Death Magnetic was released on September 12, 2008. Metallica's ninth studio album, it was the first to be produced by Rick Rubin. It was recorded April 2007–May 2008. It is the band's first studio album to feature current bassist Robert Trujillo. Death Magnetic is also the band's first studio album released through Warner Bros. Records, although they still remain with Warner Music Group, which also owns their previous label, Elektra Records. Outside of North America, they are distributed by Universal Music Group as they remain signed to Vertigo Records in the United Kingdom. The album was well received by fans Read more on Last.fm.
Metallica had endured a tumultous 7 years when they entered the studio to create Death Magnetic. From James Hetfields stint in rehab, the loss of bassist Jason Newsted, the backlash following the experimental St. Anger, and the general belief that the bands creative output was on the verge of drying up, Metallica had more to prove than ever before. No band in metal had reached their heights, sharply divided their fans so categorically and took so many risks sound wise. They were at a croosroads. The echo they heard from the pit was adesire for them to revisit their glory days, the mid-1980′s.
Armed with Rick Rubin at the helm, the most famous metal band in the world set out to revitalize their legacy and re-energize their fanbase. What followed was an album that wound up encompassing every album they’d ever made, even St. Anger (tell me the chorus of the sickly pissed “Cyanide” doesn’t carry Angers signature growl). Hetfield refined his vocal technique, working to again reach the pitch levels of The Black Album. He came close, opting to sing in a slightly lower register. Riff wise, he crafted a vast sonic landscape, as much thrash oriented as it was semi-progressive, filled with quick transitions and mini- break downs, some of which proved more difficult to play than the bands greatest achievement, 1988′s And Justice For All. Kirk Hammet returned to his mammoth speed merchant solos, blasts of fast, ungodly thrash played to order. New bassist Rob Trujillo proved a capable addition to the proceedings, adding his experience with Ozzy Osbourne and Suicidal Tendencies. Lars Ulrich returned to his 80′s self, playing with the same dexterity that built the band from its inception.
The track list is a lean, lean 10 songs, most over the 6 minute mark. The album starts with the corrosive, uncommercial “End Of The Line”. It thrashes from there, resting only for the prog balladry of “Day That Never Comes” and again for the only semi-weak moment, “The Unforgiven 3″, a desperate attempt to unite the never ending story James has been building since 1991. Without the “The Unforgiven 3″, the album would be a 5 star, nine track affair. The back to back intensity of “Cyanide” and “All Nightmare Long” create a pummeling mid section to an already loaded record, each track dishing out elements of both Metallica’s 80′s and 90′s output, uniting both the hard and the heavy. The record winds down strong with the epic instrumental “Suicide And Redemption”, a kind of punk rock stab at progressive structures. It ends explosively with “My Apacolypse”, a throwback to 1986′s Master Of Puppets”.
All in all, Death Magnetic is about rebirth as much as it is about looking to the past. This combination makes it a winner with fans from each era and a return to form for a band that desperately needed to drop all pretenses and rock out. If this record is an indication of things to come, one can only imagine whats next…..I have no clue.