Death Magnetic (2008)

Rolling Stone (p.89)
- Ranked #9 in Rolling Stone's 50 Best Albums Of 2008 -- "[H]eavy metal's resurrection of the year."

Spin (p.96)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "[T]he album is more of a rebirth, with Metallica exploring the past buy applying what they've learned during their 20 years at the top of the heavy-metal slag heap, which means ingratiating more finesse when they mark their territory."

Spin (p.48)
- Ranked #28 in Spin's "40 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "[D]on't look this gift monster in the mouth. It's hungry, and it's teeth are sharp."

Entertainment Weekly (p.71)
- "MAGNETIC's tracks are all 6-to-10-minute extravaganzas with seemingly unlimited chordal changeups and tempo shifts." -- Grade: B

Kerrang (Magazine)
(p.48)
- "[T]he key ingredient of DEATH MAGNETIC is the skill with which it releases its thunder, its sense of flow, its understanding that power is nothing without control."

Mojo (Publisher)
(p.100)
- 3 stars out of 5 -- "Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett is afforded more shredding space than in recent years, the rhythm guitars thrum like chopper blades....The sound is fantastic...everything crackling, huge and alive."

Mojo (Publisher)
(p.64)
- Ranked #45 in Mojo's "The 50 Best Albums Of 2008" -- "A Rick Rubin-produced return to form."

Blender (Magazine)
(p.72)
- 4 stars out of 5 -- "Rubin pointed the direction, but credit goes to the band -- which, for the first time on record, includes new bassist Robert Trujillo -- for recapturing their old sound and reconciling it with what followed."

It's the sort of story that scriptwriters would get laughed out of conference rooms for entering. The sort of story that illustrates perfect synchronicity between hunger, passion and time. The sort of story that only happens every 30-odd years. And the sort of story that would approximately 500 pages to do it true justice.

Metallica. A household name. The 7th biggest selling act in American history.

Who'd have thought it when, on October 28th, 1981, drummer Lars Ulrich made guitar player/singer James Hetfield an offer he couldn't refuse: "I've got a track saved for my band on Brian Slagel's new Metal Blade label."

The truth is, Lars didn't have a band at that time, but he did that day when James joined him. The two recorded their first track on a cheap recorder with James performing singing duties, rhythm guitar duties and bass guitar duties. Lars dutifully pounded the drums, helped with musical arrangements and acted as manager. Hetfield's friend and housemate Ron McGovney was eventually talked into taking up bass and Dave Mustaine took lead guitar duties.

The band adopted the moniker Metallica after a suggestion from Bay Area friend Ron Quintana, and they quickly began gigging in the Los Angeles area opening for bands like Saxon. Eventually recording a fully-fledged demo called No Life Til Leather, Metallica quickly saw the tape whistle around the metal tape-trading underground and become a hot commodity, with San Francisco and New York particularly receptive.

Metallica performed 2 shows in San Francisco and found the crowds friendlier and more honest than LA's "there to be seen" mob. They also caught up-and-coming band Trauma, and most importantly their bass player, Cliff Burton. Cliff refused to move to Southern California: it was enough to convince Metallica to relocate to the Bay Area, and Cliff subsequently joined Metallica.

In New York, a copy of No Life Til Leather made its way to Jon Zazula's record shop, the aptly named Metal Heaven. Zazula quickly recruited Metallica to come out east to play some shows and record an album. The band made it to New York in a stolen U-Haul. Dave Mustaine, at that point the band's guitarist, was proving to be more problematic than even these loose young chaps could handle. Thus a few weeks after arrival, Mustaine was sent packing, roadie Mark Whitakker suggesting Kirk Hammett from Bay Area thrashers Exodus. Two phone calls and one flight later, on April 1, 1983 Kirk Hammett joined Metallica.