Metallica
Death Magnetic
(Warner Bros., 2008)

On September 2nd, 10 days before its official release date, a French record store began selling copies of metal giant Metallica’s ninth studio album, Death Magnetic. As can be expected in our day, directly thereafter the record proliferated across person-to-person file sharing networks. So unsurprised by the leak was Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich that the notoriously fiery critic of file-sharing met the news with resignation.

“By 2008 standards, that’s a victory. If you’d told me six months ago that our record wouldn’t leak until 10 days out, I would have signed up for that,” Ulrich said in an interview with USA Today. “We made a great record, and people seem to be getting off on it way more than anyone expected.”

Indeed, people were.

On September 10th, MetalSucks.net posted a link to a website with a Russian domain that offered the album in an edited format. The edited album, dubbed Death Magnetic: Better, Shorter, Cut, saw each song cut by an average of two to three minutes apiece, serendipitously mimicking a critical assessment of the album by Pitchfork reviewer Cosmo Lee, in which he is of the opinion that the album could be redeemable if the songs were, indeed, edited to shorter lengths.

Because it represents an afterthought of the original Death Magnetic, I’ve decided to write an Ex Post Facto about this album. Granted, it has been in circulation for less than a month, but for someone—if not a Metallica fan, then certainly a metal fan—to have already reworked the album to what he or she feels is a more suitable version, is comment enough to justify further comment.

Although it’s my opinion that editing this album is no better or worse than splicing someone’s songs together to create a mash-up—both instances seek to create something new out of something old—it’s certainly an affront to Metallica’s authorship of this work. Like them or not, these are Metallica’s songs, and it has got to be emasculating to watch someone snip them down on the premise of making them better. But, at the same time, it’s absolutely hilarious to see the most visible critics of file sharing get their comeuppance from some enterprising audio nerd.

The good new is, whoever did this certainly did not chop off the business end of Death Magnetic. The album is fast, hard, and wails with the triumphant return of Kirk Hammett’s wah-washed guitar solos. What’s largely missing due to the edit are some extended grooves, and some notable vocal interludes. The lead off single, “The Day That Never Comes”, is rendered an instrumental; the editor completely removed the parts where James Hetfield sings. And—surprise!—it rocks harder without. What’s lost are a pocketful of lazy rhymes and some awkward balladeer moments.

But there are some problems that the edited version cannot solve. Although it’s cool to hear Ulrich play around with a double bass, the drums are too loud. And, their volume doesn’t compensate for the fact that most high school students could play Ulrich’s rollicking oompah beats—no matter how fast he plays them. While the guitars sound edgy and pretty evil at times, the overall production is rough, disappointing from the likes of Rick Rubin (although in all fairness, the audio quality might have suffered due to editing). And is there really a need for “The Unforgiven III”? Please. What made you think you’d be forgiven this time? The very title of it smacks of the worst criticism that can be made of this record: That Metallica has nothing original to share, and in that dearth of creativity, has focused its energy on recapturing what it once was.

Still, if the edit promised all of the thrash with none of the trash, it certainly succeeded in distilling the thrashier side of Death Magnetic. But to hold Metallica up to their old standards is simply asking the impossible. They were younger then, hungrier—and they probably had a lot more to prove to the world. Those days have come and gone, and no amount of editing will bring that back.

Watch: “The Day That Never Comes” [at youtube.com]

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