Professional ratings
Aggregate scores
Source	Rating
Metacritic	78/100
Review scores
Source	Rating
Allmusic
Blender
Consequence of Sound
Entertainment Weekly	B+
The Guardian
Los Angeles Times
MusicOMH
New Musical Express	8/10
Rolling Stone
Uncut
Pitchfork Media	4.9/10

Death Magnetic is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on September 12, 2008 through Warner Bros. Records. It was the band's first album to be produced by Rick Rubin, making this their first album since ...And Justice For All (1988) not to be produced by Bob Rock. The album was the first by the band to feature bass guitarist Robert Trujillo.

Musically, Death Magnetic is a radical departure from Metallica's previous album, St. Anger (2003), which featured simple instrumentation, downtuned guitars, stripped-down production, and an absence of guitar solos. This album, on the other hand, features more complex musical compositions and long, technical guitar solos from both Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield, and standard guitar tuning in most songs, marking a return to the band's thrash metal roots. The album received mostly positive reviews upon release, with critics describing it as a return to the musical style of their early albums. Despite its praise, there was much criticism aimed at the album's production, which featured an overly compressed dynamic range that caused some songs to feature poor sound quality.

Death Magnetic was the band's first album released through Warner Bros., although they still remain with Warner Music Group, which also owns their previous label, Elektra Records. Outside of North America, they are distributed through Universal Music Group as they remain signed to Vertigo Records in the UK. The album was also Metallica's fifth consecutive studio album to debut at number 1 on the US Billboard 200, making them the first band ever to do so. In support of the album, Metallica commenced on the World Magnetic Tour from 2008 until 2010. All of Death Magnetic was made available as downloadable content in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock.

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