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.
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