Review of Death Magnetic by Metallica

After the release of St. Anger, which was said to be written largely by Metallica frontman James Hetfield during his stint in rehab for his alcohol addiction, fans began to wonder what the future would hold for the band. Since the release of Metallica, more widely known as "The Black Album", hardcore fans began to believe that Metallica had "sold out" to commercialism and mainstream rock. Their days of true, soulful heavy metal appeared to be behind them. Many fans, including myself, began holding their breath as soon as the band announced the release of what would become Death Magnetic.

However, once tracks from the new album began playing on the radio, we optimists were able to let out a sigh of relief.

When I first heard the single "The Day that Never Comes", I jokingly said that the album should have been called "The Kirk Hammett Show". To me, a die-hard Metallica fan, the vocals of James Hetfield sounded much different than ever before. While Kirk Hammett puts on what I think is one of his best performances ever, I quickly grew to like what Hetfield and the rest of the boys had to offer to Death Magnetic.

As is appropriately demonstrated by "The Day that Never Comes", Death Magnetic is the "missing link" between Metallica and earlier albums such as Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All. Metallica is able to prove that they can keep up with the times and still maintain their sense of what is metal. The name of the album, however, left me in question. To be honest, it sounded kind of cheesey. I since have stumbled upon this quote by James Hetfield regarding the decision of the title:

"Death Magnetic, at least the title, to me started out as kind of a tribute to people that have fallen in our business, like Layne Staley and a lot of the people that have died, basically - rock and roll martyrs of sorts. And then it kind of grew from there, thinking about death... some people are drawn towards it, and just like a magnet, and other people are afraid of it and push away. And the concept that we're all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about - no one wants to bring it up; it's the big white elephant in the living room. But we all have to deal with it at some point."

All in all, Metallica was able to find a balance between modern rock and "heavy as hell". When I heard Metallica play "The Day that Never Comes" in Des Moines, Iowa just a few months ago, I confidently said to myself, "Yeah...they're back..."