Death Magnetic

They will be in DC in January on the 15th... I've got the tickets, purchased them this morning, I'm on the Floor
I just have to hope I don't end up with any conflicting problems...

I used to like Metallica back in the day but my interest has faded for them since 1991. I know my buddy is looking at going to the concert in Jan. He and a group of buddies are all taking a road trip down there. Isn't Metallica gonna be in a Guitar Hero game? An exclusive new song that is.

My interests have faded a lot as well... I'm more Country and Classical now, but I still like Metallica and still have their Albums downloaded...

Metallica fan here! So far, i've only got their 1990s stuff and the only 80s album I have is ...And Justice For All. Production wise, AJFA is flawed, though I do like the music. But i've been deterred from their older stuff due to my experiences with AJFA. My favourite so far is ReLoad, i've got everything from AJFA and onwards.

I got Death Magnetic on the day of release, so far I have the digital version, just waiting for by Box Set with the album, demos, DVD, t-shirt and the other goodies.

But as for DM, it was definitely worth the wait. It's certainly different from the Metallica albums I own . Being mainly a 1990's Metallica fan, at first, the longer, more progressive tracks challenged me, but i'm finding that already, they are beginning to grow on me. I'm really loving the vibe of Broken, Beat and Scarred. Meanwhile, All Nightmare Long and The Judas Kiss are also having an impression on me. I love The Unforgiven 3, but I don't think it deserves the title, I would have found another title for it.

As for some criticisms, I think I prefer Cyanide when it's played live, it just doesn't have the same energy or depth on record i'm finding. Also, as another criticism, this isn't a criticism of the music in anyway, but more the engineering and production. I find that I can't listen to the album twice in a row, it's almost as though they've engineered the album and set the volume to headache. I know this is a metal CD, but i'm sure the impact would have been just as effective with the volume on the album set a bit lower. Even when played at a low volume, it can be a little much. But once again, that's a production critcism, the music is fine.

Overall, I think every track on this album has the potential to sound fantastic live and I am even more enthusiastic about seeing them in concert when they tour Australia in 2009. So far, from the albums I have, this album sits about fourth for me. I definitely plan on spinning this one all summer long. Bring it on!

I've been a fan for a long time now. I picked up DM on Friday and have listened to it a couple of times. I'm not sure that it's all it was hyped-up to be. It's certainly better than St. Anger and Load, but I don't think that's saying much. So far I think it's Black Album-esq, but my opinion may change after I've listened to it a few more times. So, I don't think it's great (and they'll probably never release anything as good as their 80s albums again), but it's loads better than the rubbish they've been putting out the past 10-15 years.

Can't say I agree, I love their 1990s stuff, Bob Rock did so much for their development as musicians. The Load era is my favourite, though i'm enjoying their return to roots too. I think the biggest thing that this album suffers from are the production blemishes such as the clipping and the ultra loud volume it was recorded at. After my first listen, I actually had a headache.

Bands Like Metallica usually stick to their older stuff at Concerts... They'll do a handful of their newest stuff, but they usually know that it is older fans that come to the shows, so they try cater to that...

I think the same can be said about a lot of bands these days. When it comes to live performances, they tend to stick to the stuff that got them to the peak of their form, this usually takes place through the performance of hits or early album material.

Examples:

Paul McCartney: he seems to be doing less Wings and solo material and incorporating more Beatles songs onto his setlists. This could also be related to the fact that his long deceased wife, Linda, played a pivotal role in the creation of the music that came from Wings and his pre-1999 solo material.

Oasis: Much like Metallica, their fans just seem to want to hear material from the first three records which were massive during the Brit-pop craze of the late 1990s. While I love these records, I also adore what came after that and think they play well live. I've been a fan of Oasis (and still continue to be) through the good and bad. Their music represents those distinctive eras of the group.

Pearl Jam: Much like Oasis and Metallica, when playing live they seem to stick to the early to mid 1990s material which gave them their identity. Though, there are some really amazing post-1998 songs that would sound great live.

The Who: I actually appreciate that they mostly play their back catalogue, this is one of those cases where I can agree with them. The quality of their writing and music seemed to dip after 1975, the first 10 years is where it's at for this band and personally...always will be.

But then there's other artists like The Rolling Stones, Radiohead, REM, Crowded House and U2 who enjoy mixing the set lists up and keeping it eclectic, keeping in touch with the casual and long time fans who are partial to the hits and obscure tracks. Personally, as a fan of all of the aforementioned artists, my favourite live acts are those who have the less predictable set lists. The only exception being Paul McCartney...i'm sure 100% of any audience would prefer a Beatles song over a Wings song.

