To caution the readers, I'm writing this review after my initial listen of the EP. Metallica have released an EP entitled "Beyond Magnetic." This new EP comprises of 4 songs from the Death Magnetic recording sessions that were left over and not put on the album. Metallica released a statement regarding this EP.
"During the Death Magnetic album sessions in 2007 and 2008, we originally recorded 14 songs. When it came time to pick the songs for the final album, we decided on 10 songs that you’ve all come to know over the last three years… Some of you may have heard bits and pieces of those other songs on ‘Mission Metallica’ (remember ‘Mission Metallica’?!) or heard rumors about them during the recording process, and wondered, ‘What ever happened to those other four songs???.’ We kept them in the vault and decided to pull them just for this special celebration, so here are the four leftover tracks from the Death Magnetic sessions. They are ROUGH mixes, unfinished to their original degree of mixing from March ’08. These four songs were released as gift to our closest fans, the members of our Fan Club, to enjoy. Now they’re being made available to you."
My initial rating is 3 and a half stars because of the fact that this is not the good classic drunken Metallica music! Rather this is the new not as good sober Metallica music. However, with that being said, I did enjoy some of the stuff on Death Magnetic such as "Broken, Beaten, & Scarred" and "The End of The Line" and I did enjoy the songs on "Beyond Magnetic." But one thing I couldn't shake was Lars new drum sound. Just sounded out of place and stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn't the classic Lars drum sound as heard on their previous albums "Kill 'Em All" all the way through "Garage Inc." The drums on the new EP still sound the same as on Death Magnetic for obvious reasons and like I said I did enjoy the 4 songs on the EP. There fast, hard hitting, and in your face. But what they lack is that classic Metallica sound. My guessing is Metallica decided to go in a new direction with their music kinda like they did with "Load" and "Reload" but with "Death Magnetic" and "Beyond Magnetic" they got rid of their classic sound and went for a completely new sound while retaining the metal aspect of the music.
This new sound developed during the "St. Anger" sessions and possibly even before that. It's what I call the Bob Rock sound. See Metallica has 4 distinct sounds all culminating with each bass player. First was the Cliff Burton sound. Raw, loud, thrashy, less structured, huge arena sounding, solos up your ass, metal up your ass thrash metal sound. Then came Jason and "And Justice For All." It was a less thrashy, more melodic, more structured, little less arena sounding, more mature sounding, less solo'y, not so much metal up your ass sound. Then came Bob Rock and his no thrash, more hardcore, more punk, terrible high treble drum sound, virtually no metal up your ass, no structure whatsoever, no solos sound. Then in came Rob Trujillo. This new sound sorta combined all 3 era's with a semi thrashy, semi melodic, semi hardcore, return of solos, structured sound. However, Lars did tone down the drum sound some but it does still stick out like a soar thumb and is not his classic sound. Nor do any of the songs have that classic huge arena sound as heard on classics "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Master of Puppets". "Harvester of Sorrow", "One", "Fade To Black", and others. Also on the "Death Magnetic" and "Beyond Magnetic" stuff, there is only a creeping of metal up your ass and none of the songs have that classic raw sound and feel.
I really couldn't give this EP more than 3 and a half stars for the reasons noted above. However, I will state again that I did enjoy "Beyond Magnetic" as I did with "Death Magnetic." It may not have that classic Metallica sound but it shouldn't be counted out completely either. But even with that being said, It's not gonna be one of the first things I go to listen to when it comes to Metallica as I'm just not as into the new Metallica stuff as many fans are. But I would definitely recommend checking out "Beyond Magnetic" especially if you are a fan of the new Metallica stuff. All of the songs are quite good. It's kind of a shame that Metallica didn't include these songs on "Death Magnetic." I have a feeling that Metallica may be heading more towards either a return to the Cliff Burton days of that all out thrashy, loud, raw, huge arena sounding sound or the more Load and Reload type sound on their next album. They could even just stick with the sound they have now and continue with it. Whatever they do on their next album will surely be good as I don't ever see Metallica returning to the whole St. Anger sound.
