Yep. I kept thinking "Well guys, we'll have to make all these rather simple. You know Lars and his drum-playing..."

I agree; so many bands out there that are still heavy, they totally crush Metallica. They're a band I want to keep liking, but they're not making it easy. Not that I'm going to dislike them, but I'll stick with the older stuff.

I'd go with Master and Ride as ultimate. I liked Kill, even though they were just copying a bunch of other bands they liked.
Yeah, I think that fits.

Metallica. One of the greatest bands in the history of the world. I've listened to those four albums literally thousands of times.

One of the greatest shames in music history that they all vanished off the face of the Earth sometime in 1989, none of them ever to be heard from again. Who knows what greatness they could have unleashed had they been around to make a fifth album.

I love S & M, more bands really need to do the whole orchestral rock thing (I know there are a few that do, but I don't think I've ever heard any that do it well) but I haven't heard any new Metallica stuff since St. Anger (and I don't think I actually remember anything off that album).

That was Metallica' last album released.
All the others were just glitches in the matrix.

In my opinion, Cliff Burton brought a lot of his passion and creativity to the band and, with his passing, never quite filled that hole. Plus the whole Napster debacle painted them as corporate rockers instead of people in it for the music, whether that's true or not. Load and Re-Load didn't hit my senses like their earlier albums, but I held out. Ultimately, St. Anger didn't convince me to continue along their journey.

Orion and Call of Ktulu are among my favorite tracks by them, but they stopped including instrumental tracks in their albums (to my knowledge, since I don't know what the hell they put out after Garage Inc and S&M).

Many years later, I heard Avenged Sevenfold...which I confused for Metallica...I don't know whether to be ashamed or disgusted.

I did like All Nightmare Long, but that's a far cry from the Metallica I grew up with.

I just saw the official video for Moth Into Flame. The song was really good. I look forward to hearing more.

Excellent points. Yeah, it seems like the last Avenged Sevenfold was really trying to ape Metallica. I was never really a fan; I kinda liked their music but the singing didn't do much for me.

Also kinda seems that when James became a Volbeat fan he took it a bit too far, or vice versa.

What I like and find interesting about S&M is how the older songs transform through the orchestra because of their greater length and more varied textures compared to the black album and beyond songs, which basically just sound like themselves with some extra instruments added.

I think St. Anger is genuinely one of the worst albums a major band has ever released. It just sounds unfinished to me, like a bunch of rough demo tracks some people unearthed and decided to call an album. Of course when you watch the movie and see how the band was trying to break up while making it, it makes some sense but doesn't make it any more listenable. That said, Frantic is actually kind of fun to play in Guitar Hero.

Although most people don't care about lyrical content, I like songs that have meaning, a message or tell a story. At some point, Metallica reached "verse-chorus-verse".

There's one thing I remember from St. Anger - well, two things. One, the "banging on pots" drum sound, and two, the lyric "My lifestyle determines my death style." That's probably the only thing I liked about it.

I wouldn't mind listening to these two new tracks in the background when having my evening beer at the local pub, but beyond that, nothing to get excited about. Metallica is not bad per se, but rather stale at this point.

Also, imo theirs is a very different case from Opeth. I don't enjoy Opeth's new material at all, but I can still see the quality of their "craft", so to speak. Metallica is just old and tired...

Let's resurrect the thread. Thoughts on Atlas, Rise?

After a few listens, I think this song does justice to the band, at last!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JFAcOnhcpGA

I quite like the new stuff, but they do feel like a step backwards just for the sake of going backwards. I'm not sure this is where the band is really at at this point in their career. Still, the songs are good. But then, I've like most of their albums so far. I only really dislike Load and Reload. I even like the much maligned Lulu. The tinny drums on St. Anger is one of the best aspects of it, for me.

It does bother me somewhat that any time I see Metallica discussed online people just seem to shit on anything after Master of Puppets, give or take a few albums. It's like the gospel opinion no one ever questions. Well, all the same, I enjoy the music.

Not working for me, sry. I liked Hardwire and Moth, but Atlas just doesn't seem right for me. It's ok, but not really more.
That song in particular is lacking something. However, play it on 1,25 speed and it suddenly becomes badass material, giving almost a Master of Puppets feeling.