Whether the mastering isn't great or not doesn't really take away from the catchiness and overall good(ness?) of the songs.

Album Rating: 4.5

Yeah, Cliff is one of the best bassists ever, altough Robert is quite damn good...Gonna see them Dec. 15 with Lamb of God, oooo heeeeeeeell yeaaah!!! =)

Album Rating: 3.5

I'd definitely agree with the 3.5. I docked some points for a few reasons. The vocals and lyrics are just horrid. Don't get me wrong, shitty lyrics are par for the course for most metal. I'm used to filtering unintelligible or pompous shit out from both harsh and clean vocals. Yet there is some intangible quality to Hetfield's vocals which makes the terrible lyrics stand out that much more. He's got such a loose and irregular delivery of vocals. There is no cadence which I can get into. Personal gripe.



However, the majority of the music ranges from uninspired to fairly good. I'm glad they have some varied song structures that don't recycle every riff ad nauseum. All in all a step forward.

^ Well said.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Hetfield's vocals on here are fantastic, better than they've been in a long time.

Album Rating: 2.0 | Sound Off

I really hate Hetfield's vocals on this.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

They've got bite, and the higher notes sound great.

Looking back at how awesome he sounded in the 80s, his voice is pretty bad now. But it's expected.

Album Rating: 3.5 | Sound Off

Fuck yeah, dude. I sure as hell don't sound the same as I did twenty years ago- given, I didn't HAVE a voice, or a form, but you get me.This Message Edited On 09.14.08

when you mention the mastering, I dont know if it was just my headphones but when you listen to it with really quality headphones you can hear alot of distortion in the drums on the day that never comes.
Anyone else noticed this?

Album Rating: 4.0

Did you download it? The downloads are worse than the final thing(weird huh?).



I think this is about 3,5 for me now.

Album Rating: 2.5

"Luck. Runs. Out."



I'm still listening to this a lot. Still worth a 4.



That Was Just Your Life and All Nightmare Long are awesome. The rest are also great. Not so happy with the instrumental, although there is a dirtty riff in it.



Unforgiven III is a majopr anti-climx, they should have just named it as something else as it's not really related to it's predecessors IMO. The piano intro is pretty interesting though.

Album Rating: 3.0

Something about the guitar tones in the solos sounds a bit off too...I dunno...the solos actually weren't all that great either IMO...

Album Rating: 1.0

Death Magnetic is a phenominal masterpiece!



....Unfortunately, I can't stand to listen to it. Somewhere in the production, it was over-driven/clipped/distorted/whatever. I'm an audio enthusiast and great music is important to me. I like St. Anger. Sure, it's argueable that the snare drum is obnoxious, but I enjoy that entire album an any volume. It's grungy and gritty, but still free of "over-amplification" and bad distortion. Death Magnetic is also great, but sounds like crap at any volume and in any format (vinyl, cd, mp3, it doesnt' matter - it's all distorted and clipped).



I cannot for the life of me understand how such a big-name band with such a "limitless" recording budget could let this damage occur to all of their hard work. It's quite tragic and I envy those that aren't distracted by the distorted/clipped sound of this album. It has arguably fallen victim to the "Loudness War". I suppose I'll just have to watch for live versions of these songs so I can actually enjoy them. The live version of Cyanide on YouTube sounds great - no distortion/clipping.



In the meantime, I've signed this petition: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/re-mix-or-remaster-death-magnetic.html . Not that I'm holding my breath for it to do any good, but hopefully a "backlash" may perhaps prevent the ruination of anymore great music.



R.I.P. Death Magnetic

Album Rating: 3.5

UBERN00B

Album Rating: 2.5

I agree with what your saying UberN00b, unfortuantely your username makes it really difficult for me to take you seriously hahaha.

Album Rating: 3.5

good review, basically everything i would have said about the new album as well

very nice job dave

Album Rating: 2.5

The snare on St. Anger ranks as one of my top five most annoying sounds in music tbh and I'm sure I'm not alone on that one...but yeah...that whole post made no sense...

Album Rating: 2.5

Agreed with both comments.

Album Rating: 2.5

I don't think it's worth being given a 1 solely for the production, especially if you like the actual music.



To be honest I didn't notice any production problems. I did on the tracks they released early, but I thought it had been fixed for the actual release.

I've yet to fully listen to it through headphones though.