Don't buy Death Magnetic yet.

Fucking Metallica...

My favorite band is doing just about everything they can to make me stop liking them.

The production on Death Magnetic is shit. I think I really like the songs, but the mix is terrible. And interestingly enough, the mix that Metallica sent to Guitar Hero 3 does not sound like shit, and its beginning to cause an uproar.

Read about it here, and here, and see evidence of the shitastic clipping here.

So hold out on buying the album, maybe they'll remaster it so that it doesn't sound like poop. Torrents are starting to appear with audio rips from the Guitar Hero 3 versions, so just go download those until Metallica figures out how much they screwed up this album.

UPDATE: I just downloaded the Guitar Hero 3 audio rip, and holy hell is it better. It's not perfect, the guitars are a bit weak in the mix, but there's no distortion. I think I'm noticing more intricacies to the songs as well. Hopefully it won't be too long until someone starts creating mixes with these tracks.

Compare CD vs. GH3!