Death Magnetic is a really shoddily produced album. But if you're a bit sympathetic to all-in-the-red recordings (which given SY's proximity to lo-fi and so on, is quite likely on SYG) it's pretty interesting. I don't really like it, but it's interesting that a band with such a high profile put out what amounts to a teenager's first experiment with making a loud record.
Funny
Good article on the Mastering Wars
I think the mastering wars is something that audiophiles get overly arsey about, but Death Magnetic really does sound like a pile of shite. Obviously, something like Burzum makes a virtue of the fact that it's produced 'badly', but I don't think that really applies to Metallica.