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Metallica – Death Magnetic: Kirk Hammett Has His Revenge
Posted by: admin in Album info, Kirk
Call Death Magnetic Kirk Hammett’s revenge. Famously browbeaten into accepting Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock’s dictum that guitar solos were “dated” and thereby verboten for 2003’s St. Anger — a fraught recording chronicled on the 2004 documentary Some Kind of Monster — Metallica’s lead guitarist dominates this 2008 sequel, playing with a euphoric fury not heard in years, if not decades. This aesthetic shift isn’t because Hammett suddenly rules the band: powerless to add solos to St. Anger, he couldn’t reinstate them without the blessing of Ulrich and James Hetfield, the politburo of Metallica. The duo suffered some combination of shame and humility in the wake of the muddled St. Anger and Monster, convincing these two unmovable forces to change direction. They ditched longtime producer Rock — who helmed every album since 1991’s breakthrough blockbuster Metallica — in favor of Rick Rubin, patron saint of all veteran rockers looking to reconnect with their early spark. Rubin may be the go-to producer for wayward superstars, but as the producer of Slayer, he’s also rooted in thrash, so he understands the core of Metallica’s greatness and gently steers them back to basics on Death Magnetic.
Of course, Metallica’s basics are pretty complex: intertwined guitar riffs, frenetic solos and thunderous double-bass drums, stitched together as intricate seven-minute suites. Metallica slowly weaned themselves away from labyrinthine metal during the ’90s, tempering their intensity, straightening out riffs, and spending nearly as much time exploring detours as driving the main road, all the while losing sight of their identity. This culminated in the confused St. Anger, a transparent and botched attempt at returning to their roots, crippled by the chaos surrounding the departure of bassist Jason Newsted. With all their problems sorted out in public — including replacing Newsted with Robert Trujillo, who acquiesces to the Metallica custom of being buried far, far in the mix — the group embraces every gnarled, ugly thing they eschewed in the years since Metallica. Death Magnetic bounces the band back to the days before Bob Rock, roughly sounding as if it could come after And Justice for All. Such a deliberate revival of the glory days can be tricky, as it could make a group seem stuck in the past — or, just as badly, they can get essential elements wrong — but Death Magnetic is a resounding success because the band hunker down and embrace their core strengths, recognizing that their greatest asset is that nobody else makes noise the same way as they do.
That’s the pleasure of Death Magnetic: hearing Metallica sound like Metallica again. Individual songs and, especially, Hetfield’s lyrics — less the confessional ballast of St. Anger, more a traditional blend of angst and terror — are secondary to how the band sounds, how they spit, snarl and surge, how they seem alive. Metallica isn’t replicating moves they made in the ’80s, they’re reinvigorated by the spirit of their early years, adding shading they learned in the ’90s, whether it’s the symphonic tension of “The Unforgiven III” or threading curdled blues licks through the thrash. Listening to the band play, it’s hard not to thrill at Metallica’s mastery of aggression and escalation. There is no denying that the band is older and settled, no longer fueled by the hunger and testosterone that made their ’80s albums so gripping, but on Death Magnetic older doesn’t mean less potent. Metallica still is vitally violent and on this terrific album — a de facto comeback, even if they never have really gone away — they’re finally acting like they enjoy being a great rock band. source
September 11th, 2008 at 8:29 pm
WOW! Well said! Well said!
September 12th, 2008 at 9:33 am
yeah, too bad the solos aren’t all that great.
September 12th, 2008 at 2:24 pm
Its funny, I can still remember the day I rushed off to the record store to buy “Justice”. Obviously, being 1988, there were no internet leaks beforehand! I remember that the first glimpse of the album I got was a full-page album photo on the back of Circus magazine. From then I had to wait three weeks before the album was actually in my hand.
Now today I’m waiting on my UPS courier to get here to deliver Death Magnetic via Amazon. Of course, being 2008, twenty years after Justice, I’ve already heard all of the songs online. And speaking of that, this album is excellent. Its right up there with the trilogy – RTL, MOP, and AJFA. DM is an istant classic – without retreading old ground. Thankfully some things change, and some things stay the same: Metallica still rocks twenty years after Justice.
September 12th, 2008 at 6:33 pm
Yeyeye, it’s good. Altho they made some bad choices imo. They should’ve deleted Cyanide and the instrumental song. Cyanide just doesn’t fit the album at all. And that instrumental one was just put on the to ‘prove’ that they were going oldschool again. It’s just not all that great “Missing link” between justice and black album? NEVER. This album undoubtably has some old school influences, but there’s also some Load in it, aswell as st anger, which doesn’t necessarily mean it’s bad, but you can’t deny this. I’m a big fan of Load, it’s great music, not great metal, but just damn good music. So, to sum it up: Death Magnetic is good, but it’s not nearly as good as i expected from the guys. Rick Rubin failed in my opinion.
September 30th, 2008 at 5:34 pm
I’m 37 yrs old. As a teenager, I used to friggin love Metallica. I’ve always liked them even after the love wore off, but quite frankly was gettin pretty sick of listening to the same old stuff over and over an over again. I know there is million songs from Metallica, but only a handful gets airtime. Then along came St. Anger. This sealed the deal for me to have the feelings that if I never heard another Metallica Song again for as long as I lived, I’d be O.K. with that.
Now Death Magnetic has changed that for me. I really like it.
I’m glad they moved in this direction. I can once again say, Yeah, Metallica Rocks!
October 13th, 2008 at 2:25 pm
I love the new CD. Its one of their best. 1. Master of Puppets 2. Kill Em’ All 3. Ride the Lightning 4. The Justice Album 5. DEATH FUCKING MAGNETIC!!!!!
November 5th, 2008 at 9:12 am
I love metallica i have the new album on copy but im getting them ll soon xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx I LOVE METALLICA plus i have a band too x
March 9th, 2009 at 8:59 am
Blastyrant the solos are awesome you dont know what the fuck you are on about you piece of shit fuck you metallica rule you can suck my balls you obviously dont know what talent you motherfucker ill ram a cheesegrater up your arse next time you say that
March 9th, 2009 at 9:00 am
i agree with leigh blasttyrant i should shove some METAL UP UR ASS
April 2nd, 2009 at 4:31 pm
dude yeah kirk hammett is one of the best guitar players in the world and how dare anyone defy his insane face melting solos
August 10th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
Kirk,,, I love You
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( *.* )
(,)(,)
January 26th, 2010 at 5:03 pm
kirk iz tha best guitarist he iz tha fastes gutair player