Audio Engineers React to "Death Magnetic" by Metallica! 

This is a massive video and I want to let everyone know that the first half hour is mostly a discussion about future projects on the channel. Then we talk about Death Magnetic until we listen to track 1 right around the 1 hour mark!

Pretty crazy how the dude knows right when to talk when every interesting transition or change happens in every single song. What a remarkable skill haha. I still like the videos tho.

"I haven't heard a second of this" so i'll talk over it like i always do

Patrick talking the whole time about how he wants the vocals to be louder but talks during the two best vocal parts of Judas Kiss. UNREAL!

Fun fact: Death Magnetic is the loudest album ever. It ended the loudness war. Fun fact 2: the "Warner Bros. [512119-1]" vinyl press sounds WAY better than the CD. Apparently it was remastered by Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MFSL), and the brickwall is less notorious. Much more enjoyable than the retail CD version.

God damn imagine talking through every single amazing transition and guitar part.

This album surprisingly aged really really well.

The dude next to him should prod patrick when hes talking through an integral part of the song cause he does it every single time... its like an anti-superpower.

Patrick my guy….you just gotta let the songs breathe like Chris said 🤣🤣

This is a killer album. Best comeback ever. Especially after st.anger. The snare was still off a bit.

My absolute favourite Metallica album. Not a song on the entire album that I dislike. Also...All Nightmare Long 🤩

I’m SOOOOO upset Patrick doesn’t like the break in All Nightmare Long. That’s arguably THE moment on the album maybe save for the solo in UN3. When he spoke during the silence it hurt me in my soul. Also not in a mean way: WAY too much talking during this. Missing a lot that’s going on during the songs when you’re having full conversations over it. Not saying you can’t talk but sometimes just shut it for a little so you can hear. Beyond that though, this album from a writing standpoint is top tier. The song are a touch long but everything is just so damn good. The riffs, the transitions, the harmonies. Phenomenal. If only the album sounded better. Hot take: if this production was really good on this album, it could possibly compete to be their best ever.

Patrick was a little difficult in this one, I definitely felt Chris’ pain during Broken, Beat and Scarred.

Fun Fact: The beginning riff for Cyanide is actually morse code for SOS

1:52:02 The Day That Never Comes is NOT about war. The video uses military imagery (not sure why, but it's a bad video, anyway), but the lyrics are CLEARLY about a person in an abusive relationship. Lines like "You pull away, he hits the flesh, you hit the ground" and "Love is a four-letter word, and never spoken here" make it blatantly obvious. It's the tale of someone telling themselves that they should get out of the situation, but afraid to do so out of fear of the retaliation it might bring about. Even the end of the lyrics states "I'll put an end to this, I swear. The sun will shine, this I swear," but then musically, the song goes into the aggressive riffs and STAYS there, almost as if the violence is happening again. Because typically in these types of relationships, the person stays with their abuser for a multitude of reasons, but many of them are derived out of fear. The day that they finally find the bravery to leave is the actual day that never comes.

Chris - "Talked right through it", Patrick - "Yeah whatever I don't care." Sums up this dudes whole channel. If you don't care then why the hell are you even bothering with this?

Ah.. Death Magnetic. I was 13 in 2008 when this album came out, and at the time I only had '...And Justice' and the Black album in my Metallica CD collection. I remember very well hearing 'The Day That Never Comes' play on the radio for the first time and being convinced that the band actually had a new singer, having not heard James' vocal progression between 1991 and 2008. I was absolutely certain that it was a different guy!

1:48:04 Chris spoke for all of us with that one🤣

It's a bit of a shame that you've heard 72 Seasons already. DM came out in 2008 so we'd been waiting since '91 or even '88, wondering if 'the old Metallica' would ever come back.. DM was an amazing surprise, and welcome 'return' and, although I really rate a lot of the Load stuff, that feeling of 'Finally, they're back!' was amazing.

If this album has a sound like vulgar display of power just would be a masterpiece

Love that Chris said at 2:22:51 he'd love to hear an EP of just James Hetfield playing... there exists a single cover of Waylon Jennings' Don't You Think This Outlaw Bit's Done Got out of Hand where (I believe) James played everything: rhythm, lead, bass, drums and vocals

Patrick’s favorite movie is “Speed”. If he says less than 50 words a minute he’ll explode.

