Death Magnetic, wow. That's all I really have to say.Well actually, I should probably say some more. When I first listened to this album I was on a 8 hour ferry journey to La Havre on my way to Spain. I was in a cramped reclining chair sharing a giant room with crying babies and irritating French people who refused to stop rustling newspaper near my ear. So, to get away from the horror I decided to listen to Death Magnetic, which I had picked up a mere 6 hours earlier on the 10th of September 2008, the release date.
My first impressions weren't great. Being totally smashed from the journey to Portsmouth and having very little sleep, I was not mentally prepared for what Death Magnetic really was. The first time through was agony for me. It was like being mentally born again.
However, once I listened to the album again, I appreciated how you really really need to stick the volume up to understand the album. The songs aren't really songs, which is why there are only 10 songs in the album. They are more like epic events of pure metal. Once Metallica brings you through their traumatic re-birth, your whole idea of metal will be forever change.
I think in many ways, this is something that Metallica was aiming for. After St. Anger, they knew that they had a lot to make up for. One of the biggest attractions of Metallica is their ability to change, adapt and innovate in every new album. With the help of their new bassist, Robert Trujillo, the band has really moved forward and redefined themselves. The album starts off very well "That Was Just Your Life". There is a definitely musical theme going through the whole album, however, which makes listening to the album in one session very difficult. However, the pinnacle of the album for me was Unforgiven III. Once put together with Unforgiven and Unforgiven II (From the 'black album' and 'ReLoad' respectively), the story of James Hetfield unfolds. After the troubles shown in "Some Kind of Monster", the Metallica docu-movie, James Hetfield has created a song which almost concludes the story told in Unforgiven I and II.
Final Thought Byte : As a whole, the album is awesome. Metallica really have recreated the Metal genre and they have succesfully grasped back the minds of the millions they lost after St. Anger. Although the album is difficult to appreciate the first time round, it is deffinately worth adding to your music collection.
Tags : death, James Hetfield, magentic, metallica, Unforgiven III
