I've heard more of Death Magnetic than I ever needed to. To see all the hype about this album and then be left with this crap...well, I guess I should've expected it. I can't quite say it was disappointing, because that would imply that I'd had high expectations of it in the first place. I suppose I was hoping that it might be good, but somewhere in the back of my mind, I held onto the thought that it would not be good.
At best, this album is dull and monotonous. It sounds like a high school garage band ripping off Metallica, only they're doing it wrong, but they think they're so awesome that they don't care. I haven't heard something so uninspired and unoriginal in ages. It's like everyone in the band is learning how to write songs all over again. But rather than give up like they should have done years ago, Metallica will keep plodding along, trying harder and harder each time to write a subpar album that should never have come to fruition. All for money and to hold onto their "glory" (or what's left of it), no doubt. It's utterly pathetic.
Someone said the album was reminiscent of ...And Justice and Master of Puppets at times. Of course it's reminiscent of those albums: the band has ripped themselves off. The only parts in Death Magnetic's songs that are worth anything are (poorly) recycled and re-loaded from previous albums. Everything else is filler, and incredibly dull.
Maybe I'm being harsh, but dang...this album is not good. It's not terrible, but it's certainly not the 4 of 5 stars that Rolling Stone gave it. To be told that Metallica was heading back to their roots and be given Death Magnetic, it just ain't right.
.. but seriously, if The Day That Never Comes is the absolute worst of the disc, then I'll give the CD a whirl.
