metallica - death magnetic

At this stage in my life, I'm a little old (37) to be listening to Metallica. Let's face it...their lyrics aren't exactly born out of intelligent thought. Isn't there also an age cut off when you officially have to quit headbanging or look like a fool? I just can't imagine Metallica playing this kind of music at 55 or 60 years of age...on down their road...like some other aging bands continue to do. How old are they now? I personally believe that metal has an age limit. Therefore, excuse me if I can't get excited about a new Metallica album. I was driving around in a van full of people drinking beer and raising hell back in 1986 listening to "Master of Puppets". Those were good times...but those days are OVER. In a prior post talking about Motley Crue, I just have a hard time picturing grown up 40+ year old men, at least ones who probably are responsible adults with middle-upper class jobs, going to a Motley Crue concert. While I enjoyed Crue back when I was 16 and went to a show of theirs, I just couldn't do it today. I don't consider these types of bands' music to be ageless like some other bands. But, maybe that's just me. Any other older folk looking forward to seeing the next Metallica or Motley Crue concert? Hmm.

 

Here, here! *raises shaky, liver-spotted hand holding an Old Milwaukee* Damn kids!

 

Anything after Justice is no good IMO . Black is where things started to go pop . Its so sad a band that was so bad ass , just turned into plain ol' ass .

 

absolutely nothing wrong with trying to increase fan base.

but when you told your fans to make copies of your album and spread it around b/c at the time, you were only good enough to be the opening act, and years later you're the biggest band in the world you sue the very same fans for doing exactly what your told them to do, it leaves a bad taste in your mouth. i don't know if that makes sense b/c i get worked up just thinking about it.l

oh, lets not forget the makeup and mascara thing.

 

You mean like every other band that has ever existed? Every band has a creative peak. Unless the band willingly or forcibly stops playing, the quality in their music will decline. I don't really get why Metallica and Aerosmith seem to be the only bands that are penalized for this. No one ever says "I really like the Rolling Stones, but only their older stuff". I guess it's because the former bands are able to continue to make music that people are still willing to purchase, even though it's not as good as it once was. For some reason they get penalized for this. Or maybe it's because while bands like the Stones still continue to make lesser albums that don't sell and no one cares about, they're somehow perceived as "sticking to their roots", so people let it slide even though they put out crap (comparatively).

 

Everyone has their own opinion on things like this, that's just the way I feel about it . You obviously have a strong opinion on this matter , and that's cool man , I'm not gonna say you're wrong just because you disagree with me . Its all good man .

 

That did irk me a bit, but honestly, it didn't bother me all that much. In justifying their actions, they mentioned stopping people from downloading music from albums that they hadn't even finished yet. And you know I can understand that. I also don't see anything wrong with wanting to make money off of work you've spent countless hours perfecting; work into which you've poured your blood, sweat and tears. Not surprising that their attitudes might change when go from an opening act to a headliner. Plus, I wouldn't be surprised if their record company had a big hand in all that mess. If the recording industry wanted to crack down on piracy, getting little Joe Schmo, who's only album doesn't even reach Gold, to launch a suit against Napster wouldn't generate much interest in the public eye. But having an iconic band with a massive following do it.... I'd just be interested to know the closed door conversations that went into the decision.

Anyhoo, sure seeing Lars hand deliver a suit on the news left a bad taste in my mouth...but they continue to make good music imo...and as long as I like it I'll continue buying it.

Also, people were calling them sellouts long before the Napster mess...that's what I don't get...just because you start to groom yourself a bit more, show a softer side, try to refine your music a bit, you've sold out?

 

Rick Rubin? The same guy that convinced Linkin Park that singing gay ballads is the way to go?

 

Sort of, but not really. I was more surprised than anything. I got pissed off when they made us wait for years for "Load" and then "Load" was really a "Load of Complete and Utter S**t."

Not according to me. I love the Black album, and that's the album that really got them the huge audience, radio play, videos, etc. I don't care about any of that so long as its good,, new, and true to their sound and roots. "Whiskey in the Jar," for example, is a horrible song that sounds like it could have been done by any generic alt-rock band.

Yes, I know I'm opinionated.

