As someone who lost hours and hours to guitar tinkering after hearing …And Justice For All, when Rick Rubin was announced as Metallica’s producer for the new album which was to be built upon the angst and energy of the early days, my anticipation began to grow. James Hetfield only encouraged said anticipation when wielding various confident and bombastic statements such as “I think we successfully recalled the feelings of ‘Master of Puppets’ but with the knowledge of now. We did a lot of looking forward but we kept looking in the rear view mirror” (via LA Times).
Death Magnetic, Metallica’s most recent Friday-release, is long. Hammett, Hetfield, and Trujillo, loosely led by producer Rick Rubin, juggle reincarnated licks, solos, and palm muted chugga-chuggas. Lars is on the record too, says the liner notes (the drum tracks often sound disconnected from the band’s collective sound). Death Magnetic “rocks” – excessively. Riffs, familiar ones bespangled with Metallifukinca nostalgia, preponderate the mix. Granted, for the ‘Tallica fiends, the nostalgia will be welcomed and emphatically received. Metallica’s latest attempt at recreating the raw thrash of the 80’s is a Rubin-esque amalgam of the entire Metallica catalog, minus the renowned self-titled popular hit. Unlike 1991’s multi-million unit selling chart crusher tagged “The Black Album”, Death Magnetic lacks the pop length singles, the internally conscious yet personable James Hetfield, and, ultimately, the name dropping of an adorable, brunette Disney damsel. Rather, the Magnetic latches onto 7 to 9 minute songs, a sadly plastic contemplation of death (almost to the point of obsession), and drumming reminiscent of the lackluster, overly choppy, snare happy, St. Anger.
Hetfield is quite content with ditching the old growl, letting a more melodically driven and less guttural voice carry Magnetic’s lyrics. A strength of Metallica through the years has been Hetfield’s ability of adding a catchy melodic vocal layer atop their aggressive sonic assault. In that regard, Death Magnetic does not disappoint, maybe most notably in “The Judas Kiss” as he elevates his vocal register for “So, what now? / Where do I go?” (I do it, I sing along). Where the melodies deliver, the lyrics suffer. While Death Magnetic is less like the manic diary regurgitation that was St. Anger, the effort to dissect a vastly explored, yet very mysterious subject like death is much less provocative and much more insipid than Hetfield most likely intended. The concept of Death Magnetic is lost in the banality of a vast pile of generic solemnity (which could possibly result in multi-platinum success – go figure).
Successful sequels are tantamount to some of the most insurmountable artistic ambitions and “The Unforgiven III” is no exception. But since the song is eight minutes long, there are many glimpses of well crafted musicianship, a common occurrence of Death Magnetic as a whole. Unfortunately, the main melodic line is such a blatant rip-off of Stone Temple Pilot’s “Creep” that I found myself singing “Take time with a wounded hand, ’cause it likes to heal” just for kicks (right about at two and half minutes; do it, it’s fun).
Throughout Death Magnetic and especially in a track like “Broken, Beat & Scarred”, it is evident that Robert Trujillo was destined to be in this band. From his ability to keep the low end steady and thick to his creativity in composition, Trujillo is solid and a definite highlight to Magnetic. Good news, Kirk Hammett is back in the weedle-a-weedle-a pentatonic solo saddle, something that St. Anger’s obdurate anti-solo regiment wouldn’t allow. Rubin nailed the guitar sound on Death with an onslaught of feverish riffs and an overall raw crunch (very refreshing; the solo in the fifth minute of “All Nightmare Long” is not only wickedly fast, but the guitar sound is crisp, angry, crude - like desperate screams). Additionally, his balanced distance as a producer allowed Metallica to release a huge sounding album that elevates the band to more comfortable, and more deserved level than the last 15 years of their monumental career has allotted for. The fact is, Death Magnetic is for Metallica fans - those who stuck with them through some questionable years and are now just aching for a bit of yesteryear. And, because of that, this might not be the nail in their coffin.
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Tags: Metallica
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I don’t know how you did it. I’ve only heard the first single from the album (not even in its entirety) and that was more that enough to send my ears running to the hills. I commend your efforts of listening to the whole album all the way through.