Death Magnetic (Special Ediiton Coffin Box Set) - Metallica

...song in the context of Death Magnetic, but it sits in the lower tier of this CD. So when this album hit, people really weren't expecting the shocker of an album I have here in my hands (Shocking in both very good and bad ways)!

So that brings me onto my humongous review of the album after my brief history lesson, first I will talk a bit about the sound of the album and sum it up with one word. Yes, you got that right, ONE WORD!
...the albums main topic is Death and Suicide, hence the dirty dark production and evil sound we have on this CD.
The chorus that blows 'Enter Sandman' off the face of the earth astonishingly catches you out at 2 minutes and 24 seconds "Hunt you down without mercy, hunt you down all nightmare long. Feel us breathe upon your face. Feel us shift, every move we trace…." This is unbelievable, probably their best chorus from at least the ... more

So, here we are, well and truly into 2009. After a lengthy wait of 5 years since Metallica's previous and widely criticised effort, 'St Anger', the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse finally return with an album that gives more than anyone could have ever imagined.

'Death Magnetic', Metallica's 9th studio album (12th if you include the non-studio albums 'S&M', 'Live S***t Binge and Purge' and the covers album 'Garage Inc.') was officially released on Friday 12th September 2008. But it physically leaked by being sold a few days early in France. So the official release actually changed to combat torrents and pirate copies of the album, which were already emerging days before the street date as poor quality MP3 rips online.
The UK saw Zavvi (RIP) and HMV bump the release to the afternoon on Wednesday 10th September, breaking the street date in the UK by almost two days. The US began filling their shelves on Wednesday/Thursday, but refused to sell 'Death Magnetic' to any customers until the 12th. The question is, what has this illegal activity done for the album? Well, the pirated MP3's floating around the internet have, if anything, helped to boost sales as the forum at Metllicabb.com was crammed with fans downloading and hearing the album (All illegal of course). The average comment though, was along the lines of "Man this is awesome, amazing… I'm buying a copy of this classic." So there you go, those that left Metallica, or shunned them after 'St Anger', were downloading the MP3's and were so impressed that the album purchase was unquestionable. I forced myself to stay away from all of this, struggling not to click on the official album tracks stream links that opened on Metallica.com a week or so before the 12th, but I gave in and listened to 8 out of the 10 tracks.

I had ordered my copy of the album in August via the band's clever marketing/promotion website for 'Death Magnetic' called 'Mission:Metallica'. Again, just as the leaked MP3's, 'Mission:Metallica' has certainly helped boost sales of the new album by showing us brief snippets of guitar & bass riffs, drum parts, vocal lines and an insight into the mastering and recording process of 'Death Magnetic'. My version of the album happens to be the limited edition Coffin Boxset, which I will review as a whole package following my detailed analysis of the tracklisting further into my review. Suffice to say, it arrived at my door promptly before 9am on the 12th, I must say I felt like big kid as I tore the packaging apart when I got home from work that day.

Metallica, after touring heavily following the 'St Anger' album in the 'Madly In Anger With The World' tour, decided to begin writing a new album and hit the studio around 2006 with Rick Rubin in command. This marked a departure for the band from the Hard Rock/Grunge days of the 90's that the then producer, Bob Rock had overseen in the 15 or so years Mr Rock had spent with Metallica culminating with St. Anger. The announcement that Rick Rubin would be at the helm, was greeted with much enthusiasm as he has previously worked with successful metal artists such as Danzig, Slayer, Slipknot, System of a Down and Rage Against the Machine (Renegades). Rubin has produced what are regarded as very good albums for those bands. Of course moving away from Bob was looked upon as a good move by the early Metallica adopters, some of which haven't particularly enjoyed their 90's releases with '…And Justice For All' generally being their last favourite Metallica recording.

Over the next few years Metallica spent a mixture of time in the studio, and plenty of tours around the world. They briefly played two new songs in some of the 2006 dates, which the fans and myself had VERY mixed feelings towards (Small parts of these two songs have been used on 'Death Magnetic', but the tracks were mostly scrapped). Things really picked up around May 2008 when 'Mission:Metallica' finally went live. The album's release suddenly seemed much closer, with a tentative September 2008 release date scheduled, and a minute of palm mutted riffing via a teaser trailer (From the track 'The Judas Kiss'). Then, much later at Ozzfest 2008 after 'Mission:Metallica' had really hit it's stride, Metallica debuted 'Cyanide', one of 'Death Magnetic's' 10 tracks. Interest in the band quickly increased at this point, the forums were bursting at the seams with comments in response to a fan having uploaded his personal footage of the new song on YouTube. To say 'Cyanide' is one of the weaker tracks is more than quite right, it's a superb song in the context of Death Magnetic, but it sits in the lower tier of this CD. So when this album hit, people really weren't expecting the shocker of an album I have here in my hands (Shocking in both very good and bad ways)!