"During the Death Magnetic album sessions in 2007 and 2008, we originally recorded 14 songs. When it came time to pick the songs for the final album, we decided on 10 songs that you’ve all come to know over the last three years… Some of you may have heard bits and pieces of those other songs on ‘Mission Metallica’ (remember ‘Mission Metallica’?!) or heard rumors about them during the recording process, and wondered, ‘What ever happened to those other four songs???.’ We kept them in the vault and decided to pull them just for this special celebration, so here are the four leftover tracks from the Death Magnetic sessions. They are ROUGH mixes, unfinished to their original degree of mixing from March ’08. These four songs were released as gift to our closest fans, the members of our Fan Club, to enjoy. Now they’re being made available to you."
My initial rating is 3 and a half stars because of the fact that this is not the good classic drunken Metallica music! Rather this is the new not as good sober Metallica music. However, with that being said, I did enjoy some of the stuff on Death Magnetic such as "Broken, Beaten, & Scarred" and "The End of The Line" and I did enjoy the songs on "Beyond Magnetic." But one thing I couldn't shake was Lars new drum sound. Just sounded out of place and stuck out like a sore thumb. It wasn't the classic Lars drum sound as heard on their previous albums "Kill 'Em All" all the way through "Garage Inc." The drums on the new EP still sound the same as on Death Magnetic for obvious reasons and like I said I did enjoy the 4 songs on the EP. There fast, hard hitting, and in your face. But what they lack is that classic Metallica sound. My guessing is Metallica decided to go in a new direction with their music kinda like they did with "Load" and "Reload" but with "Death Magnetic" and "Beyond Magnetic" they got rid of their classic sound and went for a completely new sound while retaining the metal aspect of the music.
This new sound developed during the "St. Anger" sessions and possibly even before that. It's what I call the Bob Rock sound. See Metallica has 4 distinct sounds all culminating with each bass player. First was the Cliff Burton sound. Raw, loud, thrashy, less structured, huge arena sounding, solos up your ass, metal up your ass thrash metal sound. Then came Jason and "And Justice For All." It was a less thrashy, more melodic, more structured, little less arena sounding, more mature sounding, less solo'y, not so much metal up your ass sound. Then came Bob Rock and his no thrash, more hardcore, more punk, terrible high treble drum sound, virtually no metal up your ass, no structure whatsoever, no solos sound. Then in came Rob Trujillo. This new sound sorta combined all 3 era's with a semi thrashy, semi melodic, semi hardcore, return of solos, structured sound. However, Lars did tone down the drum sound some but it does still stick out like a soar thumb and is not his classic sound. Nor do any of the songs have that classic huge arena sound as heard on classics "For Whom The Bell Tolls", "Master of Puppets". "Harvester of Sorrow", "One", "Fade To Black", and others. Also on the "Death Magnetic" and "Beyond Magnetic" stuff, there is only a creeping of metal up your ass and none of the songs have that classic raw sound and feel.
I really couldn't give this EP more than 3 and a half stars for the reasons noted above. However, I will state again that I did enjoy "Beyond Magnetic" as I did with "Death Magnetic." It may not have that classic Metallica sound but it shouldn't be counted out completely either. But even with that being said, It's not gonna be one of the first things I go to listen to when it comes to Metallica as I'm just not as into the new Metallica stuff as many fans are. But I would definitely recommend checking out "Beyond Magnetic" especially if you are a fan of the new Metallica stuff. All of the songs are quite good. It's kind of a shame that Metallica didn't include these songs on "Death Magnetic." I have a feeling that Metallica may be heading more towards either a return to the Cliff Burton days of that all out thrashy, loud, raw, huge arena sounding sound or the more Load and Reload type sound on their next album. They could even just stick with the sound they have now and continue with it. Whatever they do on their next album will surely be good as I don't ever see Metallica returning to the whole St. Anger sound.
