Death Magnetic

oookkkkaayy back to the main focus of the thread, that being the new album, not the band in general...

i bought the album last night, and i admit to liking load and reload (although not as much as AJFA or MoP) and DESPISING St Anger.

it is rather good.... until the vocals start.. then my enjoyment factor goes down. James just isnt as raw as he used to be and I guess that in trying to improve he messed up the proper sound that made the older albums so much better. The rawness of the music back then was a real factor of the draw to it. They brought the guitar back pretty well, but the vocals just arent as special as they were.

its more on a par with Reload, nowhere near as good as AJFA or MoP, nowhere near as bad as St. Anger.

I picked it up this weekend. Its too early for me to decide how much I like it. So far its pretty good, Rick Ruben is a really good producer and has a knack for getting good stuff out of people. I just put the black album minus Enter Sandman and AJFA on my mp3 player again to get back to my roots a bit

I forgave them long ago for the Napster thing, they really didn't understand what the issue was and were only being fed incorrect info from the music company side of things.

Napster was great because it was a huge shift in technology which allowed anyone to have any song they desired at any time or place. It allowed people to experience music in an entirely new way. It was not that the music was free but the power of the technology, this has been proven by the Itunes music store which sells more music than anyone in the world even Wal-Mart.

At least Metallica doesnt have to worry about anyone copying their new songs.

Heard on Q101 right when St. Anger came out and they played it in the entirety.

"Saint Anger? More like Saint Sh-itty"

The one track thats on the radio is okay, but as usual, overplayed. The best part about it was the local station 94.1WJJO was playing OLD Metallica then the new single, then more OLD Metallica.

I have every Metallica album from "Kill 'em All" to the Black Album (RTL, MoP, and AJFA FTW! Oh, the acronimity!), and like all of them, and a few of the singles they released since then. I didn't like "Load" or "Reload" much aside from a single here or there and loathed "St. Anger."

"Death Magnetic?" Meh.

Like Apexcarver said, I like the musicianship a lot, but Hetfield just doesn't have it anymore. I think he's mellowed out a little too much. It ruins some of the songs for me. I'll download a few of the singles, like with the other Metallica albums, but not the CD.

Another longtime Metallica fan here. I did enjoy the S&M album. Interesting concept, and when cranked up it sounds good. I haven't bought the last few albums, but I'll probably get this one just to hear Trujillo.

I heard a good bit of it on the radio this weekend. I'll agree Art of Ruin (dig the Lamb of God reference, by the way...another band whose last effort wasn't so hot, IMO;) Hetfield doesn't have it anymore. I'll go one step further by saying, aside from Lars, the whole band just sounds like they're "trying too hard."

It's really kind of sad. "And Justice For All" is on my top 5 for Metal/Thrash records, and really set the bar for the next 10 years. It seems like from the "black album" (ooooooooohhhh, scary,) on, they've just been trying to make their music sound like whatever is popular at the time...or do some horrible, horrible, horrible, poorly arranged, "avant garde" orchestral crap.

When I think Metal, and I think "Black Album", I think Spinal Tap!

poopshovel wrote: It seems like from the "black album" (ooooooooohhhh, scary,) on, they've just been trying to make their music sound like whatever is popular at the time...or do some horrible, horrible, horrible, poorly arranged, "avant garde" orchestral crap.

Next you're going to say that they haven't sounded the same since they cut their hair. Seriously, I'd say that my regular rotation goes through Justice. Right now I have Puppets playing.

Napster just sold for 121 million dollars. I wonder how mad they are at Lars for making them turn into a legitimate profitable company. What a dick :p

Profitable company? Have you been following Napster lately? It's been one pratfall after another. Their stock was down 60% over the past year -- They're about as profitable as phlegm. Fact is, Best Buy was suckered out of 121 million.

I think this is the third time someone has spent too much dough for the Napster name in an ill-fated attempt to take on the iTunes Music Store. Unless Best Buy plans to radically change what Napster is, they've lost their mind. Even if they DO plan to overhaul Napster, they've probably lost their minds.

But from what I'm reading, they plan to just merge their failing music service with Napsters and go giant-hunting. That should work well.

My bad i used the wrong word. Replace "profitable" with "valuable".

Back on topic, the album sold 83,000 copies (edit: in Canada alone) this weekend. Thats not too bad considering how much of a turd their last album was.

David S. Wallens wrote: I haven't bought the last few albums, but I'll probably get this one just to hear Trujillo.

Good luck, you won't hear much of him. I swear, Metallica has to be the most bass-averse band in existence.

poopshovel, you're the first to get the Lamb of God reference! Every one else thinks my name is Art for some reason. And yes, "Sacrament" wasn't nearly as good as "New American Gospel" or "As the Palaces Burn."

Next you're going to say that they haven't sounded the same since they cut their hair.

Pretty much. Is there really any doubt about that? I'm not saying that sucking was a direct result of hairloss or vice-versa.

The songs on Justice were insanely fast and technical, yet were very melodic, well written, arranged, produced, and engineered. The songs on the 'black album' were slow, elementary, predictable, and gutless...not to mention the fact that someone along the way apparently told Kirk that every guitar solo that he ever played for the rest of his life absolutely must, without question, be played using a berkeleying wah-wah pedal.

I'm a big Justice fan (Dyers Eve is their best song ever), but I heard something from the band that made me look at it differently--there's really no bass. I guess all of Jason's parts mimic the guitar parts, they said. Plus they criticized the drum mix. Whatever, still a good album.

I think their sleeper album might be Ride the Lightning--great songs, but everyone seems to gravitate to Justice, Puppets or Kill 'em All.

I've bought all the CDs, some more than once after wrecking them. I've seen em 3 times in concert. Some days I play nothing but Metallica for the entire day while wrenching. I like Death Magnetic. I guess a lot of it is being so disappointed with St. Anger and really wanting to believe that the could come close to the old stuff. I don't expect another And Justice For All, they can't handle the amount of coke and jager it would take. It's unmistakably "Metallica" and it sticks in my head, can't ask for much more. If I had no idea who they were and just popped the CD in I would rock out, the fact that they were metal gods doesn't mean that they have to put out that level of music for me to still like it. It's like trading in a Veyron for a miata, it not as incredible but it still holds it's own and gets your blood flowing.

[moved my post to another thread to discuss music sharing]

lame http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

RXBeetle wrote: lame http://blog.wired.com/music/2008/09/does-metallicas.html

I'd say this may be a consumer's other reason to not buy cd's but I doubt the mp3's sound better UNLESS they're copied from the game.

Think we'll see downloads of "uncompressed" Death Magnetic soon? I wouldn't bet against it.