Metallica - Death Magnetic Review

Artist: Metallica

Album: Death Magnetic

Availibility: cd releases on September 12, 2008.

Every time Metallica announces a new album I always get excited. They always promise that they will go back to their old style and then everytime I finally listen to it Im ultimately disappointed. I can say without a doubt this is definitely better than Load, Reload, and

St. Anger. Its definitely growing on me with each listen. The best I can sum it up is the speed metal style of Kill Em All/Ride the Lightning mixed with bluesy riffs of Load. After the St. Anger album Im just happy they are back to guitar solos.

Track 1: That Was Just Your Life- (7:08) Awesome opening track. Old school speed metal with a tinge of punk.

Track 2: The End Of The Line- (7:51) Pearl Jamish speed metal song. Great headbanging song. One of my favorites.

Track 3: Broken, Beat and Scarred- (6:25) Fast mosh pit song. Third awesome song in a row.

Track 4: The Day That Never Comes- (7:55) Overall my least favorite song.

Track 5: All Nightmare Long- (7:57) Super fast speed metal riffing. Probably my favorite song of the lot. Kick ass solo also.

Track 6: Cyanide- (6:39) A bluesy metal song. It also has a classic metal influence like something Ozzy would do. Its ok.

Track 7: The Unforgiven III- (7:46) Its an ok ballad. My least favorite of all the Unforgiven songs.

Track 8: The Judas Kiss- (8:00) Pretty cool bluesy tinged groove metal song. Some of the best leads on the album.
Track 9: Suicide and Redemption- (9:56) Heavy instrumental song. Great slow middle breakdown. Awesome solos. Great fucking song.
Track 10: My Apocalypse- (5:01) Cool old school style song. One of the best songs on the album.
To sum up I dont think they will ever return to the magical glory years of Master of Puppets or And Justice For All, but this is definitely a huge step in that direction. 7 awesome tracks and 3 throwaways (4,6, and 7). Its a worthy addition to their catalog. While they cant even begin to sniff the nutsack of the Testament masterpiece Formation of Damnation, this is at the top of my list for best speed metal albums of the year. Plastic guitars and Guitar Hero game lovers all of the world will be happy in a few weeks.
Rating: 8.7

Song All Nightmare Long