Although the Black album was my first Metallica and I have a soft spot for it, I think Death Magnetic is probably my favourite…

Patrick is “Old man yells at cloud….and complains about the sound of the kick and snare drum doing 67% of every song.”

Been waiting for this one for a while!

I think you may be thinking of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" or "Fade to Black" with the fade out on the 'Ride the Lightning' album. The song "Ride the Lightning" does not fade out. When they play Bells or Fade live, they do have a definitive ending, and they are two of the better songs when played live. The solo that is being played in Fade as the song fades on the album is the solo Kirk closes out with live, and it's amazing.

Holy shit guys, THANK YOU for listening to the iTunes version. I was hoping against hope you would. It turns this record from a tragedy of what might have been into a very loud and raw, but very listenable record. As much as I would've liked a remix that made the sound a bit more dynamic, I think this version is a very good representation of what they were originally trying to achieve with the sound: It's directly in your face, 110% all the time. Maximum Metallica: The Album. They were absolutely shooting for the fences with this record and it's the greatest about-face career reset I've ever seen any band pull off. Whether it's their favorite or not, any fan should be able to respect and appreciate it for that reason alone. This is the sound of a band coming back to life, finding themselves again.

I love this album.

1:06:32 - From the "third Metallica phase" Death Magnetic is by far my favorite...The songs aren't too simple, they have their complexity, they are flashy, they are heavy, they have good lyrics metrics (sentences end where they should) and they don't have weird vocal filters (the ones in there are from ok to nice). Hardwired is a mess on all those points... this is exactly why I mentioned these. 72 Seasons is too simple, too pop... too radio, made to be too accessible.

I'm so glad that I'm not an audio engineer so the production of the album doesn't bother me 😂

Apparently not everywhere in the world you get the remastered version on iTunes. In Germany you still only get the original. If I saw it correctly you can distinguish which version you get by comparing the copyright note. The original is licenced to "Metallica, under exclusive licence to Universal" and the remastered is licensed to "Blackened Music"

Parker hit the nail on the head in the solo part of Judas Kiss, that “Judas lives recite this vow, I’ve become your new god now” is absolutely my favorite part of the album (though I won’t hold it against you of course)

2:33:11 the piano plays the chord progression from the first 2 unforgivens but in E instead of A, so it's a pretty integral part of the song imo. Definitely should not be taken out.

Could you guys do Pantera records next? I bet you'd be facinated when you hear dimebag's guitar skills and phill's vocal range.

The day that never comes is my all time favourite track they made. It’s soo good. This album is phenomenal

patrick and chris and chris back at it again with another BANGER

Guys.. guys.. Kirk Hammets Portals Ep he released last year is FANTASTIC. The most creative guitar playing he’s done in over 20 years.

I have to, HAVE TO, recommend that you fellas listen to the demos for this album (they are all on youtube somewhere). They cut SO MUCH interesting stuff from the final mix, it's totally worth a listen on its own (keeping in mind the lyrics and solos are mostly just placeholders).

My fav album by them

Chris' reaction to the original version is how I felt about the album for sooo long lol. I never really listened to the cleaned up version until this video, and it is night and day better. I may actually give the updated one a listen sometime. Original has to be one of the most overcompressed/loudened records, I've ever heard.

Thank you for the quick explanation of what mastering is. Finally helped me understand it better.

In Suicide & Redemption, James does the first solo in the song. Not the interlude, but when it picks back up and gets heavy again. Dont know if anyone else mentioned that.

When this came out I listened to it over and over again, but listened to it mostly in my '88 Toyota Corolla that with a shit stereo and noisy engine, so I had no idea the masering was bad. I was like "what do you mean? This album sounds great!"

That CD was in my player in my truck for 8 years! Soooo loud and I loved it!

dude never shuts up

Bad mastering never bothered me that much. Im always more focused on song composition and guitar parts etc so I always loved the original Death Magnetic release.

