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np: judas priest - exiled

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METALLICA's New Single 'Sounds Like Mud'

Asbjørn Slettemark of the Norwegian music industry magazine Faro Journalen reports that METALLICA's record label, Universal Music Norway, has confirmed that it has received several complaints over the sound quality of the new METALLICA single "The Day That Never Comes", which was released via the iTunes store late last week. "There will be a new version of the song on iTunes in a short while," Eivind Slotsvik, senior product manager at Universal Music Norway, told Faro Journalen.

Slotsvik claims, however, that the "The Day That Never Comes" audio file that was serviced to Norwegian radio and press is not distorted like the track that was being sold via iTunes. "What we know is that there is something wrong with the version sent to iTunes," he said. "The version we have received does not contain similar errors."

Faro Journalen downloaded one of the versions Universal Music released to the press via its digital promotional database. The magazine then sent the file to Lasse Svendsen, editor of Norway's hi-fi magazine Lyd & Bilde (Sound & Vision). Svendsen was shocked by what he heard.

"Oh my God, this is unfortunately a classic example of how bad things get when studio technicians and musicians gets to play with expensive compressors and limiters," he said. "The file is a 313 kbps AAC sound file, which isn't necessarily that bad, but someone has chosen to maximize the volume with a compressor, so much so that the whole sound file just sounds like mud. The cymbals sound like broken glass, the drums like trees cracking, and the guitars — which are mixed equally loudly — sound like someone shoved a screwdriver into my ears."

Kjartan Overby is responsible for the music archives at the Norwegian national radio station at NRK. "The Day That Never Comes" was one of this week's most played tracks on NRK's youth channel P3, and Overby told Faro Journalen he reacted immediately to the sound level on the song.

"I have never heard anything like this on songs we have added to the archive. It is probably not a technical error. The file was like that when we received it from Universal Music," he said.

Lyd & Bilde editor Svendsen has low expectations for the "Death Magnetic" full-length album, which is scheduled to hit stores worldwide on September 12. "We can only hope that the CD won't sound this bad, but I don't have high hopes that this will happen," he said.

A representative for METALLICA's Mission: Metallica web site — the online experience related to the group's forthcoming album, "Death Magnetic" — sent out an e-mail message to the site's registered members last week claiming that the sound quality problems on "The Day That Never Comes" were related to "the creation of the track from master," before reassuring fans that "this is not how it will sound on the album." He then added, "We've identified the source of the problem to prevent it in any subsequent singles released in advance of September 12."

Although the band itself has not yet addressed the issue directly, it is believed that the source of the problem lies in the actual mix and not the mastering. With only three weeks left before "Death Magnetic"'s scheduled release, it is highly unlikely that any changes will be made to the album's final mix, a scenario which is almost certain to disappoint may of METALLICA's most loyal fans who have been voicing their displeasure over the new single's production on the band's official message board.

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Stavros Pamballis of UK's Terrorizer magazine has just had an opportunity to listen to the new METALLICA album "Death Magnetic" in its entirety. His knee-jerk first impressions follow.

"If you could timewarp back to 1983 with a copy of 'Death Magentic' in your hands and play it to the spotty, longhaired brats who'd just finished recording 'Kill 'Em All', they would have no problem at all recognizing themselves in its epic song structures, jaw-dropping guitar work (all buzzsaw guitars and face-melting solos) and sheer whiplash-inducing energy. In fact, they'd probably be impressed.

That's right kids, for once, you can believe the hype: 'Your' METALLICA are back and they've brought their balls with them this time.

"The album is so complex, so riddled with stops, starts, breakdowns and solos that, much like '…And Justice For All' it is virtually impossible to digest in one sitting but a few questions can be answered:

"Is it thrash? Hell yes! At times anyway. Opener 'That Was Your Life' is the heaviest thing they've done since 'Battery' while 'All Nightmare Long' sounds like it was written by SLAYER. On the whole, the album feels like the missing link between '...And Justice For All' and 'The Black Album'. James' vocals, have something to do with this as he rarely uses the low growl of the early days, opting for the higher registers of the Bob Rock days.

"How's the production? Runs rings around 'St Anger', but that's not saying much. Very strong on the whole but the drums are a little too high in the mix and the dynamics suffer as a result. Recalls the Black Album at times but with a hint of 'Reign In Blood'.

"What are the highlights? Almost every song on this album is at the very least interesting. 'Judas Kiss' is an instant, moshpit-firendly classic while 'Unforgiven III' is the album's true epic ballad. Let's just say it blows both of its namesakes out of the water.

"Okay...any negatives then? Lars Ulrich. The guy's limitations are laid bare by the spectacular guitar work on this album.

"So, is it as good as the 'First Four'? Only time will tell... Probably not, but at least it sounds like it belongs to the same back catalogue as those albums. A METALLICA (written the old way) album through and through!"

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oh thats sad king.

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p: at the gates-kingdom gone (live)

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We have Classic Hits on at work, and as a tribute they played Another Brick in the Wall... RETARDS.

He didn't play on The Wall!!!!

Duuuuuuuuuuuuuurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

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Aaaaaaawesome band.