Death Magnetic

Death Magnetic is a work on which METALLICA again brought long construction, sharply developing riffs and heavy rhythm to the front. James Hetfield’s singing holds both aggression and fatigue, strongly conveying the unease within the songs. With producer Rick Rubin and Robert Trujillo officially on bass, the band returned to its early thrash-like impulse. Fast thrash-like passages and slow, dragging heaviness intersect, and each song proceeds while keeping great tension. The dramatic development of “The Day That Never Comes,” the racing of “All Nightmare Long” and the constructive beauty of the instrumental “Suicide & Redemption” show the band’s fullness. Songs like “That Was Just Your Life” and “My Apocalypse” have a ferocity recalling the early days too. Rather than reproducing the early impulse as is, sounding it as a weight that has passed through a long history, it is a powerful comeback work.