Metallica wins the Loudness War but...

Metallica album Death Magnetic has been named the loudest-ever by a mastering expert.

But he says the advantages of the approach are all-but cancelled out in the modern era.

Engineer Ian Shepherd compared a number of albums for dynamic range, the key element in the “loudness war.” Death Magnetic topped his list – but lost significant amounts of sonic detail in the process.

http://classicrock.teamrock.com/news...doesn-t-matter

Rock Loudness list
1. Metallica: Death Magnetic – DR3
2. Red Hot Chilli Peppers: Californication – DR5
3. Jack White: Lazaretto – DR10
4. Radiohead: OK Computer – DR10
5. Pink Floyd: The Dark Side Of The Moon – DR10
6. Steven Wilson: Hand. Cannot. Erase. – DR11
7. Metallica: The Black Album – DR11
8. Motorhead: The Ace Of Spades – DR11
9. The Sex Pistols: Never Mind The Bollocks – DR11
10. AC/DC: Back In Black – DR12
11. Bruce Springsteen: Born In The USA – DR14
12. Dire Straits: Brothers In Arms – DR16

It's common sense that music has become louder and more compressed in recent years. Thus, I'm very surprised with Jack White being the only recent album on this list.

Speaking of Death Magnetic, that's hardly a surprise. The album sounds like shit and was deservedly criticized for that upon its release.

yeah, fully agree. I liked the songs from Death Magnetic, but the sound was so strong that all sounded very bad. I hope this is not the new standard. I want albums that sound every time better, the volume may be high, but not to such extremity that break the sound quality as happened with Death Magnetic.