My turn to start one of these things. And the starting topic is going be Metallica's new album "Death Magnetic". Due out officially on Friday, here's a review for those of you who might want to acquire Metallica's latest creation, song by song.

1.That Was Just Your Life(7:08)- The first thing I notice about this song is that the opening riff sounds kinda like the opening riff of the theme song to "Beast Wars:Transformers". Which is a good omen, because that show kicked ass. The 2nd thing I notice is that this isn't St.Anger. And thank god for that. The snare drum is reduced and it blends into the song instead of completely overpowering it. This is a good song and a nice opener. A sign that maybe, just maybe this album might not suck.

2.The End of the Line(7:52)/3.Broken, Beat & Scarred(6:25)- The reason I put these two songs together is because they kinda blend together. There isn't anything that stands out about them. That's not to say they are bad songs, just simply kinda meh. But still miles better than anything that was on St.Anger.

4.The Day That Never Comes(7:56)- This is the first single that Metallica released on their website a few weeks back. After listening to it a few times, I've revised my opinion. It's a pretty good song. The first few minutes are a little weak and there's section where we hear this: "Love is a four letter word, and never spoke here. Love is a four letter word, here in this prison." Really Metallica? Love is a four letter word? Really? Ugh. But just when you think this song is heading towards shitsville, you hit the 5:00 mark and.........a Guitar Solo! Holy shit a guitar solo! I didn't think Metallica did those anymore! And it's an awesome solo at that. It takes you through the rest of the song and just kicks ass. I think this is Kirk Hammet unleashing some frustration from the last album.

5.All Nightmare Long(7:58)- This song starts off alright for the first 30 seconds or so. You're listening to it and thinking "Hmm, this is decent." and then you hit the :37 mark.....BAM! The song grabs you by the throat and shoves you into a fucking wall! This song is vintage Metallica. It's hard, it's fast, it's thrash, it's fucking metal! This song could be straight off Ride the Lighting and you wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Bottom line: An awesome song that could be in the top 10 of Metallica's library when it's all said and done. Awesome!

6.Cyanide(6:39)- I didn't really like this song for some reason. It's not an abomination or anything, but it wasn't something I really reacted too all that much. I don't know, maybe it'll sound better after I listen to it a few more times.

7.The Unforgiven III(7:46)- This is the song that I was worried about. Song sequels rarely work(some notable exceptions being Megadeth's Hangar 18 and Return to Hangar) and The Unforgiven II sucked. And I swore if I heard Hetfield utter the words "And I'm Unforgiven THREEEEEEEEE!!!" I was going to delete the entire Metallica library from my computer and set fire to every CD I have. But he doesn't, in fact the word Unforgiven doesn't appear at all in this song. The word forgive does a few times though. All and all, a decent song, but I'm hoping this is the end of the Unforgiven story.

8.The Judas Kiss(8:00)- This is probably my 2nd favorite song on the album. Good riffs, good lyrics, and a nice solo. Just an excellent all around song.

9.Suicide & Redemption(9:57)- This one is an instrumental and it's a good one. It isn't as epic as The Call to Ktulu or Orion, but it's still a good song. The longest song on the album(though instrumentals generally are).

10.My Apocalypse(5:01)- Lars starts to turn the snare drum up again at some points, but it doesn't get too obnoxious. Overall a solid song to close the album out with.



You'll notice that this album is really long, ending up at just under an hour and 15 minutes for 10 songs.Damn.Overall, I enjoyed Death Magnetic. Easily the best album Metallica has done since ...And Justice For All, in fact it's close to being it's equal. It proves that while Metallica's best days are obviously behind them, the rumors of their demise were certainly premature. If you are a Metallica fan or just a metal fan in general, this album is certainly worth your money or your bandwidth.