Death Magnetic

I finally found the time and fought my laziness to put in something about one of my favorite albums in my huge play list. It was about time Metallica delivered something brilliant..esp after getting it all wrong in St. Anger. Anyways here goes:

That was just your life
The first song of the album. It starts with a heartbeat kinda thing and follows it up with a slow dark intro which creates this atmosphere like something's gonna happen. It doesn't take time for the heavy guitars to come in...and then it explodes into a really nice fast riff which literally makes you sit up and listen. Hetfield doesn't waste much time to jump in with everything's he's got. Whew!..the lines "Almost like your life, Almost like your endless fight, Curse, the day is long, Realize you don't belong, Disconnect somehow, Never stop the bleeding now, Almost like your fight, And there it went, Almost like your life. " just gives me goosebumps! Ulrich totally holds the song together and the entire structure of the song is sooo "liquid". It flows endlessly right till the end. Hammett does justice to the solos. An explosive start to the album.

End of the Line
This song was already on their live shows as the "New song". When I heard it, it was ..well..OK..I absolutely loved the beginning but the chorus and the verses were a bit weird. The version on the album is a killer. Its like my favorite song on the album. It has a really cool catchy riff and they changed the verses and the chorus for the better. Its really cool now. It doesn't sound like a work in progress. It did kinda sound like that when I heard it first. Anyways, this song is about drug addiction. That's what I could get from the lyrics. I think its about how drugs take you in and then ultimately they start controlling you till you reach like the end of the line. Since Death Magnetic is about people in the rock/music industry who have died and stuff..this song does spread that message to a great extent. The lines "The slave becomes the master. Need more and more. Right now and everafter. Need more and more" is like the gist of the entire song. Amazing song. Really cool lyrics and a catchy melody. It sticks at the back of your head for a long time after you hear it.

Broken Beat and Scarred
This is like one of those songs which gets you all pumped up. A perfect song to lift your spirits when you are down. I mean when you hear Hetfield roar Rise, fall down, rise again. What don't kill you make you more strong. you cant help the adrenaline rush take control of you. When I listened to the words "Breaking your teeth on the hard life coming, Show your scars. Cutting your feet on the hard earth running, Show your scars. Breaking your life, Broken, beat and scarred. But we die hard " .. I cudnt help make the devil horns \m/. A perfect song for gym or basketball! Phew!..the first three songs were soo awesome that I was instantly back to the Master of Puppets era!

The day that never comes
This is like a typical Metallica ballad. I wont compare it to Fade to Black or One but it comes very close to classics like those. Its a song about hope..waiting for the day when people bury their differences but that day never comes. But towards the end, the protagonist swears that things would change and the day would come!

All Nightmare Long
My favourite track of the album. In fact its one my all time favourite Metallica song too! All Nightmare Long is a ferocious song and the guitars on this one...man!..its exactly like the old Metallica we fell in love with! Its pure thrash! The intros is like one of the best intros there can be! The part when Hetfield grunts "Hunt you down all nightmare long. Feel us breathe upon your face. Feel us shift, every move we trace. Hunt you down without mercy. Hunt you down all nightmare long." makes you wanna headbang like crazy! I think the song is about fear and how we try to run away from it and the more we try to run away..the more scared we are and the more it haunts us. The overall pace of the track is mind blowing! and..it has 2 solos!!! and Ulrich goes crazy with the double bass at the end!

Cyanide
What a cool name for a song! Its a nice catchy song with a really cool chorus. This song is about suicide and its more with the theme of the entire album. I love the chorus of this song.

The Unforgiven 3
This is like the third part of the Unforgiven song series. I loved Unforgiven and Unforgiven 2 . Unforgiven 3 is really cool too but I wish it was more powerful! Metallica used the piano on this track..which was really new for me. It does blend in well with the music. The lyrics are awesome just like it was in the previous unforgivens.

Judas Kiss
A kickass song! After hearing Hetfield roar "Bow down, Sell your soul to me, I will set you free, Pacify your demons . Bow down, Surrender unto me, Submit infectiously, Sanctify your demon" you have no choice but to sell your soul and bow down to Hetfield baby!! The best chorus of the entire album!! I loved the lyrics on this album..really kickass!

Suicide and Redemption
The instrumental song on the album. Its a nice track..the ones which really pumps you up. Its not like the Call of Ktulu which had a more of a classical touch. The riff is a down-right dirty, heavy and perfect during daaru parties! :D

My Apocalypse
The last song of the album. Makes you want more! Its an insane track. Ulrich is awesome on this one. There's this portion at 1:52 when everyone goes insane! It sounds like the old classic metallica. I wish the solo was a bit longer..it was too short for me..maybe am listening to too much Dream Theater but thats what I felt. Anyways but hats off to Ulrich on this one. He does a fabulous job!

