Metallica’s new album Death Magnetic has been so highly compressed that it has become distorted, according to some sound engineers. It has also been pointed out that this was a deliberate move by Metallica, and the album’s producer, Rick Rubin.

Compression, no matter how bland it makes a recording, shouldn’t end in distortion - as it has in the case of Death Magnetic. This is a mistake. It’s not deliberate. Why the parties involved spent so much time on the album to compress it so poorly is mystifying. The people who mastered the album have denied responsibility and say it’s entirely the fault of the band: “They are not rookies… Both parties are 800-pound gorillas in the music industry. These guys are smart and in control… [But] only Metallica and Rick know why it sounds like it does.”

And why might Metallica wish to compromise the audio integrity of their latest album?

Highly compressed music is iPod friendly and easier to download. Who’d have thought that the kings of metal would go out of their way to make their music easier to download?