Metallica

This is music for people to listen to while fantasizing about bench pressing 500 pounds, throwing the game winning touchdown, Eiffel-towering Pamela Anderson, and kicking some commie ass (does "Lars Ulrich" sound suspiciously European i.e. commie?). But then they open their eyes to discover they've smashed a family bucket of KFC and crushed a 12-pack of light beer while yelling at the television and telling their fat wife to try to look pretty every once in a while. If Flavortown had a soundtrack it would be this album. A goatee-fueled bomb-dot-com explosion of repressed sexuality. Lights out delicious.

“Metallica” by Metallica (1991) I’m very familiar with this album, which I first listened to on the recommendation of a good friend a couple of years ago 😁. This album is top quality in texture, production values, composition, and theology. Yes, theology. Instrumentals and vocals, well-produced and mixed, deliver a powerful and dark ambience, clean distortion and overdrive. Intense lead vocal and driving rhythm guitar by James Hetfield, with robust percussion by Lars Ulrich. Exquisite lead guitar with some fine solo work by Kirk Hammett. Explosive yet steady bass by Jason Newsted. “Enter Sandman” is a nightmare-inducing thrash lullaby, expressing the disturbing irony of a father’s loving and comforting bedtime words to his young son, which are compromised by the horrors that lie behind daddy’s own feigned verities. Set in a minor key (Em—the perfect key for soulful guitar), the song reveals radical disconnect between the soothing and encouraging things parents say to their children at bedtime and the terror and dread in their own psyches. It’s further accentuated by the lyrical suggestion that the ironic disconnect is intentional. It’s as if the father is telling his young son, “I’m here to give you assurance and security, but your fears are completely justified, heh-heh.” Why do we ask our children to declare each night “If I should die before I wake . . .”? What horrible and perverse suggestion. It’s probably the most terrifying use of the subjunctive in the history of English discourse. This song is one of the few Metallica songs my real-life adult son actually likes. A voice inside me says, “What the hell does that mean?” “Don’t Tread on Me” begins with a riff from Leonard Bernstein’s “America” (mixed meter 6/8-3/4) from “West Side Story”, hinting that a jingoistic anthem is on its way. And Metallica delivers, Yankee Doodle Dandy. America—deadly, war mongering, and all at once celebrating and threatening the Spirit of ‘76 as symbolized by the Gadsden flag (“Don’t Tread on Me”). If the lyrics are read without irony, the only thing that’s missing is “God Bless America”. Popular piety at its worst, but you’d better take it seriously. On “The Unforgiven” there seems to be a good number of references to Hollywood westerns, from the obvious title (same as the 1960 film with Burt Lancaster and Audrey Hepburn) to the lyrical theme of the classic western hero. It’s interesting that Clint Eastwood’s “Unforgiven” was released the year after Metallica’s “The Unforgiven” (Connection?). The percussion instrumentation and guitar arpeggios echo Ennio Morricone’s scoring of “The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly” and “For a Few Dollars More”. This merits further exploration. I think Eastwood and Metallica should collaborate on a western movie. I’d wear a mask to see it. Even if it situates inner moral conflict in the context of lethal one-on-one confrontation. Prepare to meet your God as “The Unforgiven”. Setting God aside for a moment, “Nothing Else Matters” is, of course, a rock classic. Anthem status. The musical composition is brilliant, with intriguing choices (for a metal band) in the instrumentals, including acoustic guitar with reverb and orchestral background throughout. Again, in the very guitar-friendly E-minor, the arrangement provides the perfect setting for this love ballad, demonstrating an expansive creative range for a band known for “heavy metal”. Interestingly, this song only charted at #34 in the U.S. (#1 in Poland, though—that says a lot about the political and cultural scene in 1992). “Holier than Thou”, a little toxic masculinity goin’ out to all the Elmer Gantrys of the world, is a well deserved rage against the righteousness that lacks humility. This song gives expression to a sentiment that justifies the whole thrash genre. With dizzying tempo, we hear great lead solos by Kirk Hammett, and Jason Newsted keeps right up on bass guitar. Two middle fingers up. “The God that Failed” an anguished and complex musical reflection by James Hetfield on the personal experience he had with parents whose intense religious ‘faith’ (Christian Science) collided with reality. Cancer is personified, rendering mom’s misplaced faith impotent. Where was dad? And where was Dad (the ‘God’ that failed) when mom piously rejected medical treatment and suffered an agonizing death? Great backstory to this, but what Hetfield does with it is musical genius. It pulls the empathy right out of the listener’s guts. Likewise, “My Friend of Misery”, a metaphysics-embracing lament that reminds us: redemptive suffering isn’t always what it’s cracked up to be. Pastoral Theology 101. The closing track, “The Struggle Within” is (obviously) introspective, but can’t even seem to find a time signature. Like my (your?) struggle within. How can drummer Lars Ulrich keep up? So much more could be said about this album, one of my personal favorites—a classic. 5/5

As someone who has started a mosh pit watching Metallica, I feel like I'm very qualified to judge this. It's not very good. They were also not very good live, which is why we started a mosh pit to liven it up. I think they're incredibly uncool. 🤟🤘🤟🤘

'Ten', 'Achtung Baby', ' Dirt', 'Use Your Illusion', 'Loveless', 'Out of Time', 'Nevermind', 'Blood Sugar Sex Magik', 'Bandwagonesque', 'No More Tears'... and if that wasn't enough, this fucking blast.... Maybe those who claim 1971 was 'the year of music' should have been young 20 years later...

