Metallica - Death Magnetic

A strange 180 degee turn to the days of "And Justice For All" and "Master of Puppets". Whatever happened to the name of "progress"? As such, it's not such a bad album. The hooks are there, and it is a hell lot more melodic than both earlier albums. But from the word go, the opening track "That was just your life" screams -"Thrash metal wahay!".

There's a very nice major chord bridge to "The day that never comes". "Cyanide" is probably my fave track at the mo', all crunching riffs, grunty bass and neat drumming.

"The Unforgiven 3" doesn't bear much resemblance to its predecessors, except for the arpeggiated chords. Its chorus is also way cooler than its parent and grandparent.

"Suicide & Redemption" tries too much to capture the likes of "Orion, Inc." but Rob Trujillo is no Cliff Burton. And "My Apocalypse" massages my bowels very well, thank you.

Now, what to do with the compression?