[sy2004]

A perfect review of this thing some call an album:

The life cycle of Metallica can easily be compared with that of a company. As start-up they were bursting with energy and enthusiasm and launched three breakthrough products that established their name. After an unexpected personnel change, the direction shifted slightly, but "…And Justice For All" was still very good and propelled them to international success. The 'Black' album promoted Metallica to global corporate and since then consolidation has become the standard. The enthusiasm and genuine creativity from the early years became a rare feature. In the 21st century, the conglomerate Metallica survived a monstrous product (‘St. Anger’) but rehabilitated themselves with ‘Death Magnetic’. Thanks to the massive downloading and fragmentation within the hard rock and metal genre, no band managed to oust Metallica from their throne as most popular metal band. A joint venture with Lou Reed needs to help Metallica’s fight against their faltering creativity.

Analogous to a global advertising campaign, the tension has been carefully built up by first releasing the concept and photographs by Anton Corbijn release, then the cover design, and finally the names of the songs and their lyrics. On paper, the cooperation between elderly rock rebel Lou Reed and Metallica looked at least intriguing. The story from 1913 by the German playwright Frank Wedekind about the life of an abused dancer seemed to provide sufficient points for a great musical adventure. Guitarist Kirk Hammett raised expectations by stating that the band has been spontaneous for the first time in twenty years and gave the album high marks for creativity. Now the album is finally, we can own judge ourselves.

‘Brandenberg Gate’ kicks off the double album with a rather slow beat. Lou Reed’s recitative presentation of the lyrics requires some adjustment, but after several spins still proves to more a nuisance than an enhancement. A talking Lou Reed is however bearable, his singing voice is downright awful. He sings out of tune and often appalling bad. ‘The View’ sounds like a recording from Metallica’ garage days sessions. Basically it is just a collection of riffs that go nowhere and sounds like a warming up tune by a roadie. Reed’s vocals are again terrible. As soon as Hetfield takes over the vocals the song becomes enjoyable. ‘Pumping Blood’ has a trademark staccato riff and an intermezzo in which Reed reads his poetry-like lyrics. After some experimental drumming the song ends in a mess. On ‘Mistress Blood’ we hear a thrash riff that could have come off ‘Kill em all’. Unfortunately Reed’s vocal performance again ruins everything. On the fifth song the bar is set even lower with a bunch of chords that sound like practice material for new songs. ‘Cheat On Me’ has a slow start, develops into a soundscape during which Lou Reed reads aloud. Not until the final quarter the song kicks into motion. The eight minutes that follow are aptly called ‘Frustration’. The next low point is called ‘Little Dog’ and is extremely boring. Is this the band that once ignited the Aardschokdag festival and released classics like ‘Ride The Lightning’ and ‘Master of Puppets’? ‘Dragon’ is one of the most experimental songs and starts so bad that you’re running to the skip-button. It’s just resonance with the out of tune voice of Reed. The second half of the song is better, but way too monotonous. ‘Junior Dad’ closes this epic failure in style.

Metallica deserves credit for this bold step, but also massive criticism for the disappointing and downright awful results. A positive point is the production. Metallica hasn’t had a production in which guitar, bass and drums sounded sharp, deep and clear in quite some time. Such a production would have made ‘Death Magnetic’ a lot stronger. This is not the avant-garde masterpiece we hoped for, but unbearable garbage. This is audio food for masochists. The band reputation is down the drain (again) and they will have to come up with a very strong album to wash the aftertaste of this epic failure away.

http://www.lordsofmetal.nl/showrevie...=20224&lang=en