up. I will say that my musical tastes run a pretty wide gamut. Last night I listened to Kittie, Foo Fighters, Birthday Massacre, Busdriver, and Hank III. Therefore, my opinion could definitely differ from a more hardcore metalist such as yourself. With Death Magnetic, I found that many of the hidden nuances became more apparent or flowed better with each subsequent listen. I've heard the damn thing 30 times already (sorry Lars), and I just can't get enough. Frankly, I'd really like to hear some other people on this forum get into this discussion. popSiren's variety format makes it difficult to sustain quality debates.

As much as I'm into metal, there's a ton of other stuff I listen to as well. I'm a big fan of well structured music. Stuff you'll find in my collection besides metal? Steely Dan, Sade, Chris Isaak, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Yes, Weird Al, and Mr. Bungle to name a few.

I guess part of my issue is that I tend to over analyze music. I take it apart piece by piece as I listen to it so that I don't miss any nuances. This comes from training my ear to pick out bass lines when I was learning to play by ear. So, I tend to be overly critical of a lot of stuff.

*Edit- I love Hank III btw...