Death Gets Magnetic

This morning on my way into work for a couple hours, I listened to the new Metallica album Death Magnetic. I was posting to Twitter.com while listening, below are my tweets about Death Magnetic.

From twitter.com/grantruby:

Death Magnetic track 1 "That Was Just Your Life" is so brutal. If the album continues like this I will be very happy.

Death Magnetic track 2 "The End of the Line" continues the brutality started on track 1. Hell yes.

Death Magnetic track 3 "Broken, Beat & Scarred" doesn't let up. Is it safe to welcome Metallica back yet?

Death Magnetic track 4 is single "The Day That Never Comes". Starts very Unforgiven & gets crazy brutal. This is a meh track for me.

Death Magnetic track 5 "All Nightmare Long" is a 'wow' track. Where was all this brutality on your last 3 records, Metallica?

Death Magnetic track 6 "Cyanide". Do any of these songs suck?

Death Magnetic track 7 "The Unforgiven III," improves over part 2, which sucked ass. Token slow song on an otherwise brutal album.

Death Magnetic track 8 "The Judas Kiss" is very thrashy, but shows skill & maturity not found in many young thrash metal bands.

There's a sweet Sandman-style breakdown on "The Judas Kiss". #metallica #deathmagnetic

Death Magnetic track 9 "Suicide & Redemption" 7 mins in (of 10) & still no vocals. This song is so classic Metallica!

Death Magnetic track 10 "Apocalypse" is this album's "One". It's fast & totally brutal. Metallica are they're best when they go speed.

Rick Rubin, thank you for making Metallica good again! #deathmagnetic

Hammet's solos are ridiculous, Ulrich kills, Trujillo shows he belongs, Hetfield gets evil and Death Magnetic pwns! #metallica

Those are the live tweets as I was listening to the album. These 10 songs illustrate 2 things: a) Metallica is officially back and b) Rick Rubin is still a God. Over his career, Rubin has reinvented and reinvigorated so many bands that a list would take up a whole blog. His production credits are on Wikipedia. Take a gander at that list. It's full of amazing albums that define genres. There is nary a stinker on there. Rubin did LL's first album, the Beastie Boys' first album, he's produced the Slayer catalog, Red Hot Chili Peppers since Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Johnny Cash's American Recordings series, he's worked with Dixie Chicks, Neil Diamond and so many more. He's a genius. And he proves it once again on Magnetic.

But Rubin can't turn shit into gold (actually, he can), the members of Metallica illustrate on this album that they really still have it in them. They thrash, they get speedy, and they are brutal damn near throughout. Only one song on the album clocks in under 6 minutes, that's final track "Apocalypse" at 5:01. Seven of the tracks are more than 7 minutes including "The Judas Kiss" at 8:01 and instrumental "Suicide & Redemption" at 9:56.

After the first listen (it's now on my stereo at home, on repeat), I think my favorite track is the instrumental suite "Suicide & Redemption". It shows all that is good about Metallica: Kirk Hammet's solos, Lars Ulrich going batshit wild, and even Robert Trujillo shows that he belongs among the giants of a genre. Throughout the album, James Hetfield manages to eschew formula and cheese and gets dark and evil with his lyrics.

This is a reinvigorated Metallica that sounds like a young band that has the maturity of masters. I thank Rubin for finding that within each of them, pulling it out of the depths, and putting it on this album for the world to hear.

Metallica is tour this fall. They'll be in Salt Lake City playing at Energy Solutions Arena November 3rd. You'll be able to find me there. I won't be missing this spectacle.

Death Gets Magnetic

Soft Lips Are Open, Them Knuckles Are Pale

As a companion post to the review of Only By The Night, I thought it would be a good idea to also share the video for KOL's "Sex On Fire". It's an interesting one, for sure.

Soft Lips Are Open, Them Knuckles Are Pale

Too Early to Tell: Kings Of Leon Only By the Night

I got my hands on the new Kings of Leon album Only By the Night today. This is where the songs "Crawl" and lead single "Sex On Fire" come from. I dig both of those tracks (Sex more than Crawl), and am very excited to have this new album in my ears right now.

Kings of Leon really sold me with their last album Because of the Times. They ditched the straight ahead southern rock for a more epic version of the same. They aren't just an indie Lynyrd Skynyrd on speed anymore, they are a mature rock band that knows how to get down. And get down they did on Times.

Early reports on Night are that it is very much the companion album to Times, and I'm at all upset to report that I agree with the early reports. Night builds on the foundation laid out by Times and reaches further into the stratosphere. I don't think this album will garner them the radio and mass-media attention they so rightly deserve, but I don't think the band (or their fans) will be too upset to find that to be the case.

Having listened to the album several times through, it is apparent that there are 2 distinct halves to Night. The split isn't entirely tempo driven, though one half is much more of a rock album, following the lead of Times; while the other is much more mellow, and shows a darker, and more melancholy side of KOL. The more upbeat first half includes previously available songs "Crawl" and "Sex On Fire," while the more brooding second half includes the epic ballads "Cold Desert" and "I Want You".

This is an album that I think most KOL fans will enjoy, if not on the first listen. However, I think this album is sure to bring new fans into the fold with the ballad heavy second half of the album. I don't really hear any major radio singles on this album, which confirms other early reviews that I've read. That said, KOL continue to build their fan base and have solid record sales, so I don't think anyone in their camp is really complaining.

Kings Of Leon's new album Only By The Night will be available everywhere September 23rd.

Visit Kings Of Leon at their official website and on MySpace.

Too Early to Tell: Kings Of Leon Only By the Night