Metallica can't win for losing. Many of the band's fans still consider the gajillion-selling "Black Album" an unforgiven sellout that blazed the trail for years of Bob Seger covers and that Napster-based unpleasantness. Those fans are targeted squarely by "Death Magnetic," the long-threatened One That Sounds Like '80s Metallica Again. The bountiful 80 minutes are packed with titanic multipart epics that feature scary-looking song titles. They're all marked by Lars Ulrich's all-but-perfected stomp and the eyebrow-scorching virtuosity of James Hetfield, who roars about anger and self-flagellation, and Kirk Hammett, who conducts proton-collision experiments on tracks like "That Was Just Your Life" and the album's best, "Broken, Beat & Scarred." But virtuosity can be impressive without being particularly enjoyable, and it's hard to shake the feeling that for all the potent-as-ever prowess here, "Death Magnetic" is more a stamp of authenticity than a complete record. —Jeff Vrabel