So that brings me onto my humongous review of the album after my brief history lesson, first I will talk a bit about the sound of the album and sum it up with one word. Yes, you got that right, ONE WORD!

'Death Magnetic' has an overall feel of the band back in their stride, much as they were on '…And Justice For All' and most critically 'Master of Puppets'. But, to say this album is a classic like 'Master of Puppets' would be a wrong assumption, as it is in a much different league of it's own (But it will certainly be a Classic album, both for positive and negative reactions, no doubt there). Metallica have grown since their 80's incarnation, and have released an album that encompasses everything they have learned in the 25+ years they have been around.
There are moments of Thrashed out metal akin to the feisty 'Kill Em All', 'Ride', 'Puppets' and 'Justice' era, believe me the album opener is the best since 'Blackened' and comes close to it's majesty. Then there's bag's of dual guitar harmonies akin to Iron Maiden, Kirk Hammett is absolutely on fire on this record, like he's been locked in a closet and found some way of getting out, unleashing the most brutal twisting harmonies and solo's I've heard from him in a long time, even though he does seriously abuse the WAH WAH.
Then there's Rob, who rather unfortunately only adds colour and warmth to the songs, and is a little hard to distinguish once things get going (Due to a significant issue with the CD that I will be explaining much later!) but there is no doubt he is a great basist and has much to add to Metallica's sound and future as a unit.
Lar's drum sound is far greater than that of 'St Anger' although still mixed a bit too high up in the mix (Some of the double bass kicks fade off in the background, whilst other hits or slams are louder than a roar of thunder). I'm pleased to say there's none of that abysmal headache inducing pounding reverb from the St. Anger mix, and finally the Snare's are back on.
James Hetfield fires off a barrage of intense 'Justice' like moshpit riffola almost right through the albums 75 minutes, and his vocals are top notch on this one with gruff aggressive tones, harmonies and some lighter delicate singing. There are a multitude of interwoven Load/ReLoad like segments and beautifully melodic clean guitar parts that break up the lengthy thrashed out bits and even some Hellish 'Slayer' like riffage in some areas. There are fantastic harmonies and a chorus as big, if not bigger than 'Enter Sandman' in the song 'All Nightmare Long' when it shockingly kicks in and unexpectedly knocks you off your feet.

Right, so the one word to sum the new album would have to be: "EPIC!"

But it's not all perfect, more on this specific, and very irritating problem much, much later….CLIP

Onto my track by track review, 'Death Magnetic' clocks in at 74 minutes and 46 seconds, the ten tracks are rather lengthy, especially 'Suicide and Redemption' clocking in at 9 minutes and 57 seconds. So we're properly back to the "…And Justice For All" track lengths and structuring, although 'St Anger' tried this, it was a complete failure as the songs quickly became boring with their repetitive nature, missing solo's, damn awful drum sound and lacklustre pained vocals. Here though, it will take many listens to fully appreciate this album as there is so much going on and it's all cohesive. But above all, it is a complete joy from start to finish which I'm sure most of you are more than pleased to hear.

Metallica are back boys and girls, and are about to prove they are the most important metal band on the planet with their new statement 'Death Magnetic' (It's debatable, but after hearing this or seeing them live, you'll be stupid to say they aren't back at the top of their dominating game once again, just as they were in their live shows between 1988 and 1992).

