Second Opnion: Metallica 'Death Magnetic'

I consulted my therapist about having to listen to a full, modern Metallica album, and she suggested that I outline some ground rules before delving into the murky waters of commercial metal. So if you will, please picture the following written in crayon with suns with smiley faces strewn about:

- Listen to as little of the new album as possible, but just enough to make a stable opinion of it

- Do not put on “Ride the Lightning”, enjoy it, then make up a convoluted path that they would probably follow through a decade, and then do a review of where I think they would have ended up, instead of actually listening to Death Magnetic

- Remind myself that there are worse things to subject myself to, like Death Cab for Cutie, or rubbing lemon, salt, and copious amounts of heroin into the cut marks on my arms (Not across the street but down the highway!) that would have been the result of listening to Death Cab For Cutie.

So with pinhole pupils and a heavy heart I bring you, the (DEEP BREATH) ‘Second Opinion’ of Metallica ‘Death Magnetic’:

Will did a damn good job acknowledging that this record is a victim of the battle of compression dipped in compression with a dash of compression, also known as the Loudness Wars. While it would be very easy to exploit the fact that no one wants their name on the sleeve of this record, I decided that the media and fans have covered that enough.

What I think is the most interesting part of this record is that not only the audio engineering community is upset about the state in which it was released, but the general public can hear it as well. I find this fact astounding… that average people can hear the lack of dynamics.

That is not meant to sound condescending in any way, but for a record to be so poorly mixed that an untrained ear can recognize that fact is unprecedented.

Of course there was an outcry to this travesty, from professionals and consumers alike. Intertwined with poor production (A 7:00 single? Come on guys, my 20-year-old pothead brother knows better than that!)

All of this unrest has begat some amazing results. A collective movement of fans trying to resurrect the glory they at one time felt for this band. People cutting down songs, independent projects of remastering the album , etc.

Really, this is the loyalty that this dying field of the music business needs! Since the dawn of the internet, music has become a very fluid, niche consumer-influenced medium. Everyone has a very detailed description of music that they like, and they rarely venture outside the red line, more or less participate.

The movement behind this record has truly moved me. It gives me hope that people recognize the minute details of information (musical, lyrical, etc) that is being fed to them, and if that happens to be distasteful, they do something about it.

Though ‘Death Magnetic’ may not be my personal preference of auditory art. I respect it as the catalyst for musical awareness among loyal fans and the general public.

Let this be the reminder that the artistic fields we adore and indulge in can always be molded into the influences, that in our hearts, we desire them to be…. Art has always been a community-based outlet, of both our human and mortal capacity. We owe ourselves to not let it stray from that mainstay.