Death Magnetic was Metallica’s ninth studio album and it was released on the 12th of September 2008 to universal acclaim. It was the fifth Metallica album in a row to go straight to the number one spot on the Billboard 200 in the US and by the end of October it had gone platinum with over 1,000,000 copies sold.

The album features ten tracks, although they actually recorded eleven and it is the first album released by Metallica with Robert Trujillo on base guitar. Trujillo actually joined Metallica back in 2003 after auditioning and he had previously played with Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne, he was apparently paid a $1 million advance when he joined.

It is also the first Metallica album to be produced by Rick Rubin and according to Lars he drilled the songs into the band until they knew them inside out. Rubin has a reputation for re-invigorating artists and bands and he has previously worked with Slayer, The Beastie Boys, Neil Diamond and Johnny Cash. Apparently the recording was a relatively easy process and Metallica had no need for a therapist this time round avoiding the damaging arguments that were documented in their film Some Kind of Monster.

After a five year wait most fans seem to have been delighted with the new album. There was a complaint that it was too loud and some people claimed the Guitar Hero 3 version actually sounded better because of the way it was mixed but for the most part it was very well received by fans and critics alike.