Adventures in Musica

Up until lunchtime, the most exciting thing to happen to me today was somewhat impromptu interview with Sarah Cracknell from British indie-dance heroes, Saint Etienne.

Whilst that was pretty cool in itself, it was nothing compared to what happened to me when I strolled back to my desk after a quick fag-break at LINC HQ and found a crisp, white envelope waiting for me. (no offence to Sarah, who was a pleasure to talk to!).

Inside, was the hugely-anticipated new album from heavy metal veterans, Metallica, and I'm happy to report that it freakin' rocks.

I'll save a proper, well-thought out review for the day job, but I'm admittedly too excited not to say anything about it right now.

Kicking off with the brutal, 'That Was Just Your Life', 'Death Magnetic' immediately accelerates to 100 mph and obliterates everything in its path.

Solos sharper than daggers cut through pummelling riffs as James Hetfield growls and bellows like a man in the middle of some cathartic exorcism.

'Favourite song' honours, for the moment anyway, go to 'Cyanide', a lengthy beast with a nasty, snarling riff lacerating a seriously filthy bassline and a refrain just catchy enough to appease those wiend on a diet of Metallica's 1990's output.

Speaking of which, though there's enough here to keep such fans happy, not least in form of 'The Day That Never Comes', die-hard fans of old-skool 'Tallica fans will not be disappointed.

As I've said before, this is the Metallica of old meeting an older Metallica, with a nod in the direction of '...And Justice For All' and a power unmatched by anything they've done before.

But if there's one surprise that nobody expected, it's the inclusion of a piano.

Yes, you read that right folks, Piano, on a Metallica album. Who'da thunk it? Said surprise comes in 'The Unforgiven III', an altogether decent track but hardly the highlight of the album.

I'll say no more on the matter for now, but trust me, if you've ever liked anything Metallica have ever done, whether you're an old-skooler adamant that everything went down hill after '...'Justice' or were raised on a healthy dose of the black album, you need this beast in your life.