Metallica — Death Magnetic

It's taken this long to accept that Metallica are actually kinda emo and not the indestructible metal superheroes everybody assumed they were when they were riding lightning and mastering puppets. We're past it now and we're all ready to forgive and forget the band's last 12 years of record-making as long as they a) stop wussing; and b) this new Death Magnetic record rocks the fuck out. And it does, mostly.

"The End Of The Line" has the band pulling themselves out of their own asses and thinking worldly again, or at least articulating how America is fucked in pretty obvious geo-political terms. "All Nightmare Long" and "My Apocalypse" are welcome thrash-punk returns to the Metallica from days of yore. "Suicide & Redemption" is a lame shot at an instrumental Grammy/fodder for Guitar Hero nerds, and we could do without "The Unforgiven III," but still. Nothing here is like it was in the old days, but at least you won't have to hide Death Magnetic from your friends and pretend you don't own it.

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