You guys need to do a TOOL discography run through. Some of the best mixing ever

This was my first Metallica album. I was a freshman in high school and bugged my dad to buy it for me. I kept up with all the Mission Metallica stuff, the online leaks, live versions of songs. I was obsessed with Death Magnetic. I also have the Moderus version (a fan mix) where the vocals are brought up front and have some reverb! I could share it with you if I can find it

Your info is a little mixed up about the Beyond Magnetic and the post-St. Anger Live songs. A few tidbits: - "The New Song" (aka death is not the end) has riffs which turned into The End of the Line (track 2 on DM, maybe this was your confusion?) and All Nightmare Long - "Vulturous" (another new song of that era) has not really surfaced in any way - "Just a Bullet Away" was codenamed "Shine" and was a fan favorite in the pre-DM live studio prep video era. It finally showed up on Beyond Magnetic. - "Hate Train" has a middle riff which was featured also in these studio prep videos. - All 4 of the Beyond Magnetic songs were performed live in the 2011 SF 30th anniversary shows. Hell and Back was the only one to be played after that, over the next couple of years here and there. I'm impressed by your ability to string together some tidbits of information, get some of it wrong, but state things as hard cold facts. You're like ChatGPT in this way! Leave room for misinterpretation or study the history a bit more thoroughly before stating things as facts please.

So glad that you guys are doing beyond magnetic. It has some very good moments

Can’t wait!

You guys should check out "Beyond Magnetic" EP next time! Just nice 4 extra tracks left from Death Magnetic

Love the video Patrick, and the mustache!

If there's one Megadeth album to listen to in it's entirety it's probably Rust in Peace but "Holy Wars..." off it is practically a mandatory listening for tasting old Megadeth even though you/Patrick would probably like Countdown to Extinction the most (or maybe Risk cause it's like Dave's Load).

I think for The Unforgiven III the best version is from S&M2. That version with the symphony is beautiful and it makes it one of the best Metallica songs.

I feel like this album doesn't get enough attention as some of their others. I share their sentiment of this album having some of the best transitions and guitar riffs. There's SO MANY guitar riffs packed into each song, and each song take you to so many different places! If this album had James' classic vocal and guitar tones, this probably would be their best album imo.

I always liked how the solo in My Apocalypse ends in a siren sound with a doppler shift as it drives past. Goes good with "car crash" symbolism.

I've never heard the iTunes version. I ripped from the CD on day 1 and still have that on my iPhone. This sounds incredible so far. Very much looking forward to the OG reaction of BBS.

I think I'm discovering about myself that I'm really a masochist. Every time I see a video from Patrick I know I'm going to rage 10 to 20 times during the course of the reaction but as he talks over my favorite parts and ignores the things that we all love about Metallica, but I know every time you put out a video dude I'm going to listen to it. 🤷

Just discovered this channel, fucking love this format!

2/15/2024 I compared a youtube upload of the itunes remaster to the spotify version and honestly I can't tell if there's even a difference. Maybe spotify switched versions? edit: with headphones I can hear more clipping on the spotify version but the overall sound is almost the same. I remember hearing this when it came out thinking the static was a faulty CD rip but no it's just the album, but I also think it was intentional almost like electro static or electro magnetic noise going with the theme of the album name.

Holy shit! Patrick, if you would just listen, you'll find parts more awesome than you own voice!

1:34:15 “It’s because the riffs are so good” 😂 In retrospect, I believe Death Magnetic to be the last great Metallica album. Don’t get me wrong, there are some great numbers on both Hardwired and 72 Seasons, but this album is just epic. I never understood the hate this album gets from some people, well, except for the mixing, but this I got used to. All else - the riffs, the transitions, the presence of TWO great ballads on this album, one of which has probably the last great Kirk solo to date - is unbelievably good. I hope that this album will also get the re-release and a remastered version, though I understand that we’ll have to wait for it for a while (given that Load/Reload and St. Anger are not yet released).

When he said Godsmack has been using wah before Metallica ever thought of using it I LOL'd. What a weenie

I genuinely think this album is right up there with Metallica's best. The classics stand on their own, but in terms of post-Black album this is possibly the best they've released. Thrashy, aggressive, has complexity in the arrangements without going full "Justice". It gets hate for the production, which I get, but the songwriting & performances are really strong.

