by Cskoyles

Created on: September 01, 2008

In the build up to their eagerly awaited ninth studio album, Death Magnetic', heavy metal giants, Metallica, recently posted several sneak previews of their new material on their official website.

Such sublime samples see a band who many metal purists believed had started to lose their way making a fine return to form, capturing everything that has made them one of the most well-revered acts of the last thirty years and slamming it straight into one mighty, riff-filled opus.

James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Rob Trujilo (and previously Jason Newsted and the late, great, Cliff Burton) have never been a band to stick to formulas, returning from often lengthy spells away with albums which do away with all that went before them and see the band completely reinventing themselves.

From the addition of Fade to Black' (the closest thing to a ballad the band had at the time) on 1984 release, Ride The Lightning' which was already a new direction from their thrash-filled debut the year previous, to their radical transformation into short-haired, heavy-blues rockers in the late 1990s, Metallica have always been a band who like to experiment with their sound.

With that in mind then, if these few short samples show anything, it's a band working their way through their back catalogue, pulling together the best bits and reinventing them.

Indeed, if their much-welcomed online previews are anything to go by, Death Magnetic' will be the perfect blend of the Metallica of old and the older Metallica.

Take 'My Apocalypse' which retains those short vocal bursts of aggression from James Hetfield which made up the better parts of their ill-fated 2003 release, St. Anger, whilst adding in the kind of stabbing riffs and furious Ulrich drumming from their days of Kings of all that is Thrash.

That aside, this writer's personal tune of choice for the moment goes to 'The Day That Never Comes', with a dark sense of melody breaking into a soaring chorus in that loud-quiet-fast-slow style so synonymous with some of Metallica's biggest numbers.

Yet if Death Magnetic' is praised for one thing (though let's face it, it's likely to be praised for many), it will be for a glorious return. Not necessarily the return of Metallica themselves, but of the glorious guitar solo.

That's right folks, those slick, slicing solos from Kirk Hammett (and occasionally frontman, Hetfield, when he feels so obliged) have reclaimed their rightful home amongst the riotous riffage, shotgun drumming and growling vocals which metal fans the world over have come to know and love as the unmistakable sound of Metallica.

And for that reason alone, many of those fans are positively saliavating at the prospect of Death Magnetic' finally hitting the shelves come September 12th.

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