Push play and the album opens with 'That Was Just Your Life' to the sound of a pumping heartbeat, after a few seconds of this 'Chaos A.D.' 'Sepultura'-like beat, some clean guitars with a slight watery sound effect play quite a disturbing intro passage, it's the darkest sound the band have produced in a long time. Suddenly, and out of nowhere massive staccato riff's erupt in pulses with Lar's ear shattering drums crashing beneath the remains.
Wow, harmonies galore, Kirk begins interplaying with the clean and overdriven guitar riff from James, as a slow fully overdriven riff pushes the crowd out of the way with a few drum fills in another musical passage. At 1 minute and 38 seconds we're sent off into O.M.G. territory, O.M.G. indeed as a riff I would say that is on par with the great biting metal riff from 'Blackened', blasts out at a pace these guys haven't managed since that awesome song. It's on fire, my stereo is on fire… it just can't handle this awesome thrash…you're jaw will hit the floor!
Lasting 7 minutes and 8 seconds, this is no walk in the park "Like a siren in my head that always threatens to repeat, like a blind man that is strapped into the speeding drivers seat…" James is as quick as a lightning strike in his battering ram of vocals forced through the speakers at great speed. 'That Was Just Your Life' is a very aggressive song with the verse riff moving around the fretboard quite a bit. Lars's drums dance away under the guitars with sparkly cymbal and hi-hat crashes "I open just in time to say good bye".
The chorus comes in, and is quite melodic with some minor harmonies as full open chords are abused with bites and crunches flung out "Almost like your life, almost like your endless fight. Curse the day is long, Realize you don't belong. Disconnect somehow, never stop the bleeding now. Almost like your fight. And there it went, almost like your life." We get some rotation over certain parts of the song with repetition of the chorus, pre-chorus and verses. Suddenly twin guitar harmonies torment the listener 4 minutes and 27 seconds into the song, building up in harmony until the band are pummelling major palm muting in unison, which in turn usher in a frantic solo from Kirk. Why wasn't this song called 'Frantic' and the opener on St. Anger? oh joy, at least we have this almighty thrasher…

'The End Of The Line' blasts out of the stereo lasting 7 minutes and 52 seconds, not quite 'The End Of the Line' then? It almost immediately follows hot on the heels of 'TWJYL'. The mightily heavy intro riff is just about the only part of 'The New Song' that was performed during Metallica's tour in 2006 that appears on the album in any shape or form. Luckily this was the best part of the song in question, as the original quickly fell silently under the radar once the intro was out of he way.
At 43 seconds into the song, the main riff crashes in and then bursts into rushing pace and fury "Need…more and more, tainted misery. Bleed…battle scars, chemical affinity…" These are some great lines from Hetfield, he continues to wonder "Scorch…kill the light, incinerate celebrity. Reaper…butchery, karma amputee…" aggressive, angry, nasty…that's what this is, and it's great to hear this channelled at the listener. You'll be moshing in your bedroom, with that air guitar or headbanging on your headphones, annoying your boss!
Again, twin guitar harmonies shatter the remains and butcher the rest of the song, then as if something evil lurks, torturous tormented twisting harmonies from Kirk absolutely stun and impress, wow shock and awe, shock and awe!!!
At 5 minutes 51 seconds things calm down to a delicate Load/ReLoad level, like a clever lullaby you fall into its trap as it slides back into the aggressive pounding metal "Say good bye, cause you've reached the end of the line." Oh yeah!!!!

'Broken, Beat & Scarred' sees Metallica hitting a power groove with plenty of palm muting parts and giant metallic riffs forcing you to strike a madmans pose with your fists pummelling the air. Perfectly titled, you get just what you'd expect from this song "You rise. You fall. You're down, then you rise again. What don't kill ya make ya more strong." declares Sgt. Hetfield with his battle cries "Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming, Show…Your…Scars." My God, on first listen you can't fail to smile, the groove will infiltrate your system and force you onto your feet…think ya look cool ha?!
Lars is in some kind of monster mode, driving his drums into the ground, those skins must be mightily worn out by the end of recording this one…More intense riffs come in, while rotation occurs with the verse and chorus, Robs bass can be heard thundering his own groove underneath, then the magically aggressive spiky tones of Kirk's lead guitar blind the listener with barbaric intensity. "We die hard." Cries Hetfield as the song hammers away and closes out in style.

'The Day That Never Comes' was the first single off of 'Death Magnetic', it is very similar in composure to 'One' from 'Justice'. It begins with an elegant clean guitar on higher notes which will send shivers down your spine. Eventually Kirk adds a layer of sweet melodic fuzz, and then James rolls into the verse with much lower but still clean notes from his guitar. It has an 'aftermath of war' feel, which fits the topic of the song perfectly. Soon Lars joins and after a short instrumental, James finally open's his lungs and begins singing "Born to push you around, better just stay down. You pull away, he hits the flesh, you hit the ground…" in the verse which is chock full of melody, but about a soldiers battle on the field with his emotions and dealing with what is or isn't a possible enemy or innocent bystander, an instant decision could be disastrous.
Roll on the chorus, and we get our first taste of crunch from the guitars in this track "The day that never comes, when you stand up and feel the warmth. But the son shine never comes. No, the son shine never comes." We get some clever word play from James here, although most thought this was an overlooked spelling mistake in the lyrics, thinking it was intended to be 'sunshine' not 'son shine'.
Just as the classic 'One' eventually erupted in it's second half with the legendary "Landmine…" part, we get a metallic riff from the boys at around 4 minutes in like a sudden swing of the mighty old battle axe that's layered with Lar's pounding drums "Love…Is a four letter word, and never spoken here." Wow, this is very uplifting and headbang inducing, getting right under your skin! This is another lengthy one, and that lucky number seven has cropped up once again, we get 7 minutes and 56 seconds of this marvellous song, made more visceral via its lyrical content and the accompanying video which marks a departure from some of the bands older videos.
One issue many will have with this song is that the latter part of the track gets itself far beyond the capabilities of the waveform at several points and the sound near enough collapses under the stress in what could be attributed to the sound of a thousand mumbling tramps. That ain't so good!

'All Nightmare Long', another 7 minute wonder is already being regarded as one of the bands classic songs via a poll on 'Metallica's' forum. Lasting a mighty 7 minutes and 57 seconds and beginning with a similar sounding clean guitar to the opening of 'That Was Just Your Life' but far darker sounding, it's not long before we are thrashing on a pulsating riff and beats, and then off on a majestic marching drive. Riff after riff after riff and they are all great, we get a strange and slow very 80's metal style segment where James gruffly says "Luck… Runs…. Out." (Hear the VERY different sounding Guitar Hero III version, and you'll probably feel sick from the 'Iron Man' like robotic vocals of 'Luck, Runs, Out!') As James puts "Crawl from the wreckage one more time, horrific memory twists the mind. Dark, rutted, cold and hard to turn. Path of destruction, feel it burn." this is powerful stuff. But for the most part and just as the album title suggests, the albums main topic is Death and Suicide, hence the dirty dark production and evil sound we have on this CD.
The chorus that blows 'Enter Sandman' off the face of the earth astonishingly catches you out at 2 minutes and 24 seconds "Hunt you down without mercy, hunt you down all nightmare long. Feel us breathe upon your face. Feel us shift, every move we trace…." This is unbelievable, probably their best chorus from at least the last 15 years, great stuff.
Kirk lines up his sniper guitar and takes his shot, instantly unleashing carnage from the explosive barrel he's just hit, this is awesome, why was he not given his chance on St. Anger damn it?! At 5 minutes and 21 seconds Metallica drop a metal riff that will leave all guitarists hairs standing on their necks, it's magnificent and a welcome bridge, shame it didn't go a bit further (Short and sweet I guess). A second spiralling guitar solo interplays with the underlying bark of a riff which snaps back into a pummelling section driven by Lars's drum kit which is sounding as if it were the size of a ten storey building, we then get a double whammy punch to the face as we spit out the blood in the shape of that awesome chorus to help close the track.

'Cyanide' is a great modern sounding 'Metallica' song, what we should expect if Metallica hadn't decided to look back into their past for their inspiration on 'Death Magnetic'. It stands out a little though as there's nothing else quite like it on here. Beginning with a riff that can easily be described as a metal version of an S-O-S distress signal, the song thunders in after Robs bass and Lars's drums have pounded out a brief segment together following that S-O-S riff. James comes in at this point, with a descending riff that ends in short bites after a few power chords and finally spits upon the mike "Sleep and dream of this, Death Angel's kiss, Brings final bliss…" we get some movement after the verse in the shape of several drum fills from Lars, then Hetfield cries "Ohhh… Call your name." We are battling in this segment, then a barbed Slayer like riff calls out to you as Hetfield declares "Suicide…I've already died. You're just the funeral I've been waiting for…Cyanide…Living dead inside. Break this empty shell forever more."
At three minutes there are a vast number of repeating drum fills and staccato bites, before we're finally sent off on a clean guitar riff with a beautiful 'Middle Eastern' sound reminiscent of Load/ReLoad "Say, is that rain or are they tears? That has stained your concrete face for years. The crying, weeping, shedding strife. Year after year, life after life…" This is really great, we get some repetition of some of the earlier parts of the song, even a near blast beat from Lars Ulrich! Eventually the song comes to a close with Hetfield singing the following "It's just the funeral I've been waiting for." over the dying S-O-S riff.