How is it I cannot stand the person who’s channel it is, but love the other two guys. Really the only reason I tune in to these videos is for the Chris’s

The guitar riffs at the start of Cyanide and at the end of the song, 3 fast 3 slow and 3 fast, is Morse Code for SOS. So the song begins and ends with an SOS call.

That thing you said about watching all the way through your monetized metal CD unboxing video, I literally did that when it came out. I didnt really care about what you were doing, but I knew it would be nice to just set my phone down and "watch" it all the way through.

I'm sorry to correct you, but the part where you say that they wrote load and reload in the studio without ideas was false.... They had demos for both reload and load a year and a half before load came out. And not just a couple songs, but a BUNCH of songs. St anger is the only album that wasn't demoed first, because they pretty much canned half an albums worth of material that was written in studio. Another fact about the St. Anger snare that everyone else talks about, was actually used FIRST on the mission impossible soundtrack song they did in 2000 called I DISAPPEAR. check it out 😊

in response to you not finding how many times these songs were played live, they have details about that on their website. if you go to a specific album and click on a song it details when it was first played live, last played live, and how many times it was played live in total. hope this helps in future videos! 🤘

Chris’s face when the original master started playing 😂

Surprises me that Patrick hasn't listened to Iron Maiden, they're the first band someone would mention if you ask them about double harmonies Edit: Loving the content, keep it going!

This album is definitely in my Metallica's top 5 :D

The guy in the middle just loves hearing his own voice!

I'm not sure Patrick could ever sit and listen to bands like Misfits and Black Flag without pulling all his hair out. ...re-growing his hair and pulling it all out.

I did not know there was a 2010 re-release and I need this in my life

Came for the reaction to the original version and wasnt disappointed 😄 When it first came out I listened to the first 30s and thought my headphones were broken, i went straight off to the shops to buy new headphones, came back and started again. It was so crushing to realise that was just how the album sounded.

Saw them in jersey. Musically the only person that has aged is Lars. Kirks solo album is called Portals. Pretty damn good if you’re into solo guitar and more cinematic score-ish sounding stuff.

A music producer quote "well I don't know when the song ended" I suggest actually listening to the song instead of talking bullshit over the vocals. That way you will pick up on the SUBTLE!! cues of where the song is going.

"You're such a normie" comment had me spit out my coffe. I love it! haha

If you're using Winamp, you can bring up the Winamp window and hit Ctrl+V while the song is playing and it will stop before it plays the next song in the playlist.

Can't wait! Since it seems I'm the first to comment (probably not once I'm done writing this 😅 ), I'll start with a bit of trivia that I hope you find interesting: Track 5 on this album, "All Nightmare Long" is the ONLY original Metallica studio release recorded in every bedroom guitarist's favourite tuning, drop D. Contrary to what some believe, previous Metallica songs in D tuning (like Sad But True and The Thing That Should Not Be) are in fact not in drop D, but in D standard tuning. The difference is, for D standard all strings are simultaneaously downtuned a whole step, so that the relative intervals between the strings are unchanged, and chord shapes and scales are played in the same way as in regular E standard tuning, they just produce sounds in a lower key. This is what Metallica have done in the past when they wanted to "get heavy". For drop D on the other hand, only the top string is tuned down from E to D. This makes it immensely popular with bedroom guitarists that have only one guitar, because it is the easiest and fastest way to switch to a lower register. In addition, since the interval between the first and second string is changed to a fifth by default, power chords become actually easier to play. The D power chord would just be open strings, and in all other keys you only need one finger to play a full power chord. The flip side is that for playing different chord shapes and melody lines involving the top string, you'd have to adapt quite a bit. So as a general rule of thumb (to which there are exceptions, of course), you'll find drop tunings in more simplistic metal styles that rely on chuggy riffs, and if it's more melodic and technical, it's propably in some regular standard tuning. Metallica has ventured into drop tunings on St. Anger (albeit in lower registers than D), but like so many other artistic choices on that album, it was pretty much a one-off. They never used them before and never used them after - with this one exception, "All Nightmare Long" on Death Magnetic. There are two probable reasons for this. One dates back to 2006, when Metallica played an untitled new song on a couple of live shows. Songwriting wise, that song was a bit of a hybrid between St. Anger and Death Magnetic. The St. Anger influence was still there, exemplified by the fact it was written and played in a drop tuning. But other parts already foreshadowed where they were headed at the time. In fact, they ended up recycling bits and pieces of that song for different songs on Death Magnetic, and the biggest chunk - the entire solo section and post-solo bridge - ended up on "All Nightmare Long". So it makes sense they kept the drop tuning. The other reason is that one of the main signature riffs in the song is derived from a flamenco guitar lick that Rob once played in the studio on an acoustic guitar and James found interesting enough to copy and use for the new album. James learned the lick on an E standard guitar, it is played on the second and third string and involves open strings. The section in the song where it is used features a key change to E, so the notes are the exact same as in the original flamenco lick. But the root of the song is D. If they used a regular D standard tuning as they have done in the past, James would've had to play the lick higher up the fretboard, without using open strings. But luckily, there is a guitar tuning that allowed him to lower the root to D and to play the flamenco lick on the second and third string just the way he learned it on his E standard guitar - and there you go, first and only Metallica song in drop D.

