I have to admit that I like it.  I figured Metallica had lost it and would never make another good album, but I was wrong.  Death Magnetic is a huge improvement over St. Anger and Re-Load.  I even like “The Unforgiven III” even though I think “The Unforgiven II” is one of the worst things they every put out.  After listening to the album version, I was wrong about my complaints about “Cyanide.”  Great song, maybe the best one on the album.

People complained about the lack of guitar solos on St. Anger and I didn’t think that was a big deal, but after listening to this it’s obvious that was one of its big problems.  The guitar solos are great and there’s a sense of urgency in the music that makes it compelling.

The only complaint I have is with “Day That Never Comes.”  Although it’s not a bad song, the actual singing brings back memories of the worst songs off of Re-Load and St Anger.

I’ve listened to this a ton since I got it, which is rare given my short attention span.  I’m looking forward to hearing these songs live.

Whenever a band attempts to make a comeback after several years I worry that they’re going to try to recreate one of their past successes.  Fortunately this isn’t true for Extreme’s new album Saudades de Rock. The things you expect to find are there - Gary Cherone’s unique vocals, Nuno Bettencourt’s guitar - but it doesn’t sound rehashed which is refreshing after recent Journey and Motley Crue releases.  Just listening to the country twang of “Take Us Alive” was enough to convince me that this wasn’t them just going through the motions.

Overall it sounds like the logical follow up to Waiting for the Punchline, more subtle than their earlier releases.  Each song has its own sound, keeping the album from sounding like the same song over and over.  The only dud is the album’s closer, “Peace (saudade)”, which goes on for too long and has me bored about midway through.

The main frustration I have about this though is that while this is a really good album, listening to it makes me think that they’re capable of something great, even better than Pornograffiti.  I hope that this isn’t a one time reunion and the follow this up with something even better.