Then we get ourselves audibly involved in the final part of the trilogy that is the 'Unforgiven III' which begins with a beautiful but very simple piano segment with minor symphonic harmony that as per the intro in 'The Day That Never Comes', is guaranteed to send shivers down your spine, create a tear in the corner of your eye, or bring your emotions flooding right to the surface. This is possibly the best in the trilogy of songs, but 'The Unforgiven' from the 'Black Album' slightly pips it to the post in my eyes, due to its unique and very satisfying guitar riff.
Heavier than the 'Unforgiven II' but still in the realm of balladry, 'Unforgiven III' begins on a clean guitar riff which seems to retain the moving beautiful sadness of the opening piano. We then fire off on an overdriven bluesy riff as Hetfield sings "How could he know this new dawn's light would change his life forever? Set sail for sea, but pulled off course by the light of golden treasure…" We then build layers and eventually hit the powerful chorus at …. "How can I be lost, if I've got nowhere to go? Search for seas of gold, how come it's got so cold...."
We feel more and more uplifted as the song progresses on, and we genuinely get a mental image as if we are at sea, struggling to search for that 'golden treasure'. Hetfield's lyrics really coming from his heart, it's undoubtedly his favourite song on the album, just as he has stated in various interviews. James also stated during the recording sessions, that this song MUST be on 'Death Magnetic' no matter what. He managed to override the decisions of Lars, Rob and Kirk combined, who wanted what is apparently their heaviest song 'Shine' to occupy the position that 'Unforgiven III' fills. Well, another metal track would have been great, especially if it was their heaviest song to date as they believe it to be, but this song is grandiose and would really be missed if it hadn't make the cut. 'Shine' should be appearing on the next album anyway, so we're hopefully safe…hopefully!
At 4 minutes and 36 seconds into the song, James begins playing a different clean riff on his guitar as Kirk adds a slight layer of chilling harmony over the top "Forgive me… Forgive me not…" Lars starts pounding away, joining the other musicians "…Forgive me…Forgive me not…" At this point, the riff bites and all the instruments march strategically with minor symphonic harmony evident. This section builds and builds until Hetfield declares "Why can't I forgive me?"
Following on from James's declaration, the 'Unforgiven III' is about to feature what I feel is Kirks best guitar solo on the entire album. He begins releasing that pent up aggression around about 5 minutes and 34 seconds in, whilst James continues that bluesy Load-era riff underneath. Kirk moves in and out, slowing down, speeding up. Wah Wah, it's all there, and there's plenty of it lasting a full minute before Kirk finally becomes exhausted and fades away to let James open his lungs "Set sail to sea, but pulled off course by the light of golden treasure. How could know this new dawn's light would change his life forever?"
The song gradually becomes more simplistic, with many of its layers disappearing/fading away before the song finally closes…EPIC…BEAUTIFUL…a fitting end to 'The Unforgiven' trilogy if I may say so!

'The Judas Kiss' is another song from the album which is already being heralded as an instant classic, sounding like the early 'Metallica' we love, but with a rawness that has been missing since Kill 'Em All. It contains what will surely be regarded as one of James Hetfield's classic vocals in the shape of "Bow Down, sell your soul to me, I will set you free, pacify your demons, into abyss, you don't exist. Cannot resist, The Judas Kiss." his delivery of these lines is like a punch to the stomach, it's absolutely awe-inspiring. The 'Bow Down' segment rides on one of the greatest riffs 'Metallica' have written in a many a year, almost riding right back to the sparkly roughened 'Kill 'Em All' days with the bands highly aggressive attitude….
Ok back to the opening of the song, and we get some very 'Justice' style guitar harmonies opening into a pummelling biting palm muted riff segment that is astonishing to hear. The verse riff kicks off, with it's start stop features. Then we build up to our arrival at that "BOW DOWN" destination after 1 minute and 43 seconds of flight time, WOW put simply!
The Judas Kiss is filled with drum fills and groove riffs. It feels progressive, like some of the 'Justice' songs which is a nice comeback.
A riff version of a heartbeat pumps away with Lars and rob providing the blood setting Kirk going at 4 minutes and 30 seconds on a trend kill, he's out and hunting all over the place tapping here, licks there on and on for a full minute before James roars "Judas lives, recite this vow. I've become your new God now." Lars fires off a fill, then at 5 minutes and 39 seconds Kirk gets another burst of pent up aggression and takes the solo to even new highs until 6 minutes and 20 seconds of the track have elapsed, my God, that's almost 2 minutes of soloing, bar the brief pause!

