Metallica Re-Emerges, Slightly Broken, Somewhat Beat, Definitely Scarred

noah | September 11, 2008 10:00 am

Our look at the zingers that close out the biggest and most important new-music reviews continues with a roundup of reactions to Metallica’s latest comeback effort, Death Magnetic, which comes out in the States tomorrow (and has apparently hit shops in the UK a day early):

• The best parts of Death Magnetic verge on frantic, the band maintaining its instrumental dexterity at death-defying speeds. They are four guys who have become a brand name trying to remember what Metallica used to sound like, and they get about halfway there. The question becomes how they’ll be able to duplicate some of this material night after night on tour. Given the band’s tumultuous recent history, it’s a nice problem to have. [Chicago Tribune, which, curiously, also recommended superior metal albums]

• “Is this a brief eruption in what has been a 15-year downward trajectory? Perhaps, but the fiery signs of life on Death Magnetic could go a long way to helping Metallica reclaim its rightful place among the metal elite.” [AP]

• “Once Metallica became vulnerable, they never recovered. Death Magnetic is a meditation on death–but so is every other Metallica record. The best ones spit in the face of death; this album instead finds aging men trying to reclaim their youth.” [Pitchfork]

• “But 
the speed-freak growls of the rest of Magnetic match the band’s Olympian vigor. And if the disc distracts prickly fans from filling message boards with arguments about whether 1988’s …And Justice for All or 1991’s'”black album was Metallica’s last good record, well, could 
 it serve any higher public good?” [EW]

• “But if you ignore the lyrics, Death Magnetic sounds more like it’s about coming back to life. Everything comes together on the fan-favorite-to-be ‘Broken, Beat and Scarred,’ which manages to channel the full force of Metallica behind a positive message: ‘What don’t kill ya make ya more strong,’ Hetfield sings, with enough power to make the cliché feel fresh. The aphorism he paraphrases happens to come from Nietzsche’s Twilight of the Idols, which is subtitled How to Philosophize With a Hammer. Metallica’s philosophizing may get shaky — but long may that hammer strike. ” [RS]

Tags: