Death Is Not The End...

A review of Death Magnetic by Metallica
By
Kenneth Holm
Senior Staff Writer

            Imagine that suddenly the world changed and it was 1986 all over again. You remember those days? Sure, I was only a boy then, but 1986 was a good year for metal. That was when Metallica dropped what some people consider to be the crowning achievement in their musical career, Master Of Puppets. Their hair was long, the songs were longer than that, and the guitars screeched and wailed like a chorus of the damned. Well, fast-forward twenty-two years, and the songs are long again. Better than that, the guitars are good. Damned good. Kirk Hammett even has long hair again. But does this mean that the CD is worth buying? Well, I say... (Continued after the break)

            I actually suppose that it is worth buying. This is the weirdest statement I could possibly imagine coming from my filthy sewer, but I just said it. Even though I can call myself a fan of Metallica, I have lost a little bit of faith ever since the release of Load and every single album since then. Once James Hetfield and company cut their hair, it has been a downward spiral of shame, lashing out at fans, and absolute mediocrity. Personally, I thought their last album was their swan song. Truly, such an album, which brought forth nothing but awfulness, would have ruined any other band, right? Well, a couple years have passed, and now the boys are back to put the “metal” into Metallica… I know, that was lame.

            From the beginning heartbeat thump of “That Was Just Your Life” to the double-bass fury of “My Apocalypse”, it is totally a Metallica album of the highest order. The lyrical content is not there, but unless you listen to Metallica for their deep meanings, then you probably will not even notice. Yes, the album is better than I could have expected, but there are some missteps that keep it from being truly great. The biggest flaw to my ears is “The Unforgiven III”. Yep, that is the third song in the “Unforgiven” series. I hated the second one, and this one is no better. However, while the second “Unforgiven” had the same type of structure as the first one, this one moves in a different direction. It begins with piano, and then the violins and brass sections come in. By the time the guitar enters the fray, I was already bored. You know, I think that was the only song that totally pissed me off. Everything else was redeemable. I will say that, on some songs when James Hetfield tries to actually sing, he tends to sound like Dexter Holland from The Offspring's newest album. That means “kind of nasally”. There is even the requisite instrumental “Suicide & Redemption” that clocks in at over ten minutes long. This is an album for the old school fans.

            However, I cannot help but think that is could have been better. With bands like Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold coming along and changing the game, I had hoped that this would have been the album where Metallica slapped them all and showed them how it should be done. Instead, we get a CD that takes the metal from their earlier days and blends it pretty damn nicely with their pop leanings that they have been cultivating from The Black Album days. Now that we know that Metallica has this in them, maybe the next CD is the one where the rules get broken again. Until then, at least I can remember them with something better than a “Load” of “St. Anger”.