"More Hetfield than Hetfield"

Anyone else heard the first couple of singles from Metallica's new album, Death Magnetic (out Sept. 12)? Of the two, I favor "The Day That Never Comes" and Paul favors "My Apocalypse," but I wouldn't give either more than a 4 or 5 on a scale of 1 to 10.

Right now would be a good time to say that I stay about a decade behind music trends, which means I'll probably get around to buying that damn Katy Perry song in 2016 or so. Anyway, I didn't get into Metallica until college, which means I was weaned on Load and later. A lot of people say Death Magnetic sounds a lot like Black Album and earlier, but it's missing one key component: Hetfield! Sounds like his voice is starting to give out on him. (Understandable, given the band has been around for, like, 25 years or so, right?)

Anyway, somebody in the know pointed me toward a Finnish band called Am I Blood, saying "he sounds more Hetfield than Hetfield." (Four songs available from their MySpace page.) It does sound a lot like old school Metallica ... but there's a heavy dose of gothic thrash in there as well. Totally diggable.

Raise your hand if you even knew I liked Metallica. Yeah, that's what I thought. My taste in music is pretty eclectic even if it is behind the times. Hey, what can I say? Having an iPod means I don't get much exposure to new stuff except artists I dig enough to follow online.