Once again superstar producer Rick Rubin helped an aging act reclaim some of its early vitality in 2008, this time working with Metallica, whose deceptively smart, meat-and-potatoes thrash metal had begun to lose some of its vital edge. As expected, the newest Metallica disc, Death Magnetic, is a heralded return to form, reintroducing the blazing guitar solos and epileptic tempos that the band mostly abandoned around the turnof-the-century. It’s also arguably Metallica’s loudest album yet, which, according to some fans, is the problem. The latest casualty of the so-called “loudness war” (Wikipedia itor not), Death Magnetic’s production is so oversaturated that the sound is clipped, resulting in a mix that’s thin, distorted and crappy. The band should sound much better live, when they play a 7 p.m. show tonight at the Bradley Center.
Metallica
Tonight @ the Bradley Center - 7 p.m.