I've listened to the new album a few times now and it's about half and half. It does seem to get better with each listen though. There are some great riffs in there but some of the lyrics are still a little weak. Maybe they'll grow on me after a few more listens. I do have to say it is WAY better than St. Anger in my opinion. The Unforgiven III is currently my favorite on this album...great song.
Agreed... St. Anger, with just a few exceptions, was kind of a waste of time..... I've only heard a few songs off the new album, but I'm worried it's gonna be more of the same crap that they put on the last one.....
I guess they wont have to make a big deal about people downloading there shit for free anymore. Nobody wants it :rofl:
If you watch the St. Anger DVD you'll see why they can't make good tracks anymore. Hetfield is a separate entity from the band and he's not fully involved. Lars is as big a tool as anyone has ever been. Ride the lightning to the Black album were when they were a good group.
I would push that a little further and dare to say that all their stuff has been good up until St. Anger..... I liked Load and Reload as much as any of their earlier stuff..... I don't follow the band politics that closely, but what you said seems like a pretty valid explanation for their downward spiral.....
Kill'm All, Master of Puppets & Ride the Lightning were 3 of the best Metal albums ever made. Period. And Justice for All was good, but you could almost hear the sell-out coming. The Black album was about 1/2 good, but all comercial and for the masses. I was pretty much done with them at that point. I haven't heard any songs of St. Anger but the title track, and thats all I needed 2 hear. OMG was it bad. They lost all my respect when they started suing Napster and going after illegal downloaders. I've been saying for years, the day they all cut their hair was the day metal died................
I never thought I would like another Metallica album. Death Magnetic is the album that they should have released after the black album...or maybe instead of the black album. I am really diggin this shit...and that is HUGE...for me to say that. I was SO excited when I first got my hands on the Black album, I think I was 13 years old. And Justice for All had been in my tape deck for 2 years...straight. One can imagine my disappointment upon loading the black album into my deck. I kept fast forwarding through the tracks hoping that they would get better...but they didn't...there are FREAKIN KEYBOARDS on that album...KEYBOARDS! Real metal doesn't have keyboards. Eventually...I started to like some of the tracks on the black album, and seeing them preformed live has never disappointed me. When Load came out, I gave up on them. Load and St. Anger are both crap. Then just the other day, I was listening to the radio and I heard some awesome metal...so I turned it up, and after a few riffs Hetfield started in on vocals, and I couldn't believe it. I was listening to, and enjoying the new Metallica! A few hours later, I heard another track from the album, and I turned it up again. So, tonight, I went out and bought it. I haven't finished it yet, I am up to Cyanid...but I have only heard 1 track that I really didn't feel. I do agree that there are some weak points within some of the tracks, but I'll take what I can get, and this is far better than I could have hoped for. I didn't even know they were coming out with a new album...they had completely fallen off of my music radar.
It is funny that you say that about And Justice For All...because a lot of old school metallica fans claimed sell out when Master of Puppets came out! Justice suffered because Cliff wasn't there to help write it. It is a collection of his riffs, with no true musicality to it, which is what he brought to the band. I think that you should give Death Magnetic a chance, from the what you said in your post, it sounds like you and I have the same opinion about what is good Metallica and what is bad Metallica...and there is a lot of good on Death Magnetic...and a little bad. I don't feel like I wasted my money, and this album makes me want to see them live again...but I am curious as to how they are going to deal with all the crap songs from Load and St. Anger that exist now...I am sure they are going to play them. Death Magnetic is as close as a return to form as it can be for them at this point in their career. Regardless they have and always will be one of the greatest rock/metal bands of all time, and I will always feel that way. It made me happy to be able to enjoy this album!
^^Master was awesome! Can't see how ANYONE could consider that a sellout album(could be cuz they started really getting famous at that time)... The title track, Battery.. Damage Inc.???? All sweet... I'll check out the new one, just by your recommend.. cuz its looking like you and I have similar tastes.. And I'm really gonna try to give it an unbiased shot. They've been dead to me for so long, its almost like I feel its not the same guys, like for the last 10 years its been a Metallica tribute band trying to do new shit... A girl at work trys to tell me their shows are still awesome, and that they play their old stuff.. I'm not convinced.. My face twists up like someone farted when someone mentions new Metallica.....................
Really trying to give this an honest shot... It does have at least 3 tracks I considere "decent"... Sounds way too clean to me. Like none of them were in the studio at the same time and they just laid it all together. I think they should have went old school and recorded in a garage or something, or made the album live. Hetfield is phoning it in big time. Hey.. its still in my player after 2 weeks, so thats something.. Gonna give it a few more tries...
I think the drums are one of the best parts... They are mixed a lot like they were mixed on And justice for all...very dry...I like the drums. After listening to this album for about two weeks straight...it is also still in my player, but I am giving it a break right now. I couldn't agree with you more about this...exactly what I thought. I also found it very insteresting that they seemed to make a point to the fact that it was "recorded by Rick Rubin" as if it was some type of Metal-seal-of-approval. This is more of a Rick Rubin album, than a Metallica album. Almost like it was just tossed into the Metal mixing bowl...a little of this, a little of that...and volia, "METAL"! I just found copies of Beneath the Remains and Arise this weekend at Recycle CD, and I haven't had either one of these albums in my possesion for a very long time...so...I am going to be having a Sepultura revival for the next week or so.
^^ lol... I went on a Sepultura kick a few months ago.. with Arise, Chaos AD & some best of I downloaded... Rick Rubin has produced some excellent albums like Reign in Blood and South of Heaven. Guess its not a guarantee... I think my girlfriend said it best a few days ago while listening to the new Metallica.. "It sounds like their TRYING to rock... its just not working..."
Ok, Ok... after a few more weeks of listening... I've decided that the album is... decent, bordering on good. I don't take anything back that I've said so far.. it is still a far cry from the Metallica of ole. But if I try to pretend its a new band and just listen to it as a stand alone.. it has some pretty decent tracks.... I won't give it redemption status, but it def. makes me make less of a grimmace like someone farted when I hear their name...
I listened to it for the first time outside of my car recently and realized that production is god awful. The songs are great but the album CLIPS! That should NEVER happen! It sounds great cranked really hard in my car, but other than that it sounds absolutely terrible. I was :unamused:
I used to like Metallica back in the Cliff Burton days. I loved them from 1988 on back, they sound so different nowadays. I did hear the new song on the radio and it was OK. Mark