Death Magnetic (studio album) by Metallica

It's hard for me to judge the quality of the music on this album compared to the rest of Metallica's discography, because the tracks are loudness warred to death (magnetic).

From VictorVale 04/21/2023 11:51

Triunfo de retorno!

Liked this album. No weak songs but they are all too long. Every song is above 5 minutes - if the album were three quarters the length it is I reckon it'd make my top 50 of the 00s. This Was Just Your Life is a great song, I also like All Nightmare Long and The Unforgiven III.

The main debate I have about this album is that I can't decide if it's in my top five Metallica albums or not, its competition for that fifth spot being Kill 'Em All. KEA had that youthful energy/enthusiasm that can't be captured again, but it was very much a snapshot of their formative years. This album has some corny/cliched lyrics but Hetfield sings them with so much vitriol/passion (as he always does) that I can look past it. The songs are well structured and keep your interest throughout, and I honestly don't think there's a weak track on the record.

Aside from the riffs (which Hetfield ALWAYS delivers), the instrumentalists are not up to their 80's standard, which is, to be fair, quite a high bar to meet. At the time it was released, DM was hailed as a return to form for Kirk, but I think that was mostly due to his complete lack of presence on St. Anger rather than a true return to his shredder roots. Rob's playing always seems conservative, never really gets an opportunity to stretch out like Cliff used to. And I can't tell if Lars is playing well or not because everything from the drums is clipping so it just sounds bad lol.

The thing that sucks the most about this album is the production (common problem with a lot of their discography). I don't it find it endearing like I do with how ...And Justice For All was produced, it's often just grating to my ears. Despite that, this album still finds heavy rotation when I'm in one of my Metallica moods, which I get at least once per year for a few weeks. There's just something about it that brings me great joy. Maybe it's because they finally did another instrumental song, maybe it's because they're back to doing thrashy riffs in standard tuning after twenty years of not doing any, or maybe it's just a deep love for this band that makes me enjoy an album most others find mediocre.

From Fischman 12/07/2018 20:33

to me, this is a Metallica comeback album after a string of much lesser releases. Back to form in both music and attitude, this was a nice surprise.

This record is good, but the songs are just to damn long. In my opinion, if they had cut the majority of them down to under 5 and a half minutes, then I think it would be a 90. Also, the clipping throughout is really unfortunate.

A good return for Metallica after the worst album of their career. Heavy riffs and guitar solos are back.

From Fischman 01/17/2017 18:30

IMO, something of a comeback album for Metallica. While they will probably never again reach the heights of Puppets or Lightning, this was as close as a return to form as we could have hoped for.

Decent album that contained a bad production (on the CD version at least). I there was a lot of buzzing when I hear that version which made it a bit difficult for me to listen to. But this was an alright record in terms of the songs.

I don't understand the hate for this album. This was my favorite Metallica album since Master of Puppets IMO. One of my 10 favorite albums of the 21st century.