My Review: Metallica's 'Death Magnetic'

Last week I a friend of mine gifted me with my very own copy of Metallica’s latest endeavor, “Death Magnetic”. After listening to it a few times I posted a message on Twitter saying, “Just listened to ‘Death Magnetic’ — Waiting for a GOOD post-year-2000 Metallica album to come out will be ‘The Day That Never Comes’.”

I knew I would get some push back from the army of rabid Metallica fan-boys, but one response in particular stood out among the crowd. My buddy (@dugzor) replied with the following: “Couldn’t disagree with you more. Death Magnetic is a triumph of not only metal, but music as a whole. Maybe even of all sound.”

The impression I got from his replies made me feel like I had just kicked his puppy or punched his mother in the face. At that point, I though, to clear the air I would be more detailed in my review of “Death Magnetic” in a medium that allows me more than 140 characters at a time.

But first, let me ask you a question: Have you ever listened to a song, of any genre (for me, it’s usually hip-hop or classical), and you pick up on that one annoying sound or instrument and every time you listen to that song after that you can’t get past that annoying noise?

For me, that noise on “Death Magnetic” is James Hetfield.

On their latest release, Metallica is freaking amazing instrumentally. The drumming, guitar and bass work is tight, loud and fast… everything an awesome metal album should be.

The problem, in my opinion, is anytime James opens his mouth and sings. On “Death Magnetic” the vocals are weak, lyrically and otherwise, and I’m not really sure what the deal is but James just didn’t have it on this album, nor did he have it on their previous “St. Anger”.

Try as I might, I couldn’t listen to the album and completely tune out the vocals. And then an idea occurred to me: Just as every individual instrument contributes to the entirety of a classical piece – yes, even the dude tinking away on the Triangle and shaking the metal wind chimes – so it goes with James Hetfield. While his vocals make me cringe, his voice itself is an instrument and an essential part of each and every song.

Once I was able to accept that, I found that I was also able to listen to the tracks and accept the vocals as a necessary evil to the greater benefit of the songs. His voice melds and mingles with the riveting guitar work, great bass riffs and air-drum-tastic drumming so intrinsically that removing it completely would be a disservice to “Death Magnetic”.

In my opinion, Metallica peaked with their release of “S&M” and everything since then has been a giant step in the wrong direction.

Now, guys, if we can talk about better names for your songs that would be a step in the right direction…

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