Agreed. Their response to Napster was the most un-metal thing I've ever seen.

 

Here's some early reviews of the album:

Metallica held a very special listening session for the forthcoming, as-yet-untitled ninth album last week in London, where members of the press were treated to six of the album’s ten tracks. K! was there and we’re happy to report it RULES!

The metal kings have been hard at work with producer par excellence Rick Rubin (Slayer / System Of A Down / Red Hot Chili Peppers / Trouble) on the follow-up to 2003's St Anger. The results, predictably, are very heavy, and very metal.

"It's definitely Metallica, that I can tell you," commented drummer Lars Ulrich at a press conference last month. "There's a lot of variation, a lot of fast, slow, melodic... kind of hardcore, nutty super-fast speed stuff. It's a little more like how some of the earlier records were a little more dynamic within the songs."

There's no confirmed track names yet (or, at least, we hope Flamingo isn't a real title), but if you want to check out snippets of Metallica in the studio, head over to www.missionmetallica.com. Meanwhile, here's five things you'll find on the new album...

GUITAR SOLOS!
After abandoning the art of shredding entirely in favour of wet guitars and a drumkit made of dustbins on St Anger, we’re proud to report that Kirk Hammett’s trademark greased-lightning solos are firmly back in place. Hooray!

METAL THRASHING MADNESS!
It must have stuck in James Hetfield’s craw to see the young bucks in Municipal Waste, Evile and Gama Bomb trying to nick his King Of The Riff crown from him. So, to remind these little gits exactly who it was who had a hand kickstarting the thrash movement, on the new record there’s a cavalcade of mental mosphpit moments, as well as the man declaring himself a “heavy metal riff machine”.

DARK LYRICS!
“Sunshine never comes”. “Show your scars”. “|Suicide, I’ve already died!”. On the new album, James Hetfield’s once again dealing with some serious stuff in his lyrics, making for some decidedly dark phrases. But it’s not all doom and gloom, he also declares that he’s “Up from the wreckage one more time”. After St Anger, ‘Tallica sure are.

LABYRINTHINE ARRANGEMENTS!
Placing dozens of riffs into maze-like arrangements and joining them up with cunning, tricky fills is essential to making classics like Master of Puppets twist and turn. Once again, Metalllica stick two fingers up to verse/chorus/verse and drop a cunningly designed carpet-bomb of riffola on us. Superb.

ULTRA-HEAVY PRODUCTION
Rick Rubin’s CV includes twiddling the knobs for Slayer, Mayhem, System of A Down and Trouble. If there’s an expert of heavy, it’s him, and he’s done a sterling job ensuring that ‘Tallica’s new album is heavier than a pregnant hippo. Although it’s much, much faster than that.

http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/06/metallica_preview_new_album_in.html


Does it sound like the pre-Load Metallica of yore? Mostly, but while the tracks we've heard call to mind some old albums, most of them clock in around the seven-minute mark, each one containing a number of different sections, so the band don't settle on any one riff for long. Bottom line? These songs are going to sound amazing live.

And how's Lars Ulrich's snare doing? Well, it's definitely there but then we weren't listening to mastered versions, so there's still hope that they won't end up sounding like they did on an album that rhymes with Faint, uh...Banger.

What else? There's no album title yet, and there are no individual song titles, but the album's been referred to as 'nine epics and one song', with ten tracks adding up to a total of 75 minutes. You do the math.

What do the songs sound like? Track one, which is only known by the cryptic working-title Flamingo opens up on thunderous rolling drums as lead guitar meets them head on, a flaring up in stop-start motion before it pulls itself together in rushes forward in classic thrash style, all crunching, Fight Fire With Fire riffs and drilling beats. It takes at least two minutes for James Hetfield's vocals to come in, and while they sound furious, this isn't the grittiest he's ever sounded, more open in tone, but while there's still a memorable vocal line for the 'chorus', and there is so much going on in the song, and so many ideas thrown in and discarded for the next one that it's hard on first listen to pick out one riff that you're going to remember it by. But with galloping riffs and the return of guitar breaks rising up from out of the grooves you can hear the true Metallica spirit, even though its as if reflected in mirrored mosaic.

