Death Magnetic
Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on September 12, 2008, through Warner Bros. Records in the United States and Vertigo Records elsewhere. The album was produced by Rick Rubin, marking the band's first album since ...And Justice For All not to be produced by longtime collaborator Bob Rock, and with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich as co-producers. It is also the first Metallica album to feature bassist Robert Trujillo, and the second album where all the band's members shared writing credits.
Metallica began writing music for a new album in 2006, later recording the album at different studios across Los Angeles County, California, from March 2007 to May 2008. Musically, Death Magnetic is a radical departure from Metallica's previous album, St. Anger, and is considered a return to the band's thrash metal roots, with more complex compositions, standard guitar tuning on most songs and long guitar solos from Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield. It also includes the band's first instrumental piece, "Suicide & Redemption", since "To Live Is to Die" from ...And Justice for All.
Death Magnetic made Metallica the first band to achieve five consecutive number-one studio albums on the U.S. Billboard 200. The album received positive reviews from critics, who considered it a return to form for Metallica. However, the album's production was criticized as overcompressed and cited as a product of the loudness war. The album and its songs were nominated for six Grammy Awards and won three, including Best Metal Performance for "My Apocalypse". In support of the album, Metallica embarked on the World Magnetic Tour from October 2008 to November 2010. Four unreleased tracks from the album's recording sessions were later released as the Beyond Magnetic EP in December 2011.
Production
Writing
Early in 2004, lead singer James Hetfield revealed that Metallica had been playing new material during studio sessions, but that there was no mention of plans for a ninth studio album at that time. Select music from the jam sessions may be used on the album, as Lars Ulrich stated, "I definitely look forward to sifting through some of that stuff when we get back to the studio in January." On that note, by October 2004, the band had already compiled nearly 50 hours of pre-set jamming, with hundreds of riffs, chord progressions and bass lines. On September 30, 2004, Launch Radio revealed from an interview with Hetfield that the band hoped to return to the studio in spring of 2005 to begin recording their ninth studio album for Warner Bros. Records.On March 10, 2006, it was reported that Metallica was planning to use the following six months to write material for the album, in addition to the previous two months they had already been spending writing music. Ulrich also stated that the band was getting along much better in the studio than they did during the recording of St. Anger. On April 6, he revealed that the band had composed "six to seven" songs from their findings off the riff tapes recording during pre-sets of the Madly in Anger with the World Tour. He also said that by this point, the band's new material was reminiscent of "old school" Metallica works, and that it certainly did not feel like a St. Anger "part two".
On May 20, 2006, Kirk Hammett revealed that the band had fifteen songs written and were writing on average two to three songs per week. Hetfield also praised producer Rick Rubin for his production style in giving the band their own freedom and keeping the pressure at a minimum, despite the sessions becoming sometimes briefly unfocused. On May 27, Metallica updated their website with a video featuring information regarding the album.
Recording
Three studios were used to produce the album, those being Sound City Studios in Van Nuys, California, Shangri La Studios in Malibu, California, and HQ in San Rafael, California. On January 1, 2007, Ulrich stated in an interview with Revolver that the band would be conceiving the album much like they did their albums prior to working with ex-producer Bob Rock; they would sit down, write a select number of songs, then enter the studio to record them. He also quoted Rubin by saying "Rubin didn't want them to start the recording process until every song that they were going to record was as close to 100 percent as possible."On March 5, Ulrich revealed that the band had narrowed a potential 25 songs down to 14, and that they would begin recording those fourteen on the following week. He also expanded on Rubin's style of production, saying,
On March 14, the band's official website issued a statement: "Metallica left the comfort of HQ this week to descend upon the greater Los Angeles area to begin recording their ninth original album. This is the first time they've recorded outside of the Bay Area since they spent time at One-on-One Studios recording their self-titled album in 1990 and '91." This was confirmed on July 24, 2008, on Mission: Metallica, as a video surfaced showing the crew moving into Sound City Studios of Nirvana fame.
On June 4, Robert Trujillo revealed that only select portions of the two new songs debuted in Berlin and Tokyo respectively would be featured on the album. The band hoped to have the album finished by October or November, when the album would be mixed. He predicted the album would be out in February 2008, and revealed that the songs they were working with were quite long.
On February 2, 2008, Sterlingsound.com revealed that Ted Jensen from Sterling Sound Studios would be mastering the new record. According to Blabbermouth.net and other sources, Greg Fidelman, who had served as a sound engineer, had also been tapped to mix the album.
