WHAT CRITICS ARE SAYING ABOUT THE NEW METALLICA SONG

Yesterday was a day we’ve all been waiting for for a very, very long time — fans the world over got a taste of the new record from the most popular metal band of all time. Axl weighed in with his thoughts yesterday, and I completely agree with what he said. And here’s the early skinny on what other blog hacks like us are saying about the new Metallica song, “The Day That Never Comes.”

• Idolator.com (Maura Johnston): “Something doesn’t feel right here. And by ‘doesn’t feel right’ I mean ‘sorta gives the impression of a band becoming its own cover band.'”
• NoneLouder.com (Iann Robinson): “‘The Day That Never Comes’ might be James singing about waiting for inspiration to write and record a great album. This is a step above St. Anger in that it’s not completely a suck job but it is more of the mediocrity we’ve come to expect for ‘Tallica.”
• MetalMartyr.com (Scott Wharton): “If you want to hear something that sounds better than St Anger, go listen to a garbage disposal sucking down 40 pounds of rotten cabbage. But seriously, this really isn’t that bad. At times it sounds as if they are trying and sometimes trying to [sic] hard. I’ll wait for the rest of the album to make any strict judgement [sic] calls.”
• Stereogum (Amrit): “As they’ve made unavoidably clear, Death Magnetic Metallica is all about bringing it back to the classic era. Clocking in at 7:56, you’d think this was the track to make good on that. And you’d be right! For the last three minutes. And if ‘bringing it back’ means ‘rewriting old songs.'”
• AncientScripts: “Sounds like a cross between old school Metallica (pre-1991) and Load-era stuff. Not too shabby. Pretty good, if it’s 1991.”

Everyone seems to be in agreement on one thing: overwhelming mediocrity. Sigh.

-VN