Review of Metallica's "Death Magnetic"

I'm happy to be writing this article as one of the first to write a full song-to-song review of Metallica's new album "Death Magnetic"
The whole album has this heavy, hard-hitting tone to it that you experience from the first track and keeps coming as the tracks go on.
It is definitely better than their last album St. Anger, and despite me being not so pro-Metallica, I find the album impressive enough for a band fading from the notice of the audience.
The track listing and their individual reviews:

1: That was Just Your Life 7:08

I found the title as a very interesting name. The song starts in a way reminiscent of Metallica's Enter Sandman. Then it progresses to heavy riffs and great drumming, much improved vocals and a tempo that keeps increasing to the final climax. Hetfield is flawless, what’s more impressive is Lars Ulrich drumming and setting the punch of the song. Hammet delivers his best as usual. The final part is good for a start. My verdict: Fairly good. 8/10

2: The End of The Line 7:52

The second song continues in the tone of the first one, only with much more tempo and more shouting vocals. Not very impressive, as it tends to get repetitive, but I am totally awestruck by Lars and Kirk’s ‘bang-bang’ timing, like pounding bullets. Good, but not very good to remain in my memory for long. My verdict:
Okay. 7/10

3: Broken, Beat and Scarred 6:25

Innovative riffs are spiced and scattered throughout the song. I love the solid tempo at the beginning maintained by Lars, Kirk and Trujillo (only if you play close attention can you actually hear Trujillo). Vocals are somewhat boring after a few minutes. You can easily make out he’s saying “what don’t kill ya make ya more strong” throughout the song. Okay idea to run as its fuel. Close to the end of the third minute it sounded like Hammet was escalating the song’s tone to start his solo-blazing. And my, does he go fast. Enjoyable in pieces. My verdict:
Okay. 71/2 /10

4: The Day That Never Comes 7:56

Definitely one of my favourites. I love this song second best. I like the alternative metal style of Metallica more than their heavy-metal and thrash glory of former years, as I’m not a ‘real’ fan of old-Metallica. But this song has a style to it that is somewhat like Nothing Else Matters and Unforgiven as well as Fade to Black. The clean guitar along with the hard touches, Lars’ brilliant drumming and Hetfield gets a full chance to show off his vocals. The sudden change in tempo is somewhat unexpected, but it fits for the end has quite an innovation in soloing style with unusual scales and patterns of different keys, as well as some of the usual stuff Met churns out. Hammet knows how to make the guitar squeal. It would have gotten my 10 but I feel it’s a tad too long.
My verdict:
Very Good. 9/10

5: All Nightmare Long 7:58

My God. It looks like Lars and Hammet have planned to sacrifice their hands to play such tunes for a great Metallica hit. Awesome instrumentals. Vocals are a bit wacky for a metal song, and that’s welcome! It had a different tune to it thanks to Hetfield’s improvisation on new tunes to sing with. I feel this will be quite a challenge to play on Guitar Hero, truly a long nightmare one can expect in the final stages. Again, getting repetitive can kill a song with some boredom. It doesn’t have a leash on you like the old Metallica songs of Black Album keep, wanting your attention. Though it strays a little, it has a treasury of musical value and improvisation. Good for Met fans. My verdict:
Fairly good. 8/10

6: Cyanide 6:39

Wow. It had the best start to any song on this album. Very catchy tune. Infectious. What else can I say, you’ll be humming this song for some time after you hear it, especially the “Suicide! I’ve already died/ Cyanide! Living dead inside” part that I personally enjoy. It should be a Metallica staple from now on as it has the potential. Yet again, the unusual tempo changes startle you. If you are a purist, you may not enjoy it. But I find it quite a great feature of the song, and they have the guts to trust in such a roller-coaster pattern for an important song. It sounds like a live version being played out, with all the innovative techniques used. I feel it’s difficult to execute such tempo changes, and only Met can do it. Hats off.
Excellent: 10/10

7: Unforgiven III 7:46
I was scared of what this would turn out to be. It came as a pleasant surprise. The song is very, very original and gives you the déjà vu of the old Unforgivens, as it has a remote semblance in just a few parts. I liked the idea of incorporating the keyboards at the beginning. Trujillo’s bass has started to surface now very much, since track 5. Vocals are inspiring, making me want to sing that way. Very good, but not epic like the Unforgiven nor as catchy as Unforgiven II. If not being compared, this is easily the third best song I’d pick from the album as a listener but not as a ‘true’ Metallica fan as they’d prefer something more hardcore. My verdict:
Almost Excellent. 9 ½ /10

8: Judas Kiss 8:00
Fans of hardcore Metallica should enjoy this one. After a long time has such a power-packed and well made song being performed. The “sell your soul to me” part is my eternal favourite. Excellent standards for a classic Metallica song. Competes with Cyanide for the best song’s place. I feel this is going to be the Grammy winning song for this album. Watch the heroes at their best in this song. My verdict:
Excellent. 10/10

