Death Magnetic, Guitar Hero mix!
Kind of a tragedy, the Death Magnetic release IMO. Musically it’s a return to form in a way - lots o fast drumming, everything in Eminor
… but the writing kinda sucks. Metallica’s “Time Turns Elastic” but for an entire record. I guess my main beef is the lyrics, which I’ve mainly tried hard to not hear. But they’re RIGHT IN THE SONGS!! I loved old Metallica lyrics. They forgot how to write great words by the time they got around to Load.
But even more tragic than the failure to meet my unrealistic and selfish expectations
is the mastering job they did on this album. I bought the vinyl thinking I’d get a better mastering job, but nope. Turns out the Guitar Hero edition of the recording is NOT compressed to the f*ckin wall. I forget how I got this. If you like this album and hate the sound quality, seek this out. Or maybe bug me for it.
The whole album (the official release I mean) second for second, is at one constant volume: loud as possible. No volume dynamic at all, and everything (even the drums) is just a little bit distorted.
There was such a huge outcry from the fan base about it that Lars even publicly defended the mastering, saying something like “that’s how we make records these days.”

I’m often totally amazed at Phish’s live recordings. They must have some badass compressors or some sh!t cuz there’s volume dynamics, there’s no distortion … but they’re still plenty loud. Metallica, call Phish. Maybe they’ll let you borrow Tom too. 