The Best

Legendary hard rock band Metallica have been delivering their powerful
(and not so powerful) music for over 20yrs and are still attracting
legions of new fans all the time.
Unfortunately new fans may need some guidance on which albums to avoid,
or at the very least put right at the bottom of their shopping list. So
here's Metallica's entire studio album catalogue assessed by a veteran
'tallica fan - me! Let's start with the best shall we?

1. Master Of Puppets (1986)
Metallica's third album was the last to feature original bassist Cliff Burton who died in a tragic bus accident on tour.
This album is fondly remembered by many as 'Cliff's album' due to the
defining beauty of this record being his classical and overall
technical influences. The music is simultaneously beautiful and
aggressive and displays an intelligence rarely associated with the
genre of thrash metal.
It's not only Cliff who shines here as drummer Lars Ulrich is at his
best here (albeit via some alleged trickery in studio) and frontman
James Hetfield's voice moves away from a girlish scream towards a
developing bark, and his rhythm guitar is at it's hardest. Hammett's
solos are inspirational and it's his riff for Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
that is one of the highlights.
The production is neither over the top or underwhelming; it serves the
songs well. Also the artwork for this album is easily the best of all
albums.
Many people debate over whether Ride The Lightning is better than
Master Of Puppets, but for me there's really no contest. MOP's the
cream.

2. Metallica/aka The Black Album (1991)
I'm sure there'd be a number of other (perhaps older) Metallica fans
who'd dispute this as the second best album, and I take their point.
But this album was what got me and many people into them. I was old
enough to purchase this not long after release. I'm now 26.
While more of a general hard rock album than a metal one (and their
most succesful to date - leading to the boos from the "sell out"
chanters), the album still packs a punch. The Black Album is the best
produced LP to date for Metallica. It has a polished sound but
maintains enough heavy grit.
While the music maybe simpler and slower, it's no less heavy or
gratifyingly direct. James Hetfield's lyrics are perhaps the best of
all time on here and Lars shows enough creativity on the drums even
without going at it at a million miles per hour. Kirk's solos are more
heartfelt than purely show-offy.
The unfortunate thing is that this was Metallica's last hour of glory.
Many would say this was exactly when the group began to 'suck', but I
disagree with that one.

3. ...And Justice For All (1988)
This is turning into a really honest and personal analysis as nearly
all would dispute why I haven't put 1984's Ride The Lightning in yet.
Well, I actually liked ...And Justice For All. It was a favourite album
of mine for a while. True that that it has it's flaws but I'll tell you
why I like it 3rd best...
Though AJFA itself was the beginning of the tread to the mainstream
(the single One had a video for it) with slightly slower tempos and
more grooves, and the debut of bassist Jason Newsted, it was actually
one of the band's last fairly-metal albums.
The music was very technical, very lengthy in some cases and though the
band dispute the production I think it served the album well. The
guitars sound spiky and the hollow thud of the toms gives off a kind of
densish atmosphere.
Yet at the same time it was a bit too technical at times that it seemed
it was just showing off and lacked the beauty infused in albums like
MOP. Not too many songs are memorable but as an album it still works.
But you'd not want to hear some songs live incase of fatigue!
The downpoints of course are that you can't hear much bass (possibly to
irk the then new bassist), the lyrics were at times a bit desperately
rhymey and it has an air of a band in crisis and in need of a new
direction.

4. Ride The Lightning (1984)
Well, I've put Ride The Lightning in now but now some are thinking 'and Kill 'Em All's not in this guy's list yet? BEEP off!'
Ride The Lightning was the first album to feature a ballad (so "sell
out" was heard early!) and had a better, windier production than their
debut. Other than the ballad, and classical album intro, the album's
largely a frenzied ball of fire with some moderate moments; all classic
stuff however.
It was the last to feature the leftover musical chops of ex-lead
guitarist Dave Mustaine (who was fired prior to the band's debut LP but
went on to form the brilliant Megadeth).
Though uncontestable as one of thrash metal's best albums it loses
points for the terrible 'Escape' and the mostly innessential 'Trapped
Under Ice'. And at times James' voice is a bit hard to take in and Lars
does nothing overly special on the drums. Everything is else is
classic, right down to the art.

5. Load (1996)
Yes, no Kill 'Em All yet...Fact it is that I like much of Kill 'Em
All's songs but the production means that I prefer the songs live than
on actual album.
Though Load was the birth of Metallica's respect death it did have some
good moments. There are some songs which demonstrate some classic
songwriting ability in familiar 'tallica vein, even if it seems as if
the band were a different one to the metal one that we knew.
While not much less heavy, it still stunned fans (myself very much so!)
with country songs, straight rock and roll and blues. The production
even bordered on too glossy - the same producer who got the balance
right on 'Metallica'!
Adding insult to injury was the complimentary image change and semen
and fake blood art which spelled out that the band had moved away from
their past.

6. Kill 'Em All (1983)
Okay, here you go! Kill 'Em All. The band's debut. Though a landmark in
thrash metal with a number of classic speedy and groovy gems, it had
rubbish production. I've heard bedroom demos with more soul -
seriously. There's way too much treble which adds more spike than
neccesary.
Couple this with bordering cheesy guitar-noodlery, screechy undeveloped
vocals and simple drums and there you have it. Though this signalled
the arrival of one of hard rock's finest, not all songs have stood the
test of time but those that have are historic gems. Fortunately this
funded the band good enough and they moved on to a major label ("sell
out" lol!)

7. St. Anger (2003)
Well, it had to happen didn't it? A bunch of old blokes trying to get
'down with the kids' by making one of those 'nu-metal' records to
re-establish cred. Rubbish.
The guitars are downtuned, muddy and dumbed down and the clangy snare
amidst basic drumming gives you a headache. James' vocals have gotten
goofy, and the lyrics? A soapbox for his demons across all songs. And
it seems that Bob Rock forgot to produce the record while all giddy
about playing bass for the band.
In fairness there are some moments that show Metallica can compose some
good metal again. Infact there's atleast a trio of songs that spark
hope but the fact that it sounds like a bunch of drunk cats making
stupid old noise ruins it.

8. Reload (1997)
Load was meant to be a double album. In truth it should've been a
single one without this sequel as despite initial protestations from
the band that this is not 'b-side material', it's actually z-side.
Despite even less gems than Load (but I'll fairly say there are some)
the band thought it okay to release this unwanted brother of a record.
It sounds (and art wise looks) just like Load but even more
dissapointing. It sounds slightly more glossy than Load, a little more
forgetabble, and appears a little more desperate. This album shouldn't
have seen the light of day. Easily the worst! Most fans yawned. Jason
Newsted left.

There are 2 more records. The with
symphony live album S