Metallica - Death Magnetic Sound Issues

Let me begin by saying that I like Death Magnetic. However, that said, the sound on the disk is terrible. The disk is mastered so loudly that any device I go to play it on distorts at even the lowest volumes. I've been meaning to try ripping it at a lower bit rate to see if compressing it more will have a positive effect on the resultant sound. It appears that I am not alone, evidenced by an article on Blabbermouth that quotes Ted Jensen, the engineer who completed the mastering: "I'm certainly sympathetic to your reaction, I get to slam my head against that brick wall every day. In this case the mixes were already brick-walled before they arrived at my place. Suffice to say I would never be pushed to overdrive things as far as they are here. Believe me, I'm not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else."

To help point out the sound issue, and the belief that the Guitar Hero mixes sound better, YouTube users Stumunkie and tomdaly29 has posted tracks making the comparison:

"Broken Beat & Scarred" album version:


"Broken Beat & Scarred" unofficial remix using nothing but **six** separated/extracted Guitar Hero tracks: