Death Magnetic came in the mail actually yesterday (yes, Amazon delivered my copy a day before the official release date
), and the first spin is now complete.
Overall, I must say. This
is definitely classic Metallica. In fact, I'd say it's the thrashiest thing they've done since Master Of Puppets (yes, even more so than And Justice For All). Of course, there's the occasional Load/ReLoad influence, as well as a subtle St. Anger influence in some of Lars' drum parts (fortunately, the better parts of his work on St. Anger were the influence - and no, there's no Steel Drum Snare this time). Even the production has a classic 80's thrash feel to it. None of that overly-glossy Load production or intentionally-awful St. Anger production. Whether some will like to admit it or not, this is a bona fide thrash metal album.
Now for the negatives: Hetfield's vocals just don't fit the music very well. Occasionally, he succeeds in harkening back to the Master Of Puppets-style of vocals, but usually he sounds just a little bit better than he did on St. Anger. To be fair, he was never a spectacular vocalist to begin with, but his voice just doesn't fit the music on Death Magnetic as well as it should. It suited the more bluesy style on Load and ReLoad a lot better. The songs also could've been clipped a little shorter. Although, may be when I listen to the album a second time, this won't be as big a problem. I also get the impression that, at times, the thrashing on this album is a bit forced. Particularly, on That Was Just Your Life, some of the Slayer-like parts just sound out of place and unnecessary. Like they were thrown in to silence the people who accused Metallica of not being able to play fast anymore.
Still, this is a pretty solid thrash album. And certainly the best thing Metallica's done since S&M. It really does sound like the missing album between And Justice For All and The Black Album. In fact, it sounds and feels like a Summer 1989 album IMO (kind of like the Testament album Practice What You Preach, specifically).
I'll listen to it a second time and then write a review for it on Epinions.[/i]
