Perhaps noone is describing why the album is good, because this particular page is more about a pre-view of your opinions of the album, as opposed to a review of the actual album (which you have under another topic). So naturally, the responses are going to be in reply to you judging the album prior to it’s release, the most common being others’ opinion that you are biased to the release (as this article is a negative review prior to reviewing it).

So perhaps those that wish to argue that the album is good, should post on the topic where Cole has reviewed the album and not this one.

Alternatively, perhaps replies to this pre-view should be reserved to people debating Cole’s article and not the album itself.

Cut the crap about music being something that is felt. Give me a break. This whole tirade you just wrote is about how much you like it and how much you disagree with me and how stupid I am but nothing about WHY its good. I explained in my article WHY I didn’t like it and why I think its crap. No one has said anything to me about why its GOOD. Everyone just talks about how I’m biased and an asshole. Tell me, why is this album good? “Its their best album in 20 years.” Why?
And how does my comment about Enemy Of God make me dim? That is a thrash album, Death Magnetic isn’t. Its just a harder version of Reload. They haven’t recreated a thing at all. The solos are fairly typical, they cool riffs get played for so long that it gives a feel that they had NO clue where they were going during the writing process, the lyrics are abysmal and all about James (surprise, surprise!) and Lars’ drumming is just inexcusable. Metallica was a great thrash band and now they aren’t.
Whats sad about all of this is that you’re going to comeback call me an idiot, naive and dim. You’re not gonna address any of my points for more than maybe 6 words and walk away feeling like you’ve beaten me in a debate without even putting up an argument. Just like EVERYONE else that does not like my views. Which further proves my point that this band could release an album called “Our Fans Are Retarded” and it could be an album completely full of hip-hop mashups and every Metallica fan would be salivating over it.

Fair enough Death Magnetic isn’t a thrash album. Fair enough if some people don’t like it. Fair enough, even, that Metallica used to be a metal band.

However, one thing that sprang to mind recently, is why do they have an expectation to be Metal? Why do they get compared to Testament, and Kreator? Is Metallica claiming to be a thrash band? Is Metallica even claiming to be Metal?

You could say that, in the name alone, therein lies the answer. But are the members of Tool, tools? Do they like to resemble a shifting spanner, or ratchet? Do the Eagles of Death Metal resemble anything close to their title?

In Australia we have a music video program called Rage. It plays from around 11pm at night until 9am the next morning, and usually features “guests” or bands who program that night’s playlist.

One thing I remembered from long ago when Metallica programmed Rage, was that I didn’t really like much of the music they programmed. Their tastes appeared to be nothing like the music they were producing. This also reminded me of a quote by Silverchair frontman Daniel Johns, who said something along the lines of “I don’t want to write and play the music I listen to, or make music that I want to listen to, I want to make music that is an expression of myself. That I am expressing myself through the music I create”.

This struck me as quite poignant when you compare this to the majority of bands and musicians that are around these days. I guess it is a natural thing for people to do, but the musicians I have met and bands I have seen these days all seem to write music that is like the music they listen to. It is granted that we take influence from what we ingest through our senses, however upon further review, it could be considered quite contrived.

All the metal bands these days listen to metal. Kreator and Testament probably got a large part of their influence from Metallica (amongst others). However It has always seemed that Metallica’s music has been almost a coincidence of sorts. Their influences tend to involve mostly old-school rock’n'roll, as well as blues and jazz. I don’t get the impression that they would listen to thrash metal regularly as a point of pleasure and draw influence from it. Wheras I get the impression that Kreator and Testament would.

Perhaps this is the biggest gap in perception between the people who are fans of Metallica and Metallica themselves. Metallica’s album’s changed significantly after …And Justice For All. Do we have to like it? No. Is it surprising? Not really.

As a musician, my tastes change, and invariably these changes in Taste find their way into my musical expression, and in many cases for musicians – creating a side project to manifest those different tastes, is not an option.

Perhaps the problem is two-fold. Metallica changed because the musicians behind the music changed. They kept doing what they do, making music that they wanted to make. However the audience who is now part of the genre that Metallica helped substantiate – being metal, now wants to listen to Metal. They make metal and want Metallica to be Metal.

Then along comes Rick Rubin who says, hey fellas, the last more-than-a-few albums weren’t really metal. Everyone wants you to be metal. You even have Metal in your name. C’mon…I mean c’mon.

Then Metallica have written a Metal record, when evidently their tastes and influences aren’t a part of that genre.

I’ll admit, that Death Magnetic is quite contrived. I don’t think it’s bad, but for me, I actually prefer the majority of Load. It was more creative, had more fervor and passion behind it. They weren’t “trying” to be or do anything. They were just letting their influences at the time come through their instruments.

Metallica is always going to be a heavy(or harder) band, because that’s what they like to play, however their influences have passed on from heavy music, creating quite an intresting juxtaposition.

Perhaps it’s time that the listeners move on and stop expecting Metallica to be a reflection of their own(the listener’s) tastes, and just like any other CD you find in a store. Try it out, if you like it, buy it. Id you don’t, don’t.

I guess i’m pondering over why people are expecting Metallica to compete with Testament and Kreator when it is quite obvious to me now, that Metallica don’t really like Metal, or thrash metal at-least, whereas, Testament and Kreator are still as much a part of the thrash scene as they ever were.

However, perhaps the better option after …And Justice for All or the self-titled album would have been to take a hiatus and release albums under a different name, to remove that expectation that seems to be their biggest selling point, as well as their biggest achilles heel.