8/22/08: New Metallica has arrived! The Day That Never Comes is the first single from the new CD and I've listened to it about 6 times so far. You wanted guitar solos? Well they are back big time! The song itself takes some time to grow on you, but it is a cross between One and Fade To Black in many ways, and that is not a bad thing! I hear an influence from UFO on the guitar melody (Kirk said in a recent interview they were one of his all time favorites) and Thin Lizzy (which Metallica have covered). All good, and huge props for a band of this stature to have the balls to release an 8 minute, non commercial song as a first single to a highly anticipated album. Sounds like the band not only got their sound back but the metal attitude as well. Great to have what very well might be the biggest metal band in the world back and on their game! Look forward to the full CD. This is much closer to old school Metallica than anything they have done in a long time and Metallica is so big that conservative rock radio will have to play it. Be interesting to see how many actually will. A kick ass first step back! My only issue is that the song was delivered to radio as a download instead of a good old CD. I am hearing some slight distortion during the jam section and I have downloaded it from the label twice. I would have hoped an artist as important as Metallica would have warranted a top quality CD feed to radio, hope its coming. I'll be cranking it and talking about it tonight on the air during the Metal Summit!