The main bendy riff on Suicide and redemption is so fire. It might be my favorite Metallica instrumental

I honestly never knew there was a remaster. The only version i had ever heard was the album release version.

Chris mentioning the TX show was pretty sick since I was there too😂

Excited for this, production is terrible, but song-writing wise, it's my favorite modern metallica album. Guitar Hero mix is mandatory, would be cool if you guys talked about it.

Can't wait, i liked the album, however i can't understand the mixing decisions. Appreciate if you pay attention to the bass mixing, there are two versions that you can compare with the studio version: 1- Guitar Hero 2- Enhanced bass edition.

Patrick ragging on S&R is breaking my fuckin heart 😂😭

I feel the dude on the right, telling blue tshirt dude to shut up haha! Man, be quite for more than 10 seconds and listen 😅

2:06:33. The signature moment of the album. All reigns after that breath \m/

Really great listen! I hope you guys do Opeth one day, probably Ghost reveries since that's the most approachable one

Guys, ride the lightning doesn't fades out

im not an audio engineer and i can clearly hear all the issues it has mastering wise but it somehow works as a great album regardless. I don’t think i had the cd originally but i did have a technically awful sounding version i used. I’ve had various versions. What one are you playing here? It sounded pretty good. For all it’s faults it’s fantastic. In fact i would go as far as saying every album they have made that suffers in some way of recording and post production are all their very best albums. First 4 and this basically.

I always loved Death Magnetic. It is one of my "listen on repeat all day" albums. LP's Hybrid Theory being one of my others.

Literally every song: "Oh! Here comes Load era Metallica!" No. Its really not..

Another great video guys. To everyone moaning about too much talking, surely the point of these video is to hear their thoughts?

What don't kill ya makes you more strong is now officially my favorite Metallica lyric of all time! 😅😅😅

This is my first video of yours (it was fun; I'll check out more), so I haven't seen your previous Metallica discussions. As a lifelong Metallica fan (9 years old when the Black Album came out), my take on this third act of Metallica's career is similar to Patrick's. One of their calling cards as songwriters & arrangers is intricate transitions and sideways shifts, but they have gone so overboard with them post-St. Anger. On those 80s albums, we'd get a few complex introductions on the album, one or two complex transitions per song (with plenty of songs that didn't have any), with most songs clocking in between 5 & 6 minutes, while one or two would stretch out to 8. They didn't do the same thing every minute or two of every single song, and not every single song was treated like a glorious epic. The special moments were allowed to feel special, because not every moment was treated like it was special. I do enjoy this album and the two that follow, because I love Metallica and there's enough here to give me all the feels. There are plenty of cool riffs, moments, melodies, etc. These albums are all a bit exhausting, though. Regardless, it's super rare to have good or even consistently okay new music from a band that's been around for decades, so I'll take what I can get. I'm just aware that this is the expectation with which I'm listening to and enjoying the new stuff.

Patrick you're so funny demanding vocals while ignoring lyrics, you just want a person making mouth sounds nicely with your music! But for real great reaction boys!

Love this album