by Derek Johnson

Created on: November 04, 2008

Metallica

Death Magnetic

I first heard Metallica right after I started listening to Black Sabbath, who are the Godfathers of Heavy Metal, hands down. Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple just simply were not that HEAVY. Black Sabbath made the skin crawl and the blood curl. It sounded like you were in an actual horror movie and the goose bumps were starting. Metallica just amplified Black Sabbath and made metal even rawer, faster, louder and gave the impression that they were purely insane.

I thought Death Magnetic could be louder, a LOT louder. Sure, we're all going to endlessly compare it to Kill Them All, Ride the Lightning, Master of Puppets and even And Justice for All and I could just simply turn the volume up, but sometimes I wanted that beautiful noise back.

"That Was Just Your Life" is a rumbling and charging song that got me moving with excitement that Metallica is making music again. The guitars are here by full force just like they should be and Kirk Hammett has rightfully brought back his amazing solos in "The End of the Line". These first two songs have gotten me more excited for their return' in 2008: Thunderous and loud, finally! There was a nice break in the middle of the song too, sounded a little psychedelic there. "Broken, Beat, & Scarred" gives a nice reminder of what Metallica sounded like in the album And Justice for All. The guitar work here is nice and simple, and the solo is so clean! "The Day That Never Comes" is very similar to "Fade to Black" and "One". It builds slowly with lyrics about death, a little bit of hope in the face of darkness; criticizing war which Metallica is known for. There is a slow start to this song that goes into a charging beat that gives you the feeling this is going to get even bigger. I like the restraint in James Hetfield's voice as he is trying to control his anger. The distorted riffing and the chugging get the song going, but there is no loudness, no extreme Metallica like there used to be! I must admit it's a great song for what it is.

"All Nightmare Long" just confirms that Metallica have some of the best openings in all of Metal and Rock music. They know how to set you up and get you going. "Cyanide" has a good beat and all, great riff, the kind of old school feeling that I haven't heard from Metallica in a while. It grows on you. But I don't like Hetfield's howling, or whatever you want to call it, even though the lyrics are slick. The riff is killer and Kirk and James are slamming it. This song, like "The

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