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Who says no one cares about good sound anymore? Thousands of Metallica fans have signed a petition begging the band to remix its new album Death Magnetic, citing poor sound quality.

Here's the petition with more than 13,000 signatures.

It states: "Death Magnetic is a fantastic effort from Metallica, however many of us are disappointed by the poor audio quality present on the album. Please sign this petition so that we can hopefully either get it remastered, or re-mixed, depending on where the problems occurred at some point, or to ensure that the next Metallica album does not suffer from the same issues, or get caught up in the loudness war that is ruining modern music."

The text also includes an update saying the "brick-wall limiting and compression was done before [the album] reached the mastering facility." Presumably the petitioners heard from someone at the mastering facility.

The problem, of course, is the "loudness war." Its main victim is mainstream popular music marketed via CD and other digital channels. There are three basic problems: Squashed dynamic range, excessive equalization, and in the most extreme cases, clipping. The Metallica album is said by fans to be the worst-case scenario.

Some even say the album sounds worse on CD than it does in the video game Guitar Hero and they've got the charts to prove it.

Death Magnetic is the first Billboard number-one album with a mix awful enough to attract a story in The Wall Street Journal. In the middle of the credit crisis, no less! I especially like the pen-and-ink drawing of Rick Rubin that makes him look like Karl Marx.

What do people mean when they refer to the loudness war? As John Atkinson of our sister publication Stereophile explains: "The higher the average level of a recording--achieved by squashing the transient peaks with a compressor--the louder it sounds, and the record industry seems populated by peculiar people who navely believe that more loudness is always more better. Ultimately, you can achieve maximal loudness only by minimizing the music...."

In response, Metallica's Lars Ulrich denied there's a problem: "Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality.... It's 2008 and that's how we make records.... Part of being in Metallica is that there's always somebody who's got a problem with something you're doing."

Actually, he has a point. This isn't the first time Metallica fans have assailed the band with a petition. A 2005 petition urging the band to dump then-producer Bob Rock attracted more than 20,000 signatures. Sounds like his replacement, Rick Rubin, isn't so popular either.

But really, doesn't the buck stop with the band? Two petitions add up to a pattern, one suggesting that Metallica should exercise a little more quality control. You don't have to be young and golden-eared to perceive dynamics or a complete lack thereof.

For more information on the loudness war, including a video tutorial, see turnmeup.org.