Death Magnetic: Metallica

Is it good?
Yes.

Is it great?
Maybe. Dunno Yet.

Most importantly, does it make you headbang and air-guitar frantically, further fuelling your co-workers' fears over your sanity?
Hell Yeah!

The Metal Gods have descended on planet earth again. Wait.. make that 'thundered' on planet earth again. And this time, its not Pop/Rock mediocre mixture (The Loads) or self destructive, incoherent noise (St. Anger), but hard-core Metallica, the stuff that made them Metallica.. stuff which will have you youtubing for live versions of 'Master of Puppets' coz you just had to see that again.

Metallica's decline has been well documented. There were fears that the band was gonna self destruct post 'St. Anger', their last excuse for an album. Hetfield was in and out of Rehab. Therapists were hired. Managers were fired. Not exactly the kind of stuff a fan wants to hear.

What a fan wants to hear is 'Death Magnetic'.

Its a return to where it all started for Metallica: no-holds-barred thrash with signature riffs, high speed guitaring, tempo changes and grim lyrics.
Two minutes into the first track and I was smiling. This was familiar territory, and that's not a bad thing if you like Metallica.

The album clocks an astonishing 74+ minutes for just 10 tracks. Most of the songs are more than 7 minutes long. Its almost as if the band is demanding your undivided attention.
The shortest one is the frentic final track "My Apocalypse" and the longest: "Suicide and Redemption", a smashing 10 minute instrumental.

Its too early to pick favorites (I've only given it 4-5 hearings), but for now I'm split between 'The Day that Never Comes' and 'The Judas Kiss', with the former being a sure bet to become not only a chart topper, but also a Guitar Hero favorite because of its killer tempo changes and manical guitaring.
Speaking of which, I've actually been dreaming of rocking this album out on Guitar Hero. (I'm not just saying it, I had dreams of it 2 nights in a row!)

Go ahead, fellow Metal Heads. Rock yourself out!

(Update: Oct 20: Okay.. Suicide & Redemption rocks. It just Rocks!!)