Metallica returns to its roots with 'Death Magnetic'

But as time wore on, the raw and uncontrollable fury of Metallica's early days was softened, replaced by an increasingly bland and commercial rock sound. By the late 1990s, it seemed like Metallica was aiming more for the Nickelback crowd than the hardcore death-metal fanatics who had formed the core of its fan base 10 years earlier. Gone were the incendiary, wildly complex guitar solos of old; gone were the crashing, lumbering chords and the ridiculously fast-paced drumming. The band's steady downward spiral reached its nadir in 2003, with the release of "St. Anger," a woeful, cynical catastrophe of an album slavishly following the current trend for nu metal bands like Linkin Park and Korn. It's one of the few records I would honestly call "unlistenable": I bought it, listened to it once through and threw it away. It really is that bad: Singer James Hetfield half-rapping "my lifestyle/determines my death-style" on the opening "Frantic" is only the beginning of the album's problems.

Understandably, my expectations for Metallica's new record "Death Magnetic" (released Sept. 10) were rather low. Sure, there'd been talk of "going back to their roots" and "recapturing their classic sound," but that's exactly what Metallica would say after releasing an album as alienating as "St. Anger." For once, though, I can report that the rumors were true: "Death Magnetic" sounds more like the Metallica of old than any album the band has released in 15 years. It's an album that looks back to the past, consolidating Metallica's strengths, rather than moving forward into a new sound. It's a very safe record, but you know what? That's totally fine by me.

Ninety seconds in to the thunderous, hulking opener "That Was Just Your Life," I already had a huge smile on my face. It's an instant Metallica classic that roars along on mighty guitar riffs and a vocal performance from Hetfield that proves he hasn't lost his legendary animalistic snarl. And while the first track may be the album's best, there's more than enough here to keep every metal fan happy, from the virtuoso, stop-start rhythms of "Broken, Beat & Scarred" to the grim churn of "Judas Kiss" to the relentlessly manic closer "My Apocalypse," a song that reaches a wonderfully ridiculous peak as Hetfield spits out in strangled gasps lyrics like "crushing metal/ripping skin/tossing body/mannequin" and "spilling blood/bleeding gas/mangled flesh/snapping spine." It's poetry, I tell ya!

But the track that really convinced me that Metallica was back to its prime is the 10-minute instrumental "Suicide & Redemption." When a band can keep you captivated for that long without any lyrics and with the barest semblance of a melody, you know it's good. It's an epic work that's almost jazz-like in its virtuosity, moving from deafening chord-thrashing to quiet, nimble guitar solos with the colossal grandeur of shifting tectonic plates. So while it may not be the best track on "Death Magnetic," it is the most reassuring. It's undeniable proof that the band's sub-Linkin Park phase is a thing of the past, and that the members of Metallica are still the technically skilled musicians they were 25 years ago.

Of course, I won't try to argue that "Death Magnetic" is a masterpiece. It's too repetitive and too long for that, and sitting through the entire record in one go is a numbing experience. But I doubt that Metallica's first fans back in 1983 could have predicted that in the far distant future of 2008, the band would release an album as potent and energetic as "Death Magnetic." And it's to exactly those fans that I repeat: Don't worry! Metallica is back to what it does best. No more commercialism, no more attempts at rapping, no more desperate trend-chasing. It is 2008, and for a bunch of 50-year-olds, Metallica can still make a hell of a lot of noise.

4 out of 5 paws

PROS: Metallica is back: This is easily its best work since its self-titled album back in 1991.

CONS: Too long and too repetitive. But hey, that's a criticism that could be leveled at many thrash metal albums.