Suicide and Redemption

I haven't listened to Metallica's Death Magnetic in a while, probably not since I sold my vinyl lp copy. Fortunately, the band put the entire album on their website as streaming audio, and it does sound pretty good. There is still far too much clipping and distortion, but at least my ears aren't bleeding they way they were when I played the album on my stereo.

I have noticed that digial music pressed onto lp doesn't sound very good. The better ones are adequate, the terrible ones are physically painful, but none of them can match the sonic fidelity and depth of analog recordings. Digital music is best served on a digital medium, like iPods and CDs.

I remain somewhat torn on D-Mag. Musically, it's terrific, and if your favorite Metallica was the early years of the 1980s, then this album is for you. You'll have a blast. I don't plan on buying the CD anytime soon; getting burned once is enough for me, thank you very much. But I would like to have this album playing on an iPod (whenever I get around to buying one).

Thank goodness, again, for Metallica's free stream of the album. It's a perfect soundtrack to my blogging. The ten-minute instrumental Suicide and Redemption is probably my favorite track on Death Magnetic. It may even be my favorite Metallica instrumental; it's certainly the most tightly packed, with four of five major movements. I could listen to an entire album of Metallica instrumentals.

I'm still sore about the brickwalling, though. The loudness wars are so absurd, and so easily preventable. The music industry has no rational excuse for crushing the sound of their music so badly. Sooner or later, it has to stop. I still wish I could hear a "high definintion" version of D-Mag with the dynamic range and fidelity intact.

Ah, song's over! Time to hit the replay button!