By Renny Logan
<[email protected]>

Since its first demo “No Life ’Til Leather,” Metallica has etched itself in the stone tablets of heavy metal history. Emerging in 1981, Metallica established its niche as one of the “Big Four” pioneering bands of a metal subgenre known as thrash. With each of their first four albums, the members displayed their skill at instrumental composition, musical aggression and lyrical mastery.

With its self-titled release, the band changed direction. As it was known, the “black album” reached new heights of commercial success, but inadvertently lost a portion of Metallica’s fan base. Many would reject the new sound because of a reluctance to move past the purity of the band’s thrash roots, while others followed the band on its new path.

Fast-forward 20 years to the recent release of the band’s ninth studio album “Death Magnetic,” a so-called “return to the band’s thrash roots.” To followers of old-school Metallica such as myself, this is a risky statement to make. Purists would find it difficult to fathom that after four progressive metal albums Metallica would – or could – return to the glory of an album like “Ride The Lightning,” one of the best metal albums ever released.

Despite incredulity, Metallica indeed returns to its thrash roots with “Death Magnetic.” At last, the members discovered a delicate equilibrium between the progressive metal sound of the black album and the epic thrash riffs of “Lightning” to create “Death Magnetic.”

In this latest effort, the band took the musical composition signature of the thrash genre and gave it a fluidity of sound. Of course, certain thrash purists might not appreciate the clean and crisp notes, bereft of distortion. The band abandoned the unclean, “we-recorded-this-in-the-basement” distortion that gave the name “thrash” an onomatopoetic quality.

The greatest disappointment, however, resides in the CD’s lyrics. During the band’s thrash reign, Metallica’s lyrics had profound political statements and religious references. The band set up themes and dreamlike stages in its songs; in the title-track “Ride the Lightning,” vocalist James Hetfield sings from the perspective of a criminal sentenced to death: “Death in the air/ strapped in the electric chair/ this can’t be happening to me,/who made you God to say,/‘I’ll take your life from you.’”

In contrast to these mature and poignant lyrics, “Death Magnetic” shows a regression of Hetfield’s lyrical abilities. Replaced by commercial appeal, lyrics of a brazen and rebellious nature have been omitted.

Instead, Hetfield writes lines lacking any real depth; the words sound like a pagan chant of an angst-ridden teenager. In “Cyanide,” Hetfield sings “Empty they say/ Death won’t you let me stay?/ Empty they say/ Death hear me call your name.”

While Metallica lives up to its reputation in regard to musical and compositional ability, the band lyrically falls short of its former glory. New fans will find the CD to be a huge success and no doubt enjoy every minute of it, however, purists would do better to leave this one on the shelf and spare themselves the agony of disappointment.

—

Tone: B
Rhythm: A-
Lyrics: B+
Best Tracks: “Broken, Beaten & Scarred” & “The Day that Never Comes”
Worst Track: “Unforgiven III”
Release Date: Sept. 10
Overall: B