All Nightmare Long recalls the unbridled, headbanging thrash of The Four Horsemen from 1983 debut Kill Em All and The Judas Kiss has the cocky chug and riotous momentum of Seek & Destroy. And if you're after some prog-metal excursions similar to 1988's ... And Justice For All then look no further than 10-minute instrumental Suicide and Redemption, which veers from grandiose acoustic moments, into deathly and ruthless riffs, and then on to the galavanting grooves that bring the song to an end.
While they mine many of the best bits of their past, the album is brought kicking and growling into 2008 by the album's polished intensity - something also not heard since the Black Album.
The only real let up on the 10-song, 75-minute onslaught, is the opening piano, strings and brass combo on the Unforgiven III (the first being on the Black Album and the second on 97's Reload).
Singer and rhythm guitarist James Hetfield is at his sneering and muscular best ("So, bow down, sell your soul to me," he growls on The Judas Kiss); guitarist and yoga addict Kirk Hammett shows why his beefy and thrilling guitar solos make him one of the most copied axemen around; drummer Lars Ulrich is in flailing form; and new bass player Rob Trujillo, who didn't play on the last album but joined the band for the tour, is a bottom-end beast.
There's so much about Death Magnetic that makes it the kind of familiar and memorable Metallica of old - the raging complexity, the epic and frilly moments that give way to rampant thrash, and how it's all held together by a solid, yet dynamic bass and drums groove. The squabbling and over-thinking surrounding St Anger meant it had few of these qualities, while Load, and the likes of the unforgiveable S&M - the band's live orchestral experiment - remain forgettable.
Death Magnetic is no classic like 1986's Master of Puppets. However, put simply, Metallica have returned to putting their brains and more importantly their backs into their music.
