Metallica - Death Magnetic

Believe the hype, for once…

After a gobsmackingly good 80s and an arse-clenchingly poor mid-to-late 90s, Metallica looked washed up a few years ago. No longer playing extreme music for the old-school fanbase, but not sharp enough to compete with metal’s new wave, the San Francisco quartet’s output hit rock bottom in 2003 with the painfully crap St Anger, recorded after long-time bassist Jason Newsted quit, singer James Hetfield went through rehab and drummer Lars Ulrich had battled Napster. Add to this a couple of years of group therapy and a feature-length movie, Some Kind Of Monster, which made them look like wusses, Metallica badly needed their ninth studio album to be rather special to pull them out of the critical mire.

Fortunately, Death Magnetic is reasonably enjoyable, showcasing a rejuvenated band under the watchful eye of producer Rick Rubin. The songs are bursting with ideas, zipping from riff to riff with a glistening production that makes the band sound young and angry again. The opener, That Was Just Your Life, spins a web of genuinely fast riffage that leads to a huge guitar solo from Kirk Hammett (who was banned from soloing on St Anger and is making up for lost time, apparently). All Nightmare Long and My Apocalypse are tight and powerful, with Hetfield’s famous speed-picking at the top of the arrangements; The Unforgiven III is an amazingly effective power ballad, against all expectations; and Broken, Beat & Scared revisits the clean tones and twisty, Battery-style riffage that made 1980s Metallica so gripping. There are two average tunes (The Judas Kiss and the 10- minute Suicide & Redemption, both of which could have used an edit), while The Day That Never Comes and Cyanide need a few more spins to make an accurate impression – but the big picture is far better than anyone could have expected. Against all odds, Metallica are back on the world stage.

3 stars 3 stars 3 stars

Mercury | 1773726

Reviewed by Joel McIver
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