Well, maybe rubbish was a bit harsh for Load and Reload. (Although, I still really dislike St. Anger.) I much prefer their earlier music, but I thought Reload was decent. Load was passable: I didn't love it, but I didn't absolutely hate it. Still, I am impressed with the variety of directions that they've been able to pursue with their music.

The production quality of DM didn't bother me all too much, but I'm not very sensitive to that (and I think much of what I listen to has pretty poor production quality, so maybe I'm just used to it). I've listened to DM a few more times and it's definitely growing on me.

They did a concert here in the UK yesterday (15th) and the two papers that I saw that covered it gave it 4 out of 5 stars and both said it was really good. Apparently the tickets only cost £5 ($8) and all the money went to charity. They said that they didn't use expensive fireworks etc and played a lot of their new stuff.

Must admit I've not listened to it yet, but it took me ages to get into their old stuff, then I loved it. I'm sure their concerts around the globe will be just as good.

Here's the Metallica thing I was talking about for Guitar Hero 3:

http://www.gametrailers.com/player/40197.html?type=wmv

I guess it's pretty much the whole album?

I guess I am late at starting this thread....

Its been a busy week with the wedding coming up in less than a month now.

Anyway, I have just one thing to say... and from what i can see, some of you are going to disagree with me.

Metallica is back with a vengance and they are taking no prisoners.

I absolutely love the album, the headaches, the clipping, everything.

I think this is starting a new direction for them with an old twist. It's like they took the best from the load era and mashed it with old school.

You probably won't find a bigger Metallica fan than me. Liked them since i was 8 and have every album including the live ones, as well as every making of video they put out except the new one with all their music videos.

Joel, the old stuff is by far the best. Its understandable why you would like the load, reload era because you were probably introduced to them around that time. AJFA is definately flawed when it comes to production... the bass guitar is completely inaudible which is the thing that hurts it the most. Give RTL and MOP a chance though. They are their two best albums. Production on both of them are really good in comparison to justice.

Anyway, I am starting to ramble.
Show your scars!

I love starting Metallica conversation.

This album is the hardest, edgiest, and rockinest album they have put out since Justice....The St. Anger album was great. It had a lot of really good songs on it, but falls into the same category as of production value as the AJFA album. For Justice, the production quality was low because they were trying to hurry up and get the album finished before they went on the Monsters of Rock tour back in 87. I think they were touring with Van Halen and ACDC and some other bands too. So the album in essence wasn't finished....in fact, Kirk Hammett has been quoted as saying that some of the guitar solos weren't adequately finished. As far as St. Anger...Hetfield was fresh out of rehab and trying to get his life in order before going back into the chaotic life of making music...and when it came time to make the album and get the songs recorded...he didn't want to do like he used to do when recording, which was totally trying to perfect everything on each song...they just recorded one track for each song, and that was it. But I will be the first to admit that I didn't even listen to St. Anger when I bought it...I watched the dvd of them playing the songs in a "jam setting". The sound of them playing the album live instead of on the cd was way better.

As far as songs from Death Magnetic....my two personal favorites are the first and last songs..."That was Just you Life" and "My Apocalypse" Totally thrashy and abusive...I loved it. Definitely made me rock the head while cruising down the highway.

Most people are saying that Metallica is back...well..I disagree...they never were gone. Most people want to be critical of them because they haven't put anything out on cd that equaled Master of Puppets...but lets be honest...Master of Puppets was an epic album. How can you top that? How can you equal that? It's like asking the Beatles to do better than the "White Album" or telling Led Zeppelin to record a song that will be more popular than Stairway to Heaven. You gotta be realistic when it comes to music. Once you've done your best, you can't do better. The only thing you can do is consistently stay at the top of your game...and if you listen (really listen) to the music from Justice all the way up to Death Magnetic...it's pretty easy to see that Metallica is one of the most consistent bands in rock...ranking up there with ACDC and the Rolling Stones. Two bands that I feel like no matter what they put out, it's going to sell big. I feel the same way about Metallica. You may say you think some of their stuff sucks, but someone is buying it and someone is listening to it.

I just want to clarify that I did like everything between the load era and now.

I was just saying, like you said, that it wasn't the same as their old stuff and you could tell they were experimenting with their sound alot. They wanted to try different stuff.

They've just come back to what they do best.

This does not mean everything they released during that time sucked. I actually enjoyed it.

The tin can sound of st. anger's snare though can be hard on the ears. The songs were good, the production was just very very unpolished...

I think the production could have passed without much critisism... if they just took a little time to tighten the snare drum a bit. That thing must have been lose as hell to get such a terrible sound as that.

I saw them live on the st. anger tour and i have to admit that the couple songs i heard them play live sounded much better.