9: Suicide and Redemption 9:57
I suspected this would be their experimental song on the album. I felt it had a great tune to the riffs. Very solid in form from the start itself. Has a beautiful waltzy part in the fourth minute that I enjoyed very much. It was then that it dawned on me that the song is an entire instrumental. A great one for that matter. It is my wish to be able to perform this song for metal connoisseurs in front of a live crowd. It has extraordinarily great musical material. I feel they should remake this song and use the riffs for a vocal song, like a new song in itself. My verdict:
Almost Excellent. 9 ½ /10

10: My Apocalypse 5:01
The shortest song on the album, My Apocalypse is definitely the most vividly patterned song. It has a peculiar drum beat, genius work of Lars. The song is average, and I feel should have been somewhere in the start, with Judas Kiss being the finale. Not a great finale this one, but good stuff for fans to relish. The tempo bleeds as the song proceeds and dies out in a great bang. Good effect for a song. My verdict:
Fairly Good. 8/10

The entire album has been somewhat consistent, with much needed surprises and novelty. There have been spots where you lose focus on the music, but most of the songs catch your attention. And to believe that this is NOT the album after …And Justice for All is hard, for it has that classic edge to it. A very good attempt by Metallica to restore their former glory. How much they succeed depends on the choice of the listeners. I feel, the album is worth for all those who love Metallica and all those who’d like to experience a different kind of heavy metal album. That’s the key factor in the album: novelty. Listen and appreciate it for that factor.
OVERALL ALBUM FARES……
VERY GOOD!! 9/10

Had it been slightly more consistent and more attention catching, it would have been epic. Since it ain’t epic it is the thing closest to it right now. Enjoy the album.
My favourites:
That Was Just Your Life
The Day That Never Comes
Cyanide
Unforgiven III
The Judas Kiss
Suicide and Redemption
Try the album out. It’s worth listening to.

Rock On!! rocked my senses!!

Wow. After years have I seen a movie like this one. It is fabulous for a hindi movie, and the music is very much ahead of bollywood commercial crap. The last good movie i remember watching with the realism of this one is long forgotten....
The whole movie is good. It may drag a bit at the first half and get little dramatic in the end, but the movie is true to heart and a perfect buddy flick. It gave me a whole lot of hope to be a part of a band in the future, for I had almost lost every little bit of it just some months ago.
College is okay for now. We have given the guilty enough harassment for this week. I am absolutely dumbstruck with the Trignometry chapter but i find it fun to laugh till my stomach aches. It's been days since that happened to me. So i'm quite satisfied.
Test next week. 21 lessons!!! i never may have studied so many lessons even in my 10th standard. hopefully ill get decent marks.

next post whenever there is time. currently engaged in production of an alternative original music album and studies

Sad Story

hmmmmmmphhhhhh........................

Teacher's Day never sucked so bad in my life.
It was un-believable... you would have had more fun talking to the teacher in class than watch such a BORING program (that started like, an hour late?)
and what was more stupid was that we weren't allowed to visit our secondary teachers. We couldn't wish them or send our regards because of a stupid order given by a power-driven madwoman.

I have no respect for a principal who doesn't value the students. We are nothing but tools used by her to generate trophies, shields and certificates and most importantly, the SSC and HSC scores. The higher we get, the higher our school fees are gonna get.

Major let down. I have never felt so much negative emotion since a long time, the last one being when i made Lighted To Loot Community in response to the ban on 10th b(my class) for attending the send off function.
And as for a band performance, a better day will come. It is a dark night now. The night is darkest before dawn. I am waiting for the dawn to arise and embrace us now.................
Till then, practice and pray!

Where is the God Of Rock?

I had this firm determination 4 years back when i heard my first ever progressive rock group song: I want to play guitar like those guys. A year later, I'm searching for people to form a band. Another year later, i get the right kind of people, only to find I'm alone at the last moment. The next year, everything has been in our favour, and guess what? Some other punks who've been playing all along for years steal our job. It is a cold fish whacked in your face when something like that happens again.

I'm talking about current year 2008-2009. 5th of September, the goddarned day I always plan to slave out for. This year, I believed no force of nature could stop me from performing. And i even had my gig registered in the performances. And when I'm all ready, gear-wise and mentally, I get a notice saying there is no time for a separate group performance. How bloody @$&$@$%^ is that!!!!!!!!!!!!

The entire school system is manipulative. Students like me get trapped in this manipulation. I bet you, I must've known atleast five people whose talents were wasted just because of this kind of manipulation. FIVE PEOPLE. I can't fall prey to the same fate.

I have no idea what I'm gonna do. Whatever it may be, I might get drastic........
i have to brush my teeth and have breakfast. Ciao.

