Well anyone who sat through the eye-gougingly painful Some Kind of Monster documentary chronicling Metallica as they crafted their uber-shite St Anger album would be very curious to see if this fractured quartet could regroup to produce anything resembling quality metal ever again. The answer is yes.

With renowned producer Rick Rubin (Red Hot Chilli Peppers, Slipknot, Johnny Cash, U2) at the helm, Metallica faced their first studio foray without Bob Rock since …And Justice For All. Many had been quick to slay Rock for the band’s recent form slump (by recent we mean the last decade) but at the end of the day without his steadying hand it’s entirely possible Metallica would be no more so we must remain grateful to him for that.

So with a fresh driver on the desk and a new bass player firmly ensconsed in the family, Metallica have crafted an album that so many had hoped for with St Anger. Death Magnetic truly is a return to their roots with enough nods to their post thrash career to remain relevant to 2008.

From the insane grooves of Broken Beat and Scarred to the soaring chorus of The Day that Never Comes, Metallica have done a great job of collecting everything that makes Metallica Metallica and cramming it into one, very powerful album.

Hetfield has dropped the introspective bollocks and is back singing about demons and cracked skulls again, Kirk is shredding his nuts off and you can almost hear Lars walking into the mixing room to turn the bass down.

Fans have been waiting fifteen years for the return of classic Metallica, and while Death Magnetic does not justify such an insanely long wait, it is indeed classic Metallica – fans rejoice!