Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by Metallica. Not taking Garage inc. into consideration of course. I was originally quite disappointed with this one when it was released. The sound philosophy was nothing I admired and the songs themselves where nothing that pleased me. I guess I was still pissed of by their last few album and the fact that the abandoned “the one true path of Thrash Metal”.
Death Magnetic is, however, a step backward to the earlier songs. I still don’t like Rick Rubens production. It’s strange since the best Slayer Albums are produced by Rick Ruben and they sound absolutely great! Furthermore, I was tempted to take my old review (written in Swedish) and just translate it. Not to show my lazier side but because I’d rather spend my time listening to something else than Death Magnetic for a few spin to fresh up my memory.
I’m glad I didn’t though. Death Magnetic actually sounds better to me now than when it was originally release in 2008. It’s not the best song of their career and certainly not the best production. But they have also don a lot worse! I need to go back in my vast library of ratings and change my view. I now think that Death Magnetic is a fine album, musicwise. And to be honest, everything sounds better than St Anger..
This is also the first also featuring the new bassist after Jason Newsted quit – Robert Trujillo. I don’t know If I’m qualified to judge his playing but I feel like his a very competent bass player and does quite a nice job. He fits well with the band.
The song are a little more varies than on the previous few albums I think. There are som bluesy riffs and there’s definitely som Wah-driven solos by Kirk Hammett! Overall a fine album that has grown a lot since my initial contact with it all those years ago. Kick-ass cover art too!
