Metallica - Death Magnetic - new album discussion part 2

There are pretty awesome Guitar Hero rips out there with like 12-14db of dynamic range.

 

Pretty awesome nails it... The slam of that mix blows you away, and it's best experienced played loud!

 

Received the Death Magnetic LP from metallica.com (great packing, really fast delivery). This record sounds WAY better than the CD.

 

2LP set was mastered by Kevin Gray. I haven't listened to mine in a long time, maybe I need to pull it out again.

 

So...now that we have Beyond Magnetic, does anyone feel that Metallica should have included any of those songs on "Death Magnetic" instead of what they ultimately chose?

Personally, I'd love to kick "Unforgiven III" to the curb. But that's just me. I haven't decided which of the 4 Beyond songs I'd prefer, though.

Then again, maybe the whole album should have been cut down by a good 20 minutes. I think Metallica work better in 8 song 45 minute doses. Yet oh how they love to slap that "79:43" sticker on the CDs letting fans know that they packed the disc as far as they could, but is that necessarily a good thing? I say "no".

Listening to the Death Magnetic and Beyond Magnetic tracks, I am puzzled by Metallica's songwriting techniques, or lack thereof. All the songs sound like a bunch of random riffs glued together until they reach 8 minutes in length. Not entirely unenjoyable; hell, we just spent 12 months discussing how Brian Wilson used this mosaic technique to create the majestic lost Smile album. But in this case it sounds less like inspiration and more like desperation.

The best song on Death Magnetic is also the shortest and most concise: "My Apocalypse". It sounds like "a song", it arrives, does it's thing, and then moves on. There are no unnecessary detours and interludes.

Why must every Metallica song be like an episode of Family Guy, loaded with interchangeable musical non-sequitors? Why is a song of 5 minutes or less deemed in need of "something else"? Why must every song be given Ben-Hur epic status when ususually they shouldn't be much more than a quick two-reeler?

 

They only started writing "songs" that weren't a bunch of riffs for the Black album....and continued for Load and Reload. I think they were trying to make a throwback album to the way they used to do...and they were probably encouraged by Rick Rubin to do this.

I enjoy Death Magnetic quite a bit, but I agree with what you're saying and in fact thought those same things myself. I'm personally fine with DM the way it is....I'm happy with the songs they included and don't feel it was necessary for the BM songs to be included at the expense of what was included. I think the BM songs for the most part worse offenders of this song writing technique which you're complaining about.

 

The pre-Black Album songs were often complex, yes, but the parts always seemed to relate to each other in some way. It felt like there was some sort of logic to it. Nowadays it just sounds like 4 half-finished songs and stray riffs slapped together to meet a certain time quota. I enjoy DM, though, but not as much as St. Anger, but that might be less about the music and more about the aggressive impulse.

I'd just be curious what would happen if a producer smacked them around and got them to put together a focused album with songs that don't stray from the blueprint. It's not that I'm against length, it's just that the efforts to add length seems too obvious and unnecessary a lot of the time.

 

Right. Their technique of throwing lots of riffs into one song has been there for a long time and no doubt produced some of their best work. The difference with DM was that they did so rather unfocusedly (now that can't be a word) at times, which if anything goes to show that it's not easy to do and certainly not something that can be done haphazardly. That said, I'm glad they made the effort, and even if "All Nightmare Long" sounds a bit contrived in comparison to something like "Four Horsemen," they still did a pretty good job. I'd rather them try too hard than not enough (*cough* Load/Reload/St. Anger).

 

Got the 5LP set recently and it sounds absolutely horrendous. It's been a long time since I've listened to the CD but I don't remember it being this bad. Sounds like the same master was used.

Is the 2LP set really any better?

 

Search for the GH3 Flac version. Crankable.
Love the entire album apart from the 'makes me more strong' vocal part. Really James? How dumb!

 

I think Death Magnetic is the band's way of apologizing for the disaster that was St. Anger.

If so, apology happily accepted (just don't do it again!).

But next time, don't brick wall the crap out of it, please…

 

i also think the 2-LP set sounds better than 5-LP set
i also own the SHM-CD.

 

St Anger is my favourite Metallica album!!!!

I just downloaded and am listening to the GH remix based DM. WOW - maybe there's hope for this record - it needs a complete re-mix/re-balance of the tracks and a made for vinyl remaster. Pressed at PALLAS.

 

i also like st anger better than death magnetic. i like it better than reload also. not sure yet if i like it better than load. i just heard st anger first time last week.

what upset me the most on DM was that kirk hammets solos lacked musicality... they were justs sort of flashy with no substance. i didnt really like his solos much.
as for the actual songs...the first 3 were ok and the rest didnt really do anything for me.

st. anger may have had that weird coke can snare drum but the riffs they used were much more to my liking. the riffs remind me of the justice album which is my fav metallica album. i even enjoy the snare drum...its different. and the SQ isnt as horrible as people make it out to be.
my only complaint is that kirk hammett didn't solo.

 

Musicality or not...Kirk absolutely rips DM apart. I love this album and definitely prefer it to St. Anger.

 

does anyone know where to find this? I've been seeking a listenable version of Death Magnetic for years

 

Google is your friend.

 

Plenty of torrents out there for the GH3 version.
It's much better than the Nuked cd.
I actually know people who sent the cd back, thinking it was faulty !!