Ulrich confirmed on May 15, 2008, that Metallica recorded eleven songs for Death Magnetic, although only ten would appear on the album due to the constraints of the physical medium. The eleventh song, titled "Shine", was a song Hetfield "based around a Layne Staley type, a rock & roll martyr magnetized by death."
Unreleased tracks
A number of unreleased songs from Death Magnetic, including the above-mentioned "Just a Bullet Away", but also "Hell and Back", "Hate Train" and "Rebel of Babylon" were left off the album, but were rumored to be released as B-sides or on the next album. The titles were confirmed by Hammett and Ulrich on the MetOnTour video from December 20, 2008. On December 5, 7, 9 and 10, 2011, the band played four new songs, "Hate Train", "Just a Bullet Away", "Hell and Back" and "Rebel of Babylon", at the band's 30th Anniversary concerts. The day after each concert, MetClub members were sent an e-mail with a code for a free download of a rough mix of the song played at the show. The songs were released officially on the Beyond Magnetic EP, released on December 13, 2011. Two other songs recorded during Death Magnetic, based on "The New Song" and "The Other New Song", have not been released, though parts of "The New Song" can be found in the recorded songs "The End of the Line" and "All Nightmare Long".Title
Kirk Hammett played a role in inspiring the album title by bringing a photograph of deceased Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley to the studio where Metallica was recording. "That picture was there for a long time", said Hammett, "I think it pervaded James' psyche." Wondering why someone with Staley's talent would choose to use drugs so heavily and die so young, Hetfield started writing a song based on his questions.On July 16, 2008, Hetfield commented on the album's title:
The title is referenced in the track "My Apocalypse". According to Hammett, another title considered for the album was Songs of Suicide and Forgiveness. Death Magnetic was eventually picked out of four working titles when Hetfield met with creative agency Turner Duckworth, who were brought in to deal with the album's visual identity, and as he discussed the songs "it was clear that they were all linked to death, facing up to the nature of death, and the fear and attraction that surrounds death."
Release and promotion
In January 2008, a statement was made by Stereo Warning that the album would be delayed until September 2008, The album, which was completed on August 10, 2008, was released on September 12 in the United States and issued in a variety of different packages.On September 2, a French record store began selling copies of Death Magnetic, nearly two weeks ahead of its scheduled worldwide release date, which resulted in the album being made prematurely available on peer-to-peer clients. This prompted the band's UK distributor, Vertigo Records, to officially release the album two days ahead of schedule, on September 12. Ulrich, who was questioned about the leak on a San Francisco radio station, responded,
He later told USA Today,
During their Escape from the Studio '06 tour, Metallica debuted two songs. "The New Song" debuted on the European leg in Berlin, Germany on June 6, 2006. The song, as performed, is approximately eight minutes long. The title was rumored to be "Death Is Not the End" as Hetfield repeatedly sings the line throughout the song. This song would appear again in multiple Fly on the Wall videos on the Mission: Metallica website, showing the band partway through the song's recording, as noted by the slower tempo and lack of lyrics. "The Other New Song", debuted on August 12, 2006, in Tokyo, and is much shorter, taking just below four minutes to perform. To the surprise of fans, Metallica played "The Other New Song" once again on June 29, 2007, in Bilbao, Spain. Although neither of the "New Songs" appear on the album themselves, "The End of the Line" and "All Nightmare Long" both contain elements of "The New Song".
On August 9, 2008, Metallica debuted the first album track, "Cyanide", at Ozzfest, in Dallas, Texas and was performed again on August 20, 2008, in Dublin, Ireland. On August 22, at the Leeds Festival, they debuted the first single, "The Day That Never Comes".
On July 31, 2009, it was announced on Metallica.com that the band felt that the song "My Apocalypse" was in need of an introduction when played live to "set the mood". The statement on Metallica.com reads, "We've been enjoying playing 'My Apocalypse' out here on the road but felt like it could use something extra. We decided that it needed a cool intro to set the mood so James wrote one. Check out and enjoy this free download ... and make sure you learn it for singing along at a future show!" The approximately minute-long introduction is available as a free MP3 download. The song had originally been debuted live on March 25, 2009, at the LG Arena in Birmingham, United Kingdom.
On the day of the release FMQB radio broadcast The World Premiere of Death Magnetic, which was heard on more than 175 stations across the United States and Canada. The live program from Metallica HQ featured all four members of Metallica talking with Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl and drummer Taylor Hawkins. Originally scheduled for a 90-minute broadcast, the show ended after two hours.