What hasn’t already been said about Metallica’s new single “The Day That Never Comes?” Well, generally nothing really, but I’ll attempt to give the All Metal Resource perspective.

First and foremost, for Metallica to acquire any semblance of their once prestigious reputation, they need to oust Lars Ulrich or split up. James Hetfield, Kirk Hammet and Rob Trujillo are all talented musicians no matter how you shake it, but Lars Ulrich has, at best, been able to keep rythym for the entirety of his career. The man is often cited as being a top drummer in not only metal, but rock music in general, yet his skills pale in comparison to virtually any of his professional equals. In this new single of theirs from the upcoming album Death Magnetic, Lars single handedly brings down the level of an otherwise good song with fills that one would expect from a first or second year drummer, not that of a veteran from one of the world’s biggest bands.

As I alluded to, if it weren’t for Lars “Sticks of Gold” Ulrich, The Day That Never Comes would definitely be a step in the right direction for the band. While people can nitpick all day about how the riffs (including Kirk’s solo) are rehashed from previous songs, the bottom line is the band is writing METALLICA songs, not that other band that somehow popped up in Metallica’s place 18 years ago. Does this mean I suggest buying this record? Realistically….no, the band has to do better than that. However, you have to give just deserves for effort, and this song represents effort, however mild it may be.