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Metallica - Death Magnetic |
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Written by Storage and Disposal
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Thursday, 11 September 2008 19:07 |
An optimistic look at the new Metallica CD "Death Magnetic".
I'm sure most of you think I have shit taste in music. Half of you probably don't even like Metallica at all and the other half probably hate anything they've done after the black album. Honestly, I'm not the biggest Metallica fan. Sure, I went through a Metallica phase a number of years back, but they were never my favorite. I shouldn't just rush in here with my opinion or it'll get ripped to shreds by anyone that wants to take the time to type something. I'll need to start from the beginning and work my way up. Even after I do this, people will probably rip it to shreds, but at least this way I might convince a few people to think otherwise. Anyway, from the beginning...
Metallica was the shit in the '80s. Through relentless touring, they made a big name for themselves with little or no radio play and no "singles". This was all while the hair metal scene flourished, so it must have been nice to hear something different. And strangely enough, they kept getting better and better with each album. It is my opinion that they peaked with ...And Justice For All, though several die hard fans would say they sold out by making music videos and appealing to a broader audience. Maybe they did, but that doesn't change the fact that the album sounds amazing by Metallica album standards. It was the start of the second Metallica movement that only lasted 2 albums, the black album being the second of the two. Songs were starting to lose that pure thrash feeling that Kill 'Em All, Ride the Lighting, and Master of Puppets had. Still, ...And Justice For All had some of the heaviest parts they wrote at the time and the songs were getting longer, which seems to go against what I would see as an attempt to become more accessible. It was acceptable, in my opinion. The black album was more melodic and seemed to be their biggest success. It was still thrash, but it had melodies that appealed to just about everyone. The songs were shorter and less aggressive but it's still a great album. Despite this, it seemed to mark the beginning of the slope that was Metallica in the '90s.
After taking a few years off, Metallica came back with a different look and a different sound. Solos were far more scarce and the thrashiness was all but gone. Still, I had a pretty open mind about it and managed to enjoy a few songs from the album, namely "Bleeding Me". Still, this wasn't old school Metallica. It's songs took on a more southern influence. Either this was just an experimental phase and they would come back to their senses with the next album or they truly lost it. Unfortunately, they seemed to dig themselves deeper with Reload. By the time Garage Inc came around, it seemed to continue this new sound, but now they weren't even writing their own music. One or two good covers are found on it, but nothing that seemed to come close to beating their old sound. In most cases, I would rather listen to the original anyway. S and M seemed like a desperate attempt to reconnect with their old fans, but I never bothered buying it. I would rather just pick up my old Metallica CD's and listen to some metal. An orchestra isn't necessary for that.
After taking a number of years off again, Metallica started talking about returning to their roots with a heavier sound. Without listening to much of the album, I bought it with high expectations. This proved to be a big mistake on my part. There were some heavy parts on St. Anger, but gone now were the albums full of satisfying guitar solos. It was a disappointment that was fairly damaging. If this was going back to their roots, then Metallica was dead as far as I was concerned. Musically, it went for a raw feeling and succeeded in a way, but still missed the mark as far as I'm concerned. I always thought the lyrics were a strong suit when it came to Metallica. They had themes that were pretty standard for a metal band, the kind that would fuel the "I want to break or charge at something" mentality, but at the same time they seemed a little more thought provoking. That didn't seem like the case to me with St. Anger. What am I supposed to do with "I'm madly in anger with you"? At this point, I was beyond giving up on Metallica. They were getting old and seemed to be grasping at straws.
Then I heard news of a new Metallica album earlier this year. I was at my friends house when we were talking about it and he said, "Hey Storage! Guess what song is on the new Metallica album!" I had no idea what he was referring to. Did they stoop so low as to just re-record old songs and try to pass them off as new except this time without an orchestra? No. It turns out that they have a song called "Unforgiven III". That's right. Unforgiven 3. They tried to bank off of their most successful album before with "Unforgiven II", and now they're doing it again. I didn't think there was any hope for this album at all. In fact, I fully expected Metallica's worst, but I was still curious as to what this would sound like.
I went ahead and watched their video and, well, it wasn't really that bad. It was nothing like their '80s sound, but it was a definite improvement over St. Anger. The first half seemed relatively typical, but the second half was pure metal. I decided to listen to some others and each track seemed to sound better than the one before. "Unforgiven III" sounded almost like an outtake of Load, but with a touch of the black album. It wasn't amazing by any means, but it wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be. It didn't sound much like "Unforgiven" or "Unforgiven II", which was reassuring. I can only take so much of one sound. The only thing that links it together with the others is the forgiveness theme. Other songs sounded reminiscent of ... And Justice For All and the black album, namely "All Nightmare Long". Not as good as those albums, but still a step in the right direction. I listened to half of the songs from this CD and they're not half bad. If this is a good representation of what the entire CD sounds like, then it'll be their best CD in nearly 20 years. The Solos are back, they're tighter, and this just might be the longest original Metallica album ever recorded.
I guess if you ever were a fan of Metallica, I would suggest checking this album out, but listen to some tracks before you buy it. There's still a chance that I'm way off on this one. They did trick me into buying St. Anger, afterall. You can find some new songs if you search for them on youtube. I don't think it'll be as good as anything they did in the '80s, but I think it'll at least kick '90s Metallica's ass.
This article was done by Storage and Disposal
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