The Australian share market closed in new territory today after the S&P/ASX 200 Index pushed through 4,000 points for the first time.

Australian stocks, which rose for an eighth day, were led by BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto after copper prices climbed again in New York.

The benchmark SP/ASX 200 index climbed 20.2 points to a record of 4,013.6, while the All Ordinaries Index rose 19.9 points to a record 4,018.3.

The recent drops pushed the ASX below 4000 on 10th October 2008.

It is now 3944.8.

What were doing about four years ago?

Or, what have you done, what have you gained, in the last four years?

Metallica, "Death Magnetic"
What haven't I already said? Review.

Further on from the review, I listened to the album almost solid for a good couple of weeks and grew to like it more. I still feel the first track, "Almost Like Your Life" and first track "All Nightmare Long" are the strongest. I almost always skipped UFIII and Cyanide.

I managed to get a listen to the Guitar Hero remaster everyone has been talking about. Some songs, particularly the more mellow songs ("Unforgiven III", "The Day That Never Comes" and the instrumental "Suicide & Redemption") are noticeably improved by the different mixing, but I feel the heavier songs are better with the "crappier" mastering. Further, the Guitar Hero version is full of hiss, I presume from the rubbish audio outputs on the game consoles. To me, that was very very distracting. The extra bits and slightly louder guitar mixing are mostly good. It all evened out to "the album is just as good, get over it". OMG, I agree with Lars...

I also managed to get a listen to the demos that came with the Coffin Box. Between the demos and the album they played faster, wrote better lyrics, and James stopped doing that darn country thing he does with his voice. All huge improvements.

Do another album by 2010. Please?

Bob Marley, "Natural Mystic"
Billed for ages as "Legend 2". I suppose it is. It's another best-of without the "Legend" compilation songs on it. But they're no-where near as good. Interesting, not crap, but not the best-compilation-in-the-world that "Legend" is. Obviously.

Foo Fighters, "Echoes, Silence, Patience & Grace"
Almost all of this is forgettable. It starts well, "The Pretender" is pretty good. There is one bit of "Erase/Replace" that is good. Otherwise...

Slipknot, "All Hope Is Gone"
This suffers from exactly the same mastering/loudness/brickwalling problems that Metallica's new album does, but no-one is going insane about this are they? Maybe because it's pretty crap. OK, that's harsh... There are a few good songs here. One or two. I just can't get enthusiastic. "Vol. III" was a Rubin created fluke. This is much more like their previous albums. More heavy, less pop, but it feels a bit forced. I think maybe they've been diluted by their side projects. But that's easy to say.

Dragonforce, "Ultra Beatdown"
I really liked their last album. Well, I really liked "Operation Ground and Pound" and the rest are like that, only not as good. This album is like that, only not as good. Still fun though. We're going to see them live next weekend. I expect a combination of being impressed and disappointed.

Mammal, "The Majority"
Something has changed in me since I last got enthusiastic about these guys. I literally cannot listen to this thing. The lyrics are AWFUL. It's also got that horrible boring "Sing Sing" mixing/mastering. That bloody studio call rip the nuts out of anything.

Metallica, "Reload"
I haven't listened to this since it came out, in 1997. Back then I listened once. I can now say I've listened to Reload twice.

To my surprise, the first four tracks are actually listenable. Coincidently they're the singles. The rest of the album is completely 100% forgettable though. On the strength of the first four songs, Reload could be better than Load. However, Load is at least fairly consistent throughout so wins by a hair.

I'm still uncertain where St. Anger should go in this fight for last place...

Blind Guardian, "Nightfall in Middle-Earth"
I really want to love this. So many of my friends have suggested it. Recently I saw this album in a list of suggested albums from a guitarist I respect. By I just can't. Maybe it's the production. Maybe I need to listen in my car? But it just seems too pretentious to me. And really... I like DragonForce so what the hell is wrong with me? Who knows. Sorry.

The Twelfth Man, "Wired World Of Sports"
Another of my ripped vinyls. This is funnier than I expected. The Twelfth Man is a very very very very very very very old joke. The fake adverts all fall very flat, the jam at the end is nothing but bad filler, but the fake athlete/cricketer names still raise a chuckle.