At last, we get an instrumental from our favourite band (Or not so favourite) in the shape of 'Suicide & Redemption', unfortunately though it's not as great as 'Orion', 'Ktulu' or 'To Live Is To Die' but it doesn't need to be as good as any of those tracks, since the band have nothing to prove by this point on the album. It doesn't feel quite right without vocals though, almost as if it was written with lyrics in mind, but expanded to its ten minute length in favour of the band progressing the sound as the song plays. Kind of a filler song which almost appears as if they had looked over the older albums and thought; "We need to write an instrumental and put one on this record". It's not half bad though, even if it doesn't rate much alongside the older instrumentals, or at all really. Think of it as a standalone song, and you might 'feel' it better.
The track opens with Staccato bites and then 'Suicide & Redemption's' main riff comes in. It has a distinct 'Led Zeppelin' feel with it's almost funky groove driven riffs that have a similar sound to the aforementioned. This continues for several minutes, changing slightly but always coming out on the slow rotation or verse riff.
It's the second half of 'Suicide & Redemption' beginning at 3 minutes 46 that really shines and comes into it's own after the slight plodding meander riff at the start, we go clean guitar on a beautiful uplifting passage from Kirk and James that takes the song elsewhere, eventually catapulting a tremendous lengthy solo into play over the fuzzy riffs, some almost full on metal and then back to some alternating over the 'Led Zep' riff 'til close…good times…good times…

'My Apocalypse' finishes the album in a similar style to Metallica's previous album closing tracks through the 80's like 'Damage Inc.' and 'Dyers Eve'. This song is probably the best example of Metallica sounding very much, or as near as damn-it like 'Slayer'. The pace is quickened to within an inch of its life, seriously distorted palm muting rages away in the room/car/office or wherever you'll be blasting the thing Lars thundering away like a storm hellbent on hitting something important.
Surprisingly, James Hetfield's vocal delivery in 'My Apocalypse' is just like 'Tom Araya's', as franticly paced lyric's spout from James's mouth over those intense palm-muted riffs (Distorted and heavily compressed riffs….urgh!!!!). The album's title is sung in one of the verses "Deadly vision, Prophecy reveal, Death Magnetic, pulling closer still." and the battering metallic stomp of this apocalypse continues battering like 'Metal Militia' a fingers up to the critics as James shouts with furious power "Split apart…Split apart…Split apart…SPIT…SPIT IT OUT….!!!!" Followed by harmonies, a solo and guitar interplay between James and Kirk. The next section is far more aggressive than the initial verses with pounding fills, building to annihilate as James declares "Suffer forever My Apocalypse…"

Tracklisting for the 'Death Magnetic' Digipak as follows:

1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End Of The Line
3. Broken, Beat & Scarred
4. The Day That Never Comes
5. All Nightmare Long
6. Cyanide
7. Unforgiven III
8. The Judas Kiss
9. Suicide & Redemption
10. My Apocalypse

To me, I feel 'Death Magnetic' is the missing link between '…And Justice For All' and the 'Black' album, as it seems to sit nicely there. It is a really good way of describing to a non-fan where it fits in alongside the other Metallica CD's, or to fans that own all of the other albums but don't yet have this one and would like to know what it is like (Why do you not have this yet?!).

Right, a brief paragraph or two on the limited edition Coffin Boxset which arrived on the 12th September via my 'Mission:Metallica' purchase costing me a skyrocket £80.95 including the special delivery charge of £5.95. The package arrived in an A3 sized cardboard box, with the white Coffin neatly and firmly packed in. Upon opening the package you'll notice the coffin has the 'Metallica' logo and album name in reflective shiny silver on a fairly large clear sticker. This sticker was not stuck to the coffin, it was stuck to the cellophane heat wrap that was protecting the coffin. This was a nuisance, as stickers are notoriously difficult to remove from cellophane with the glue intact, or for that matter the sticker in one piece. After carefully peeling the sticker and loosing some, if not all of the glue, I managed to get the thing off and stuck to the front of coffin (Which looks great now, but rubbish without the sticker). Finally, we're into the package, and after lifting the lid to reveal the contents, the first item that you should come across is a coffin shaped poster with the magnetic/electric looking 4 'Metallica' 'M's' printed in silver on the front. After opening this up, you will reveal a picture of each band member in an individual coffin shaped window (Very nice!). Put this to one side, and we can see quite a lot of content waiting to be admired still within the coffin…

