evilguy12: I like Free All Angels - Ash. It's a great pop-punk album. Not many others seem to dig it though.

nmillar: Load and Reload had a few decent songs on them, but I agree, those two albums were far from their best, but Metallica have always gone in the direction they want to go in rather than the way the industry pushes them, so fair play to them.

It was always going to be difficult to follow up what many consider to be the perfect album, but with songs like Hero of the Day, King Nothing, Fuel, Unforgiven II, Until it Sleeps and The Memory Remains, I think they did alright.

JudasIscariot: All I know is that the direction they decided to go in was not the one I liked. To me, they lost that hunger, that angry edge that I liked about them. Also, I hated the way Hetfield's voice changed for the worse, although, that occurs naturally with age.

TLDR: they got old and complacent, IMHO, in the music.

nmillar: Heh, call me a 'fanboy' if you will, but St. Anger aside, I've found tracks on every album that I like. I'm even a fan of Death Magnetic, which was panned by most people. But life would be very boring indeed if everybody liked the same music!