Track two is at heart an anthemic ballad that recalls Fight Fire With Fire and Nothing Else Matters, with a chiming guitar intro, airy vocals and some slightly convoluted, progressive-style bridges that mutate into urgent riffing, more galloping riffs and guitar solos. Again, the song has a number of different sections, but it still sounds massive.

Track three kicks off on a stop-start riff flecked with Eastern touches, as other bustling guitar lines play off each other and Hetfield's vocals retain the power of old, like some monolithic prophet overlooking events as mid-paced, chugging riffs come in, sounding like an army on the march, methodically shooting anyone in their path.

Track four is reminiscent of Master Of Puppets with more than a touch of heads-down Slayer pacing thrown in. After an artillery-lobbing drum-led intro, it quickly sets off on marching, thrash mode, HetfieldÂ’s spat vocals taking melodic digressions, as he roars 'Bow down, surrender unto me'. The song's groove carries you along as it opens up into guitar atomospherics that bring Led Zep to mind. It isn't quite the kind of irresistible monster they've created before, but Metallica still prove they can still sound lean and epic at the same time, and when the track drops out into the grove mid-way though, you can imagine the chants coming from the crowds live.

Track five has another strong opening, with an uncharacteristic bouncing groove not a million miles away from Rage Against The Machine making appearances throughout setting off sharp riffs that come up against an irregular barrage of percussion that sets it off briefly on a more melodic path and builds up once again into a thrilling riff-fest mayhem.

Track six is the 'song', considerably shorter than the others, but full of clinically sharp riffing, more Slayer-esque parts and galloping grooves, all hustle and bustle with a tinge of Eastern melody thrown in once more.

http://www.metalhammer.co.uk/news/article/?id=48459


METALLICA: New Album Preview
by Bob Mulhouse

Being a fan of the Danish-Californian heavy metal quartet Metallica is hard work. They’re the quintessential band of two halves, pulling in millions of fans from 1983 to 1995 with five mostly excellent albums, which ranged in approach from youthful violence to radio-friendly hummability. In 1996, however, Metallica released the first of a shockingly poor string of alternative-rock, covers and live records, finishing up with 2003’s terrible St. Anger, the most disappointing metal CD ever released. Staying loyal to them after this many years isn’t easy, frankly.

So what, you might be thinking – all bands have their creative peaks and troughs, surely? Well, you’re not getting it. Metallica aren’t just a metal act: they are the Led Zeppelin of their generation, a band which your kids will revere 30 years from now to the same degree as we do the Beatles and the Stones today. To love them is to really love them. Their work ethic (which other band spends three years on the road at stadium level?) and their damnable songwriting ability (leading to songs of visceral power which you can still sing in the bath) has made them bigger, heavier and more essentially here than anyone else. That’s why we still pay attention to them after more than a decade of recorded dross. That’s why even their drummer Lars Ulrich’s petulant sparring with Napster in 2001 and the painful-to-watch Some Kind Of Monster documentary (made during their group-therapy sessions) don’t outweigh the hope we all felt when it was announced in 2007 that none other than Rick Rubin would be helming their new studio album, the first in five years.

Rick Rubin, as any fule kno, is responsible for launching the careers of many a fine band (including Slayer, Metallica’s sometime contemporaries), but – more relevantly in this case – has also revived the fortunes of creatively ossified artists whose moment in the sun has passed, such as Johnny Cash and the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Could The Beastie Beard breathe life into Metallica? God, we hoped so, simultaneously aware that Ulrich et al have raised and dashed our hopes before.

It was with some trepidation, therefore, that I attended the playback of Metallica’s new album at the HQ of Universal, their UK record company, on 3 June. We were permitted to hear six of the 10 tracks which will ultimately appear on the album – which, a rep from the Q-Prime management company informed us, is referred to colloquially by Metallica as ‘Nine epics and one song’. The sense of occasion was reinforced by the presence of almost the entire editorial teams of the UK’s two biggest metal magazines, glaring at each other over the tea urn.

