The album art on the front cover shows a grave with a

coffin it however the coffin is white so that it looks more

like a doorway the white background through the coffin
doorway connotes purity and holiness with potential links
to heaven with Christianity the whole grave and coffin
idea relates directly to the album title death magnetic and
the grave and coffin could also be seen as magnets
implying quite darkly the inevitable end of all things. You
can also see the swirls around the grave which could be
seen as either a fingerprint or which would represent a
more personal based reference to the coffin or it could be
the swirls to form some form of tornado based abyss
implying that it almost sucks you in.
The white background of this digi pak doesnt follow the
typical conventions of the metal genre and of metal bands
in particular the white background connotes purity and
innocence whereas other albums often have colors
connoting different themes (including other albums by
Metallica) such as red indicating violence and blood or
black indicating sadness or isolation as songs within the
metal genre often have dark themes as a lot of the music is
quite angry or bitter or has a point emotionally which
makes it more hard hitting than other genres.
The white background also connotes sterility which is a
message the band has given in terms of wiping the slate clean as
after their last album saint anger they nearly broke up and so
the white background was to show how they have forgiven each
other and this new album is a symbol of their continued
cooperation and collaboration as a metal band so that they can
continue working together musically they have been going for
about 40 years now.
The writing is all in block capitals in black so that it
contrast with the connotations of the white back ground
black being related to death and other grim themes
including nothing ness which white can be used for as well
this is to show that they are still metal band despite the
counter type of the background of the album art this is to
let there fan base know they havent changed their music
style this is supported by their logo on the back of the digi
pak which is in the same font and colour as the song listing
however the cd itself has a silvery metallic looking colour
this is a link to the bands name is connotes success as
silver is a grand colour and so its trying to connote how
successful they are it also has links to the white
background but makes it distinct enough that they are
different with different connotations.