Excavation experience

Today I was clearing up old junk…really boring but it sure beats studying Chemistry…lol :D
Just happened to rediscover lots of old stuff I had kept from my 3rd standard. A few of them:
A mirinda bottle cap with 100$ printed on it…part of a competition where one had to collect 500$ to win a GameBoy
My diver G.I.Joe I got free with a tube of Pepsodent. One legged, rigid due to the other leg being FeviKwiked. I used to tie the only foot with a thread and push him off places, like bungee jumping
A mini computer-lookalike I made out of cardboard! Complete with mouse, keyboard, mousepad and 2 CDs of Road Rash and Age of Empires
A plastic marble I had excavated from my ground floor playing days. Dug up and found this one, multiple faced, football like black marble. Reminded me of the one in Jumanji at the centre of the board.
A badge I had made with Agent Sidharth written on it. It’s even got VIP Acess and other such authority wielding names…
An X-Men card game I had made myself when I was in 6th standard. Didn’t really take off into a full-fledged game
My favorite bubble kit…I love the frog shaped bubble blower
Lots of good memories!!!

I guess that’s childhood well spent. Those were the days, always doing something new without any actual plans like I keep nowadays.
It’s fun to actually do stuff like this. There is no Indian Standard of Nerdiness, thankfully, but I’m sure I’ll score pretty high on a U.S. Standard of Nerdiness. I guess inventing a boardgame, making prank toys and drawing crazy cartoons is all part of nerdiness as defined in their laws and sections.
I THEREFORE PROUDLY DECLARE TO BE A NERD!!!!(a happy one for that matter)

Lessons from Spongebob

Strange title? Even stranger post. (If anyone is reading this aaat aaalll. I doubt anyone does, or anyone would bother to tell me they do.) Spongebob is great. He is REALLY too great for me to describe.In case you haven't seen Spongebob yet, catch an episode on Colors and then read this. 3 cheers to Colors for starting the show there....Spongebob is a strange fellow. He looks like an adult but is really a child at heart. Quote Wiki:"SpongeBob is a porous yellow sponge with large blue eyes, many holes appearing all around his body, a mouth with prominent front buck teeth, dimples and freckles. He is also, at times, shown to have hair. He typically wears a white shirt with a red tie and brown square trousers (the entire outfit is sometimes referred to as his "pants") - hence his family name - and black leather shoes. When he works at the Krusty Krab, he wears a hat with an anchor on it as a uniform. He replaces the necktie with a chokie bow tie for special events. He sleeps in his pajamas (in the episode "Sleepy Time"), in pajamas or in underwear, with shoes, or barefoot in various episodes; in the movie he sleeps wearing socks and underwear."

What is so appealing about Spongebob? He's appealing to one and all, from 8 year olds to 80 year olds. The comic nature of the show attracts kids. I personally laugh to tears at the stupidity. And alongwith the slapstick comes a great deal of dialogue, character and the realness of his personality. There is a Spongebob in each one of us. The problem is, this Spongebob is dying out of us. When we watch the show, we will find it all too silly for adults' entretainment. But somewhere deep down, we love this character. If there was one best friend in my life I'd wish was, it would have to be Spongebob. The absolute contrast of Spongebob is his grouchy neighbour Squidward. He is a big-time pessimist, and he kinda symbolizes the adult human being. You know, "get off my lawn! stop yelling! stupid kids!" type. As we mature, we are ACTUALLY turning into this creature.Spongebob on the other hand, is happy, funny and frolicking. He reminds me of the timeless age when all I did was have fun and never take any tension at all.

Just imagine a world with no crazy stuff, no funny incidents, no wacky situations. That is a world without Spongebob. We have a lot to learn from Spongebob. We have to learn to bring the kid inside us back again. That, I feel, is the essence of life.

Moreover, Spongebob is a symbol of pop-culture, and he's got bands like Metallica playing to his credits. That's why i dig Spongebob. Check out his Goofy Goober Rock video on YouTube or watch the Spongebob Squarepants movie.

I LOVE SPONGEBOB AND HE WILL LIVE FOREVER!!!!!!!

First day of college

First day of college was quite a let down.... very disppointed with the fact that they've installed CCTV cameras to actually watch us. And there's this boys' lounge some 3 floors below, so when we have to pee, jump down 3 floors and rush!!! Rumor has it they've installed a CCTV camera there with nightvision. hahahaha



School............

What do I expect from a school? Since I'm out of school, I know EXACTLY what a school needs. 1:good teaching staff

2:good athletic training staff

3:Some place where everyone gets a chance to show off...sometimes other people are just treated like a lower strata of society...imagine the plight of a 16 year old not in football, athletics, academics, music, art or even just something plain as elocution

As far as my school is concerned...no comments