First Impressions: Death Magnetic

Well, it’s finally time.  The album has arrived.  I’ve listened to it already via the stream at Mission: Metallica and downloaded it shortly after midnight.  So, how is it?

Death Magnetic is not the second coming of Master Of Puppets, but it’s also far from being St. Angrier.

So, where does it land?  I’d say it’s a decent mix of old and new, falling in somewhere between Metallica and Load, the latter of which isn’t really a bad album.  Only three songs clock in at less than seven minutes, which may appeal to some fans, although at least one song sounds to me like it’s two stitched together (“The Day That Never Comes”).

More to come, after a couple more listens.  Hopefully my copy of the CD won’t take too long to arrive.

Signs Of The Apocalypse: Hoffspace

The Hoff + Social Networking = WTF? 

Is it April 1st already?

It’s not?  Damn…

I’ll let this one speak for itself.  Click here to get your Hoff on.

Note, someone else owns the hoffspace.com domain, so The Hoff couldn’t use that instead…

Alice Cooper – Along Came A Spider

For 43 years, Alice Cooper has been making music.  In that time, he’s released 25 studio albums, 18 of them as a solo act.  Plus there’s numerous compilations, a few live albums and a tribute album.  He also has a successful radio show, has appeared in movies and TV shows and even hosts a golf tournament for charity.

While Alice Cooper may not have been the first to explore what’s been labeled “shock rock” he is arguably the man who made it what it is today and without Alice Cooper, there are several bands whose careers may have taken a different path.

To be honest, I wasn’t actually planning on picking up Along Comes A Spider; when I picked it up, I didn’t know that it had already been released.  I’ve never been a huge fan of his, but I do like a lot of his stuff, both old and new.

Along Game A Spider is a continuation of the story of Steven, coupled with the exploits of The Spider, a serial killer who fell in love with one of his victims.  Apparently, Steven and The Spider share a cell, although they could in fact be the same person, something which the packaging itself may suggest.

I must admit, I’ve had a hard time getting into this album.  I don’t know what it is, but it hasn’t really grabbed my attention much, save for “Vengeance Is Mine” and “I Am The Spider”.  It’s not that it’s a bad album, but it seems to be lacking something.  Now, some albums do take a few listens or so to grow on the listener, but this hasn’t really happened with this album.  If you’re a long time Alice Cooper fan and have most (if not all) of his albums, you may get more out of this album than I have.

Still, I don’t regret buying this one, even if only two of the songs have caught my attention.  While I can’t see it being a mainstay in the CD player or in Winamp, I’ll still listen to it from time to time, and maybe it’ll eventually sink in and allow me to appreciate it more.