There is an unexpected black & silver 'Metallica' 'Death Magnetic' logo covered lanyard, a sweet 'Metallica' credit card with a code which will supposedly let me download either the Berlin or London O2 album release party shows for free (But at poor quality bitrate for live audio). In a clear polythene pack is a very nice limited edition T-Shirt, with a white coffin and the 4 silver electric 'M's' surrounding it on the front. On the back we have the new version of the Old School 'Metallica' logo and 'Death Magnetic' written in silver. There's also a 'Metallica' Plectrum credit card, I'm going to keep mine attached to the card for novelty, but apparently some are having trouble using these?! There are four different plectrums all in black, with different prints on each side, all related to the new album. Before I talk about the extra music or the DVD, the final item is a 'Death Magnetic' full size flag on some seriously strong and very nice black material. Right, so the Demo CD, what we have here is a Super Jewell case with 'Metallica's' logo and the words 'Demo Magnetic' in silver on a black cover. Listed on the back are the demo track names, which are the original working titles used for each track (I'll put in brackets around which song they relate to, but they are all in the original album order):

1. Hi Guy (That Was Just Your Life)
2. Neinteen (The End Of The Line)
3. Black Squirrel (Broken, Beat & Scarred)
4. Casper (The Day That Never Comes)
5. Flamingo (All Nightmare Long)
6. German Soup (Cyanide)
7. UN3 (Unforgiven III)
8. Gymbag (The Judas Kiss)
9. K2LU (Suicide & Redemption)
10. Ten (My Apocalypse)

These songs are alternate and very early rough versions of the tracks that made it onto 'Death Magnetic', hence 'Demo Magnetic'. They have different sections, different riffs and harmonies that were omitted from the final release or were re-worked to sound better. But, for the most part these are the exact same songs except for some heavy alternate lyrics in some places. This CD is an absolute gem for anyone that can get hold of a copy!

The DVD contains a wealth (two full hours) of material covering the making of 'Death Magnetic', it's around 15 minutes of footage for each song. Again this is packed in a Super Jewell case the same as the Demo disc, but instead of the words 'Demo Magnetic', it has 'Making Magnetic'. There are some funny moments here just as with 'Metallica's' 'Some Kind Of Monster' film, plus the insight into the making of the album is a little more in-depth than the bursts to chew on that came from 'Mission:Metallica'. That's despite it generally being extended footage from the website in question. If you can get this DVD, or find a copy it's well worth the buck. Most notably and hilarious to the viewer is the footage of Rob coming up with the main 'All Nightmare Long' riff flamenco style on an acoustic guitar, outperforming and stunning both James and Kirk in the process…

A few words about the artwork that was designed by the company who did the designs for the striking Coca Cola brand, oddly enough. Death Magnetic deals with topics such as suicide and depression, life and death with the artwork perfectly emanating this to the viewer. We get pages of professional photography of real life situations, a car crash, a persons face, a butchered cow, all telling the story or provoking thoughts towards what possible links the images have with each songs lyrics. Photos seem dirty, distorted and with most copies of the album, a coffin shaped cut-out has removed a portion of the artwork from the right hand side and reverse of the next page, eventually these holes get smaller, with the overall closed perspective of the package giving the impression that a fresh grave has been dug out on the albums cover for a brilliant white coffin that sits at it's centre but on the last page of the albums booklet. The depth of the grave is more defined with the Limited Edition digipak version than it is with the Jewell Case version, seemingly going deeper due to the thicker paper each page was printed on. The cover itself is brilliant white around the edges, as is the entire back cover and the spine with highly detailed soil laid out on the set piece front cover, as if it were caught in a magnetic field of some kind, similar to iron filings when manipulated with a magnet. The die-cut hole on the front cover revealed that the outer package is constructed of a rather thick type of card which the digipak is generally constructed from.
The bands name appears on the cover of the Limited Edition digipak printed with shiny silver onto a clear sticker that covers the die-cut hole for the central coffin, the albums name is also printed in silver but in much smaller text just below the silver 'Metallica'. This logo on the cover is far larger and more pleasant to the eye than the one on the sticker attached to Jewell case version, it is also reflective silver, rather than the dull matte silver used on the Jewell case version. Lyrics are printed over the photo's within the albums booklet using white or black text, although the die-cut hole has removed a vast portion of the art and lyrics making some of the songs lyrical content guesswork especially if you don't have internet access, or can't understand James Hetfield (Do you live under a rock?)!
The rest of the package unfolds/opens out to reveal the albums notes on how it was recoderd, where it was recorded, who did the mixing & mastering etc. etc. (Ted Jensens name no longer appears under 'Mastered by', although in initial copies it was printed clearly. This is due in part to the specific nature of the issue I will be discussing later) It is also the place where you will find the CD sat in a clear plastic tray, the CD itself has silver text, which to understand better is the CD's metal showing through the print where ink has not been used for the image. The rest of the disc is a brilliant white print which surrounds the silver text for the track titles and track lengths. Overall the package is very striking to the eye and you wouldn't fail to notice it, just as was intended.

