Metal Reviews

HA ha, I got you.

I`m talking about new Beyond Magnetic EP. It contains two songs recorded during Death Magnetic session but were ditched from the final album. If you hated it don`t even bother with this.
Hate Train is heavy and thrashy and I don`t understand why it was left out, it would fit on DM perfectly. Just a Bullet Away is a cool song with stupid lyrics, but the second half kills.
Just to be clear IMO Death Magnetic is fuc*ing great record, my favourite Metallica record since MOP and I still listen to it today so don`t take me too seriously.

I don't even want to check the songs out insofar as they are all at least eight minutes long. Seriously, can't they trim shit down? They're not writing AJFA-quality epics anymore.

Even some of the stuff on AJFA (the title track and instrumental for example) needed trimming down, but you're right.

Yeah, you're kinda right. Listening to To Live is To Die right now and it kinda rehashes that riff a few times too many and the spoken bit that comes up at 7:30 was proto-Loutallica, no?

Cliff wrote that spoken word thing. I'm not sure if they lifted the recording from Cliff himself or if James re-did it, but that's the story anyway.

I heard Hate Train on satellite radio the other day .. I had no idea what it was, I thought it was some shitty St. Anger track (never listened to that album). James' voice doesn't sound very good in it, the riffs are average, the production sucks as usual.

For the record, I don't mind Death Magnetic at all (except for the crappy production).

Oh, and there IS some new Metallica out .. but .. "rules" isn't a word I would use to describe it.

Virtually all those "production problems" aren't there in FLAC or alternatively if you are over 40. Do we really need to go into the psychoacoustics of this?

Yeah, it's loud and crispy but not overly distorted moreso than anything else.

You're deaf.

If you think it is from St. Anger, you are definitely deaf.

Shitty song + general consensus that St. Anger is shitty + I've never heard St. Anger + unaware that EP was released = song might be from St. Anger

Of course, that thought only lasted for about a couple of minutes until I changed the channel. In the scheme of things, such a small thought about a small song doesn't factor in the overall state of one's hearing.

I think these songs are even better than most of the stuff on Death Magnetic.

I agree, i wonder why they were left off? Just A Bullet Away grooves like a mofo, pretty headbangable stuff!

Probably the same reason Alice In Chains left 3 songs that were better than half the album "Dirt" during the sessions. The label likes an album full of material at the same quality level and really wants all the songs to "fit" with the rest.

Ok guys, you have mostly bad songs and some good - let them out so that it is more consistent. ;)

Believe it or not that can actually happen. Songs end up complementing each other in a way that maybe something that is really good in it's own right doesn't.