I am here writing about the loudness war. For those of you who don't know, that is where the recording and mixing engineers are encouraged to make albums louder than the previous ones. Since we long ago reached the loudest they can make it without distortion, it is now standard practice to use compression, where we make the quiet stuff louder.

While at first, louder may seem better, it isn't. The fact is, you can turn your music up to whatever volume you want. So when they make the CD louder with compression, all they are doing is taking out all the nuance between loud and soft. Unlike the volume knob, it is impossible to get that nuance back.

In other words, in the real world, drum hits are always louder than guitars. On a modern CD, everything is equally loud. The drums seem flat and they lack punch.

The biggest example of the loudness war going too far is Death Magnetic. They made that album so loud that there is actually distortion in the sound. Yes, the guitars are supposed to be distorted, but the drums should never be distorted. I have listened to it side-by-side with the version from Guitar Hero III (which was mixed properly), and the difference is unmistakable.

When I looked at Trivium's music in an audio editor, I was unsurprised to find that everything was very loud. It wasn't as bad as Death Magnetic, but they were definitely going with the trend. I'll be honest and tell you that I have not paid for a single Trivium album. Over the years, they grew on me more and more, and I could see myself purchasing their next release. But I would definitely buy remasters of their other releases that were mixed properly.

I would like to pressure Trivium, Roadrunner, and the music industry in general to make better sounding albums. Who's with me?

Oh, and if you intend to leave a reply about how I'm a pussy because I don't like my music loud, don't bother. That is the typical response of someone who really doesn't understand what I'm talking about. You will only make a fool of yourself.

I read what you said, even though I wanted to stop when you said you have never bought an album.

See the thing is most people don't have the ear for that, or don't really care. I think the record company of the band will have to choose what to do, obviously Metallica is a band big enough to where they should have said "no we don't want that" or "we want this" but then again music technology probably isn't really their forte.

Side by side, I could hear and distinguish it, but most people either don't care enough, or can't hear it I assume.


Also, how do I know that this isn't on multiple forums? AND go buy the fuckin albums.

This topic has been beaten to death on every relevant forum on the web (GearSlutz mostly). Death Magnetic has some decent songs that are destroyed by horrible clipping and loads of digital distortion. Knowing Metallica, they probably wanted it mixed that way (just listen to the bass on ...And Justice for All).

However, I vehemently disagree with your thoughts on compression. I believe that compression makes metal music sound better. It may not be true for classical music or jazz, but it is very true for metal. Just listen to Exodus 1984 release "Bonded By Blood" and compare it to their 2008 re-recorded release "Let There Be Blood." The 2008 version is leagues ahead of the 1984 version. In conclusion, buy records or go die.