You may remember I said the following earlier "But it's not all perfect, more on this specific, and very irritating problem much later….CLIP". Well, I think it's time to discuss this issue, and boy is it still a VERY heated debate, but more importantly the outcome has been particularly saddening for 'Metallica' fans who care or give a dime about the music that they love and buy into. Basically, something went horribly wrong, was forced deliberately, or was stupidly agreed at some point during the final mixing days (Apparently Metallica were NOT around when the final mixing took place, while other rumours suggest that they WERE in attendance or that they DID agree with the mix). I'm fairly certain that it wasn't during the mastering, as 'Ted Jensen' has gone on record to say that he wants to disassociate himself with the record after the Master Tape arrived in his studio, and was a complete brickwall of compressed and heavily distorted sound!!!! (Ted's name has since been removed from the liner notes on further copies of the album, only Sterling Sound, his company gets mentioned in some versions, but not mine…at all).

That's right, listen to your CD on headphones or just leave your HiFi in its usual volume position or lower and put 'Death Magnetic' in. Can you hear the digital distortion and crackling in the sound when things really get going? Does it seem REALLY LOUD almost all of the time? It's like a kind of fuzz/crackle in your speakers, and worse still the waveform of each song on this CD has been dramatically clipped/cut-off loosing certain sound shapes, meaning that the music occasionally collapses under the beating it is giving your equipment due to the forced nature of the mix. Don't believe me? Have an Xbox 360 or PS3? Have Guitar Hero 3? Then download 'Death Magnetic' for this game, and turn off the in-game sound effects and now listen. It's like a different and far superior and much cleaner album. This is how the album was meant to sound perfectly mixed with no clipping and full dynamics, for some reason it has been ruined by a simple mistake or deliberate attempt to make Death Magnetic hit the news that was possibly introduced at the mixing stage. Both 'Christ Illusion' by 'Slayer' and 'Vol 3: The Subliminal Verses' from 'Slipknot' have this same issue, although not anywhere near as bad as it is on this CD. It's ironic that Rick Rubin was also involved in those, but I think it's just pure coincidence. The guys that mixed this CD Greg Fidelman and Andrew Scheps seem to have pushed an audio limiter/Compressor beyond it's capabilities, and way into the RED, boy are we are talking serious levels here…as the waveform is a square shape and stays like that almost through the entire length of the album!

Listening to the Guitar Hero 3 versions of the songs, it's evident that there was more than one vocal track in each song on 'Death Magnetic', the other vocal tracks and vocal effects have been merely wiped out in the poor mixing on the CD. Rob's bass is far more distinguishable through the WHOLE album in these GHIII versions, especially in the superior version of Suicide & Redemption where you can even here him doodle. There are tons of other interesting parts that have been obliterated, or can not be heard properly on the disc. For instance; Lar's drumkit loses the nasty and fatiguing crackle on the cymbal's and the clipped (lost sounds from the waveform) sounds when things get going, especially in 'The Day That Never Comes' are no longer just a wall of sound. In fact it is so clear it is actually superior to the CD version, whilst it retains the heavy brutish feel of this stunning album. Unfortunately, the GHIII version of the songs are compressed themselves, as they are high quality MP3's, so again this is by far not a perfect copy. Anyway enough of this, I don't think we'll ever see this CD as it was meant to be, just as 'St Anger' had a production issue (Albeit an intentionally forced one) and 'Justice' was missing it's bass from the mastered CD (Another intentionally forced one). It's a real shame, since Metallica have spent so much time working on this record only to have it ruined by the most important aspect in the whole process (Shame Metallica weren't there to oversee the mixing, as they were apparently on tour in Europe, we need official word from the band themselves). It is possible that not enough time was spent mixing and finishing up the master tracks, it's also possible to say that human error may have occurred?! But I fear we will never know what really went wrong!
EDIT: James Hetfield was recently interviewed and asked about the issues, he stated that he could "hear" the distortion and compression as it was added, but felt that the album was much livelier with it and needed it. He did agree tha 

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