Death magnetic album review
Encyclopedia Metallica was the first website to review "Load" when it was released in 1996 but was beaten this time by Contra Costa Times who were lucky enough to hear the full album at Metallicas HQ last week. Here are a few of the thought from Contra Costa but remember the only judge you can trust is your own ears.
"I will tell you that no one, but no one leashes Kirk Hammett on 'Death Magnetic', and the result is some of the best playing of his career. You can hear lots of echoes of their first four albums (not to mention one echo from the kindler, gentler 90s on 'The Unforgiven III'). One leftover from 'St. Anger' is that 'Death Magnetic' features few songs sounding like they were written around a vocal hook, which was how Metallica got their sneering faces on MTV so much in the '90s. The difference from 'St. Anger' is that the riffs, while still heavy, aren't crashing about searching for a place to settle within the songs. The songs have better structure and just sound better. Metallica is back to powering fast, central riffs, occasionally breaking ranks and tempo for some Iron Maiden-ish breakouts, then building to … you guessed it, the muscley solo from Hammett.
"But don’t get too excited. While better than 'St. Anger', the songs again seem so intent on proving Metallica still brings the thunder that something is occasionally out of place. There's barely a vocal hook in sight — something the band could pull off more than capably on the early records, even if it was shouting a few words to pass for a chorus. Somehow it just doesn't work so well anymore. But [James] Hetfield and [Lars] Ulrich may have been so pleased at how well the band sounds the first time in the studio with bassist Robert Trujillo, they just blew off the the choruses. The whole band sounds tight and absolutely stacked. Some of the songs sound like they came from jams, including the instrumental 'Suicide & Redemption', which built slowly into layers of blistering Hammett.
"I will tell you that no one, but no one leashes Kirk Hammett on 'Death Magnetic', and the result is some of the best playing of his career. You can hear lots of echoes of their first four albums (not to mention one echo from the kindler, gentler 90s on 'The Unforgiven III'). One leftover from 'St. Anger' is that 'Death Magnetic' features few songs sounding like they were written around a vocal hook, which was how Metallica got their sneering faces on MTV so much in the '90s. The difference from 'St. Anger' is that the riffs, while still heavy, aren't crashing about searching for a place to settle within the songs. The songs have better structure and just sound better. Metallica is back to powering fast, central riffs, occasionally breaking ranks and tempo for some Iron Maiden-ish breakouts, then building to … you guessed it, the muscley solo from Hammett.