Phew!..its a classic album and 10 big thumbs up to Metallica for finally delivering what we wanted to hear for a loooooong time. I just realized I dint mention Trujjilo at all. Well, everyone was good at some point or the other...this guy was awesome in every song! He does make the songs more heavier. I sooo want to go on a metallica concert!

Basketball

I just came back from an awesome game of Basketball with my new found friends. Our office had a welcome party for Sumit and Jain on Thursday. So during the party, a japanese guy by the name of Nakajima sat next to me (mainly cuz there was no other seat left). We started talking and he asked me whether I liked Basketball. I was like..Oh hell yeah!! He invited me for a game on saturday (which was today). I was eagerly looking forward to it. Anyways, since Friday was the customary daaru party...I kinda slept late and woke up even later. I woke up at like 10:40!!..and Musashi Mizonokuchi is around half an hour away. I quickly made breakfast and had my shower. It was already 12:10 by that time. Japanese guys get really nervous when people dont arrive on time. I ran all the way to the station and just as the train was about to close its doors..I jumped inside. Weird stares welcomed me into the train. Anyways I reached the station at 12:45 with a very nervous and anxious looking Nakajima san waiting for me. I apologized and we went to Futako Tamagawa station. That was the place where the court was. We reached there and waited for a german guy. His name's Alex and he's like 190 cms tall! He works for Siemens and had visited India before. He made safety equipments for the Delhi Metro!! Anyways we reached the gym and to the court. Now, nobody can just go and play here. You have to book the place and you should have 10 ppl. Else they wont allow you. Plus you need to be dressed accordingly. Anyways, we warmed up..made some shots...some layups..the usual and started with the game. We played like 4 games. It was an OK day for me. I made some shots..but I was rusty. There were 2 japanese guys Tanaka-san and one more whose name I dont remember. These guys were like 35 years old and were monsters on the court. Infact I was the youngest in the team. I lied about my age too!!..I told them I was 26!..and they still were like..damn!..you are soo young! And it was embarrasing since these guys were soo fit and I was panting during the final minutes of the game. Phew! anyways I had loads of fun today. They are planning for a Basketball camp next weekend. Its a 1 day camp..they would play..eat and drink and play again. Although I really want to go..but I dont know for sure. I might go someplace with Jain and Sumit. Anyways I had a super time today..and made new friends too!

Hail Tommy Emmanuel \mm/ ... faster than ever and any other!!! Check out "The hunt" and the fastest version of "Tall Fiddler" I could find!

Mt. Takao

Well I have been out of blogosphere for a while now. I was busy having loads of fun! It was a three day weekend...again! There are soo many holidays in japan! (and I am not complaining one bit). Anyways we wanted to do something different this time. It was fun riding on all those rides at the amusement parks but we were kinda tired of it. Thus, we decided to go outdoors this weekend. We went to Mt. Takao. Its a li'l mountain near Tokyo..where you can spend the day trekking. We started at about 10:00 from Kawasaki. Its a 1.5 hour journey. It would have been better if we had started at like 7:00 in the morning. Anyways we reached Takaosanguchi station at about 11:30. There was a bit of rush being the weekend and all. Thats why I felt we should have started earlier. But we really cudnt help it..I was busy drinking the night away on Saturday and could not have gotten up earlier. Anyways, there were 6 trails to choose from. Each one promised a lovely setting for a trek. We decided to choose Trail number 1 which was the longest and the rockiest (from the descriptions). We started and half-way through it, we were tired! We stopped for some rest before "climbing" further. Its a nice steep trek. Along the way you see springs, big trees and really cool statues. After every few kilometers you have restaurants which offer picturesque views . But we dint stop at any of those. You can see entire Tokyo from up there. There are loads of japanese temples which have the meanest looking statues of gods. It was real fun. The top has an awesome view of Mt. Fuji (if the weather is really clear). We were a bit unlucky since it was a bit cloudy at the top. Nevertheless, we were pretty satisfied with the view that was being offered to us. We chose a li'l corner and opened up our picnic basket. We had a really nice lunch and just sat there admiring nature and soaking up the moment. We started our descent at about 4:30. in the evening when it started getting dark. We decided to choose a different trail for our descent. We switched trails at every turn to experience every one of them. I think Trail no. 2 and 6 were the most awesome ones. Descent was a li'l dangerous. The terrain was nice and slopy. I had a tough time balancing myself..the momentum dragged me along and it was tough to stop. It was dark by the time we reached the foot of the hill. I was kinda sad when we reached at the bottom. It was soo much fun! We dragged our tired bodies and aching limbs back to Kawasaki and had dinner at an Indian restaurant. I reached home at around 10..dragged my ass to bed and fell asleep after reminiscing about the day..reliving every moment of an awesome day.