Right from the off, it’s a relief to hear that the utterly awful production of St. Anger is no more. Ulrich has replaced the old dustbin lid from that album with an actual snare drum, and the sound is fresh, clean and resonant (even though the songs are still only rough mixes at this stage). The first song, like the rest of the ‘epics’, is between six and eight minutes long and begins with a bass intro from low-ender extraordinaire Robert Trujillo. Moving rapidly from riff to riff, the song bursts with energy and ideas: singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield barks “Luck runs out!” repeatedly and throws in some twisty, semi-progressive riffs which could have been lifted directly from, their last truly good album, 1988’s …And Justice For All. Guitarist Kirk Hammett, who was banned from soloing on St. Anguish for no adequately explored reason, is on fire, whipping out the melodic, rapid-fire shreds for which he is famous over an extended solo section – almost as if he’s making up for lost time. This is Metallica’s best song in ages, perhaps since the 1980s.

The next song has a working title of ‘Flamingo’ and is going to be the first single. Now, Metallica’s lead singles have been breathtakingly crap since 1995, so it was a relief to hear that ‘Flamingo’ (as it almost definitely will not be called) is a modernised take on their amazing 1988 song One, all balladry at its front end before a speeded-up metalstorm at the back. Hetfield delivers a clean-picked intro which reminded me of the Beach Boys (I know… but I only got to hear it once, all right?) before the body of the song, which is basically like ‘The Unforgiven’ from 1991’s ‘Black Album’. If you’re familiar with the chord progression behind the solo in ‘Am I Evil?’, the ancient Diamond Head song which Metallica made their own, you’ll be able to picture the under-solo riffage in this song – all simple, effective major-interval jumps.

However, let us not forget that this is modern Metallica – and the next two songs are much less fun. The first, which may be called ‘We Die Hard’ judging by the frequency with which Hetfield barks the phrase, starts boringly but accelerates halfway through and enters slightly proggy territory, all stop-start riff stabs and a clever time signature. The next song is very . . . And Justice . . ., a lengthy, unhurried workout which revolves around the line “Bow down / Sell your soul to me / I will set you free”, itself a 1988 line if I ever heard one. Apart from dexterous soloing from Hammett, it’s not great.

So far, we’ve had two good songs and two dull ones – not a bad track record for new ’Tallica, believe me. However, track five is tedious, a combination of the aimless riffery of St. Anger and the pointless rock chorusing of Load, the album which almost finished Metallica in 1996. “Crying, weeping, shedding strife!” sings Hetfield in that slick ‘Enter Sandman’ manner, over an unthreatening clean midsection which would (and no doubt will) suit VH1 down to the ground.
At this point the Q-Prime geezer asks us if we want to hear more, and fortunately we say yes – because the final song (and indeed, it is ‘The Song’, the little guy among the nine epics) is great, a genuine slice of thrash metal that starts fast and stays that way. Like a slower, less precise ‘Battery’ (the opening track of 1986’s flawless Master Of Puppets album), the song nips in and out, not outstaying its welcome and proving that on some level, Metallica still have the necessary vitriol to impress their older fans. OK, it reminded me a bit of ‘Dyer’s Eve’, the last song on Justice, which had a kind of “I suppose we’d better do a fast one for the fans” feel about it – but in 2008, Hetfield and Ulrich delivering any form of thrash metal is not to be sneered at.

We file out of the listening room, not saying much. This album could be good, or it could be mediocre – too much depends on the other four songs to make a call at this point. I try not to agonise about it, but this matters, damn it. It really does.
I said it wasn’t easy being a Metallica fan in 2008, didn’t I?

http://www.thequietus.com/

 

This is an example of an attitude that I don't understand. Not that its wrong....I just don't get it.

Literally, all my life, I've listened to metal, classic rock, blues, jazz, classical, and rap when it was born/invented/whatever. My first ballet was Swan Lake when I was two. My first opera was a Mozart opera. My first rock concert was Motley Crue. I grew up on Charlie Parker, Twisted Sister, Tchaikovsky, Count Basie, Stan Kenton, Mozart,
Jimi Hendrix, Ratt, Black Sabbath, Miles Davis, Motley Crue, Cinderella, Bach, Bon Jovi, Springsteen, Brahms, Led Zeppelin, Chopin, Rush, Beethoven, Iron Maiden, Judas Priest, Louis Armstrong, Dizzy Gillespie, etc, etc, etc.

