Warning to players - This song (and maps) get progressively more intense as it goes. Don't let the NPS or a quick preview deceive you! The top diff looks easy in the beginning but it's a very difficult map near the end. Top diff has some seriously fast and sustained patterns, and Expert diff has some flicks here and there and is stamina heavy. Consider playing Hard if you don't like speedy patterns. I am particularly proud of the downmaps on this one, especially Hard, which I think should be good fun even for relatively experienced players that don't like speedy maps. All difficulties are in general slightly harder than I would typically do for that level, but I tried to make Easy as universally approachable as I felt able to while keeping some spirit in the map. Lightshow preview by @FeudBoy_YT: https://youtu.be/FVRWqlG53ls I think the light show conveys the varied intensity of the song quite well, uses colour to great effect, and has some nice details that add a lot to the atmosphere of the map. (no gameplay preview because I have a fever and I ain't playing no speed map right now - play the map) - Rest of the rant optional for those that want to learn some of the lore behind this map - I had a good amount of testplayers on this one, including @Avexus, Kryptec, @Poochy, and @Cabbage123 Based on their feedback, I had to seriously nerf some of the fast patterns multiple times, until eventually I gave up and changed the rhythm choice entirely. I don't have the original first version, but in Lawless you can play the first version of the map that somebody ( @Poochy ) was able to pass at all, after some practice. The Standard Expert+ is easier and even I was able to pass it (barely, though). I do believe Lawless is more accurate to the intended rhythm of the song, but it's just a nightmare to time while playing for various reasons. Not fun (for most people). Also as usual @GalaxyMaster helped me figure out some timings, and I quote: "this was pain". The tempo and timings in this map are probably the hardest I've ever seen. It includes the BPM doubling mid song, random small pauses, intentional BPM drift throughout the song, additional BPM drift because 1989 song, and some of the most inaccurate timings on the instruments, with the guitar and the drums being off-sync about half of the song. I tried to tempo map as best I could and use intended rhythm to make the map more playable, rather than try to do 100% accurate timings for the parts where the instruments go off-grid for no good reason. The meltdown near the end is the best example. Listening to that at slowed down speed you realize how much the guitarist was struggling to play that part, the timings are all over the place. No criticism to Metallica intended, though. The song does sound really good at regular speed and 1989 was 1989. But it didn't make mapping this easy (: I hope that nobody feels irked by the timings, but if you do, feel free to comment on it on a review.