The Day That Never Comes

[Fitzy]

I'll be getting the album as well but that's really only because I am getting that plus a download of the live show included in my ticket I just bought for a show in January that I'll be going to. I've already heard it and I love it. Great album.

[GA!]

Death Magnetic is out in the UK now apparently.

[New Damage]

It shouldn't be, at least not officially, as it is the 12th over here too, as I saw adverts for it during Raw.

You know a band truely is good when they don't need a voice over man to shill it to death by sayign "the fantastic, sensational, magnificent, orgasmic new album!", and they let the music, and only one song at that, do the talking.

Edited September 11, 2008 by TheModernWay

[Liam]

I think with this album, I've realised that I've 'fooled' myself into liking Metallica somewhat.

That's not to say this album isn't good. Yeah, it is pretty good, but I've always been of the opinion that I quite liked Metallica, but the more I think about it, I find it hard to listen to their stuff for any prolonged period of time. They write some good stuff, but I almost start to get a bit apathetic about their stuff otherwise.

It's a return to form from St Anger, but I've just realised that that form doesn't always interest me either.

[GA!]

It shouldn't be, at least not officially, as it is the 12th over here too, as I saw adverts for it during Raw.

It is, I've just bought it.

[Evil Chase K]

Holy shit this is even better than I expected!

10/10

[Robsturgh]

Mid-way through the first listen and I've gotta say, this album seems to be catered specifically to my tastes exactly. Which means Im going to sound very biased (and rightfully so) when I say that I think this might be Metallica's best album. I see what reviewers meant when they said that Kirk has been let off his leash. Hes had about 10 years to learn new styles, and it really shows, he sounds invigorated and completely new. Hetfield sounds brand new and shiny again, obviously not at his best, but the guy is fucking 40 odd and lived a life none of us can even fathom. Lars still hasn't lost it, well on the drums he hasn't at least. And Trujillo seems to be allowed a lot more room to do his thing than Metallica have done in some time. Overall? Yeah, this album is fabulous.

[Evil Chase K]

My review...

1.) That Was Just Your Life - Badass heavy rocker that I have a feeling will open shows on the ensuing tours. Perfect blend of old Metallica (James repeating the last 2 words of a line, softer intro, massive build-up) with New Metallica (dual guitar harmonies, audible bass). Great opener.

Favorite lyric: Like a touch from hell, I feel how hot that it can get if you get caught

Rating: 9/10

2.) The End Of The Line - It's amazing how Metallica can take the intro and breakdown riff from The New Song and make it work 1000x better in a totally different song. Bad ass lyrics that remind me of AJFA. Some of Hetfield's best lyric work in years IMO. Sweet breakdown part that will make this song a "Sing Along With Metallica" staple in their live set for years.

Favorite lyric: Reaper chase the ghost | The lastest high to all time low

Rating: 8.5/10

3.) Broken, Beat And Scarred - Not a fan of the title and the lyrics, to me, leave a lot to be desired but the music kicks ass. It's like Metallica decided to try their hand at being a stoner metal band. It works, but it's not my favorite. The music saves it.

Favorite lyric: You rise, you fall, you're down and you rise again

Rating: 7/10

4.) The Day That Never Comes - You've all heard it. I like it, I actually like the vocal parts better than the ending, but I really like the ending too. That said, almost every song on this record is better than TDTNC.

Favorite lyric: I'll splatter color on this gray

Rating: 7.5/10

5.) All Nightmare Long - Wow. What a groovy song. I can't not bang my head and the chorus has been stuck in my head since I first listened to it last week. Definitely a Metallica fan favorite already.

Favorite lyric: But your luck runs out-tah

Rating: 8.5/10

6.) Cyanide - Joel McIver said this was the weakest of the six songs he heard. He was right, it's the weakest song on the album. That's not to say it's bad, but when compared to the rest of Death Magnetic it sounds like a left over from the Load sessions.

Favorite lyric: It's just the funeral I've been waiting for

Rating: 6.5/10

7.) The Unforgiven III - This is an Unforgiven? It sounds absolutely nothing like it's siblings but that's not a bad thing. It's about time Metallica made an epic sea-faring song. I really like the emotion in Hetfield's voice. Reminds me a lot of I Disappear.

Favorite lyric: This seeking life outside its hell | Inside intoxicating

Rating: 8/10

8.) The Judas Kiss - Holy shit. This could be the absolute #1 fan favorite off the album. From "BOW DOWN!" to "Judas lives..." this song is full of audience participation sequences. The lyrical content, to me, is amazing. I can't think of one bad thing to say about this song.

Favorite lyric: Inside you all so BOW DOWN

Rating: 9.5/10

9.) Suicide & Redemption - Great instrumental. Honestly it's already my second favorite Metallica instrumental (only Orion eclipses it). The sleazy ass riff that dominates this one is a great greasy riff that just slays me.

Rating: 8/10

10.) My Apocalypse - Hearing this one long before the album's release hurt my enjoyment of it. Had I not heard it, and got to the end of the album and got hit with THIS I would've been blown away. It's still a great all out thrasher, but it doesn't have the same effect having heard it before. That said it's a hell of a way to end an album. Especially one as good as this.

Favorite lyric: SPIT IT OUT!

Rating: 8.5/10

OVERALL RATING: Going strictly by numbers we get an 81/100. But this album is so much more than a B-. The lowest of lows is still better than most everything off of St. Anger, and the highest high is right up there on par with the best material written from 1982 - 1991. Death Magnetic is not a return to form. It's a a turn to a new style. Metallica has once again reinvented itself. But this time, it's visage is that much more familiar. 9/10.

Edited September 12, 2008 by Evil Chase K

[fourstarfizzle]

I'm sorry, but no, it sucks severe ass.

It's repeated shit, they've gone back to their old shit because they've done fuck all since. And I don't mean their cool old shit. They tried to re-create it, but it's all that Black Album Load Reload wank again.

Rick Rubin can't perform miracles, and it's been proven.

Edited September 13, 2008 by fourstarfizzle

[New Damage]

So apparently the Sept. 12th worldwide release date was a lie as neither Tesco, Sainsbury's nor Asda had. Don't worry, then had Glasvegas, The Script and Bryn Christopher though... whoever the fuck they are.

[Iain76er]

Have you ever thought about, y'know, buying music anywhere except supermarkets, which market to 40 year old mothers?

[New Damage]

Well I wasn't planning on buying it earlier in the day, just I had to go out looking for something else and decided I was gonna get it whilst I was there. That and there isn't a music shop a la HMV, Zavvi etc. near.

[Lowerdeck]

Well I wasn't planning on buying it earlier in the day, just I had to go out looking for something else and decided I was gonna get it whilst I was there. That and there isn't a music shop a la HMV, Zavvi etc. near.

Order online?

I ordered on Amazon, it arrived on the 12th

[Skummy]

I'm sorry, but no, it sucks severe ass.

It's repeated shit, they've gone back to their old shit because they've done fuck all since. And I don't mean their cool old shit. They tried to re-create it, but it's all that Black Album Load Reload wank again.

Rick Rubin can't perform miracles, and it's been proven.

Thank God someone can see sense. Metallica haven't been anything special for well over a decade, they've just got a lovely habit of releasing something half-decent immediately after they've released something utter wank so that everyone can splurge about it being a "return to form", even though they haven't been "on form" since Master Of Puppets, and even that has aged horribly, and everything before that has aged even worse. It's almost embarassing to see them pandering to some preconceived notion of what people want from them when they're clearly so distanced from their fanbase that they haven't a fucking clue - they figure that people want them to vary their sound a bit, so they release Load and Re-Load - they get quite rightly shat on by the critics and fans alike, so they figure they need to be more aggressive, spend months banging on about how St. Anger is going to be the aggressive side of Metallica back again - not realising that what people actually want is something good - and as soon as the critics hate on St. Anger too (despite the fact that they all jizzed themselves over it when it was first released) they pretend it never happened and bring out the old "oh oh return to form" bullshit for the next album, which just sounds like the same old Black Album shite that thousands of thrash metal bands have been peddling for the last ten years.

Rob Trujillo is the one saving grace of this album, as he's by far the best bassist the band's ever had, and at least they've allowed him to give the songs a bit of a groove beyond the usual formula.

Edited September 14, 2008 by Skummy

[New Damage]

Well I wasn't planning on buying it earlier in the day, just I had to go out looking for something else and decided I was gonna get it whilst I was there. That and there isn't a music shop a la HMV, Zavvi etc. near.

Order online?

I ordered on Amazon, it arrived on the 12th

As I said, wasn't looking to buy it until Saturday. As it turns out Asda have it now, and so do I. I think it's just the awkwardness of it being on a Friday when new charts happen on Sundays and usually new albums out on Mondays.

I'll give my thoughts once I've given it a spin.

EDIT: Well, I've listened to it twice (the majority of the first time, it was fucking up in my PC's CD drive, but was fine in my dad's PC, my PS2 and CD Player) and it's pretty damn great.

I knew The Day That Never Comes before I got it, so I knew I liked that one, gave My Apocalypse and Cyanide one listen when they were available for streaming off their website and those were good too, and I listened to the 3 minute sample of All Nightmare Long off WWE.com.

Anyway, as I said, it's pretty damn great. Unforgiven III, Cyanide, All Nightmare Long, The Day That Never Comes and The Judas Kiss are great. If I'm correct in saying that the 10 minute long Suicide & Redemption is instrumental, that's the only one that lets the side down noticeably. It's not bad, it's just without lyrics, it drags on for way too long for my liking.

Edited September 15, 2008 by TheModernWay

[Lowerdeck]

I've given the album a few listens. Not all that impressed with Unforgiven III so far. The rest I can't complain about.