There's no age limit for music. Music itself is timeless. If I still like something, why wouldn't I listen to it? That just doesn't make any sense to me.

Which poster is it that we all idolize for seeing Led Zep, Hendrix, SRV, and all the rest when they were at the height of their powers? I feel bad I can't remember. Anyway. I'll be like that guy when kids say 'WOW!!!! You saw Black Sabbath, Megadeth, and Pantera??!? That's bad-ass!'

You and me both.

As long as they still put out good stuff, odds are I'll still listen and rock out.

 

Here's the problem I have with this attitude. It's THEIR music. If you create something. Anything. But it's YOUR creation, it is up to you to distribute it as you like. If a cookie maker first starts up and decides to give free samples in order to drum up business and spread the word, no one has a problem with that. When they start charging later on, no one has a problem with that either. And if someone is attempting to steal their cookies from their warehouse, no one has a problem with that person getting arrested. They are protecting their stuff.

But then we shift to the music industry, and suddenly everything is different. If you decide at one time to spread your music to fans for free...then goddamnit, you better be okay with doing that for the rest of eternity. If someone is stealing your musical content, even if it doesn't physically take a CD from a store somewhere but just creates another copy on their hard drive, well, damnit, you should be okay witht that because it isn't physical content and it is too hard to prove that you are actually losing revenue based on that theft. If you complain, then you are selling out.

It's a ridiculous attitude to take. I didn't like that Metallica got involved with the Napster deal either. I thought it made them look greedy when they were already multi-gazillionares, but I never questioned whether they were morally wrong for taking the stance they did. Honestly, had it been a more likeable band with a more likeable face (not talking about Hetfield here...Lars can be a real dick), then I think the outrage would have been half what it was. If Bono had said he thought it was wrong to steal his creative content, people's hearts would have bled for him.

I like Metallica. I like most of what they have done in their career. I don't like everything. But I don't think of them as "selling out" for any of the stuff they have done in their career. To me, ever since the Black Album, the band has done nothing BUT take risks. Both with Napster, their change in sound, their change in look, business plan...everything. To me, that risk was so things wouldn't remain stale to them. As TheFreak pointed out, had they kept cranking out the same thing over and over because they knew it sold, to me, THAT is selling out more than broadening your horizons.

Anyway, this post is way longer than I meant it to be. But like you, macalu, this topic is something that gets my blood up.

 

i get all that. but maybe people wouldn't be so hard on them if their music didn't start sucking so bad.

 

You bag on Metallica for selling out or softening up, but give Megadeth a free pass? Megadeth has put out some of the worst albums in history, #1 being "Risk" followed closely by "World Needs a Hero." Crush 'Em indeed.

I'm not a huge fan of "Load" but I'd listen to it 100 times before I popped "Cryptic Writings" in the CD player. To set it straight, I love Metallica and Megadeth but you can't hold Dave Mustaine up on some integrity pedestal when he tried (and failed) to sell out and attain the same commercial success as Metallica many times.

 

Gotta agree with macalu. They dumbed down their music for the radio. That is NEVER cool and I don't respect anyone who would do such a thing. A few radio-friendly songs is one thing, but changing everything that got you to where you are as a business model/mantra/whatever is just r****ded. That is why Metallica sold out. In this fan's opinion, at any rate.

 

Well, I never felt like their music "dumbed down" at all. With the exception of some songs like the ridiculous one they recorded for MI:3. But that was for a movie, so I imagine there was some outside influence on that creative output. For everything else, it was just...different. Was it off-putting that Metallica essentially made a freaking country/western song on Load with the track "Mama Said"? Hell yes it was. But after I listened a little more, I realized that while it was weird hearing that freaking twangy guitar, they did that song better than 99% of the country/western out there. It wasn't less complicated. Just different. But, as you said first, this is just my opinion. I doubt any of us change it.

 

There it is...

If Megadeth can right their ship, I believe these guys can. After RISK, I thought Megadeth was done. But United Abominations & The System Has Failed were better than anything Metallica has done in 17 years...

Just my opinion.

 

I think his list of wins is greater than his list of losses. Even though the new Linkin Park was trash...

 

Garbage in. Garbage out.