After the muddled production and ultracomplicated song structures of ...And Justice for All, Metallica decided that they had taken the progressive elements of their music as far as they could and that a simplification and streamlining of their sound was in order. While the assessment made sense from a musical standpoint, it also presented an opportunity to commercialize their music, and Metallica accomplishes both goals. The best songs are more melodic and immediate, the crushing, stripped-down grooves of "Enter Sandman," "Sad but True," and "Wherever I May Roam" sticking to traditional structures and using the same main riffs throughout; the crisp, professional production by Bob Rock adds to their accessibility. "The Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" avoid the slash-and-burn guitar riffs that had always punctuated the band's ballads; the latter is a full-fledged love song complete with string section, which works much better than might be imagined. The song- and riff-writing slips here and there, a rare occurrence for Metallica, which some longtime fans interpreted as filler next to a batch of singles calculated for commercial success. The objections were often more to the idea that Metallica was doing anything explicitly commercial, but millions more disagreed. In fact, the band's popularity exploded so much that most of their back catalog found mainstream acceptance in its own right, while other progressively inclined speed metal bands copied the move toward simplification. In retrospect, Metallica is a good, but not quite great, album, one whose best moments deservedly captured the heavy metal crown, but whose approach also foreshadowed a creative decline.

Saved Prior: Enter Sandman Off Rip: None Cutting Edge: Through The Never, The God That Failed Overall Notes: Me before listening to this album: :) Me after hearing Enter Sandman: :) Me after the next 4 songs: :|||||||| Me after song 8 seems to finally signal a change in the repetitive song structure: :||| Me after song 8 finishes as a sub-par song: :|||||||||||| Me after the album finally ended: :||||||||||||||||| I hated this. I have yet to give a 1 through 80 albums, this album has the incredible Enter Sandman, and I still gave this a 1. Through The Never and The God That Failed had their moments but came nowhere close to saving the immense pain sitting through this album put me through. I remember now why I always thought I hated metal. Shit like this.

Whether you like Metallica or not is irrelevant when it comes to this album. Five massive singles, all of them the biggest and most enduring songs of the band’s catalogue, came out of it. You have to give some fucking respect to that no matter what your musical tastes are. And I, for the record, love Metallica. Because of this album. Jesus Christ, it’s got Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters on it. That is huge on its own, but then we also get Sad But True, The Unforgiven, AND Wherever I May Roam?!? That’s insanity! It’s just so fucking good. If you need to introduce someone to Metallica, you play this album and that’s it; they’ve been fully indoctrinated and converted to a life of badass high octane metal head banging from here on out. They’re the ones who take you there, fuck yeah! \m/

tedious and one dimensional. Remember hearing the album when it first came out, and not being overly enthralled then. As singles certain tracks stand up well, but the continuous one tempo power chords over the whole album just get boring after a while.

Prefer the earlier, thrashier, proggier Metallica.

One of Metallica's best albums, tons of bangers on this one. Definitely the transition point where Metallica went into the more mainstream rock, they're getting older and the Thrash has faded. Kirk Hammett is such a gifted guitarist. Excellent album, a lot of these songs were what drew me to learn to read a tab and play guitar.

dundundundundDUNUDN

Classic album though not a frequent listen for me. I know the hardcore fans didn't love the heavily produced sound, but I think it suits their style extremely well. They are the big budget action movie of rock music.

I hate Metallica. Enter Sandman is worth two stars on it's own, though. All downhill from there as far as I am concerned, it just drones on and on and on.

The fact that this album is on here proves that it was made by a redditor. Definitely a foot tapper/head banger of an album, Lars Ulrich’s drums sounding like artillery abd machine gun fire, James Herfield sounding like a 6’2” cigarette butt. Gotta keep in perspective that this was 30 yrs ago and set the stage for metal. But 30 yrs later, it sounds a bit nerdy, though I bet at the time it was amazing. My complaint: this album is heavy as fuck, but it could be heavier, it’s over produced, the voice dubbing/layering, sound effects, multitrack shit. If the production was pared down to the 4 essential instruments—with their effects—I think it would sound better, harder, the over productions softens the sharp edges. Their older stuff isn’t as well produced, I’d say underproduced, but there’s a happy medium to find in there. Fun album to listen to. Metal can be so repetitive and one note I think I tuned out after about song 6. They slowed it down a couple times, but it still didn’t help, always the same equation. Lastly, there’s an egregiously long fade out on track 1.

I hate Metallica. Their earlier albums were irritating, this is just boring one-note ponderous tedium. The singer sucks, the lyrics are amateur schoolboy crap, and the production sounds better with the '80s Phil Collins material it was developed for. Please no more from these shitheads [edit: downgraded further as the whole thing is fucking terrible. Just noticed it has the stupid Karen flag snake on the cover to warn right-thinking people away from this heap of shit]

Oddly enough, I had a dream last night that today's album would be a thrash classic. Sadly I dreamed of Slayer - Reign In Blood not this limp lettuce of an album.

Gods of rock, we are not worthy. Every single track is majestic, stellar, magnificent.

Enter Sandman - 5/5 Sad but True - 5/5 Holier than Thou - 5/5 The Unforgiven - 5/5 Wherever I May Roam - 5/5 Don't Tread on Me - 4/5 Through the Never - 4/5 Nothing Else Matters - 5/5

Legendary and it holds up

Vous qui fréquentez ce générateur connaissez très bien mon être sous ses traits les plus intimes. Vous savez donc à quel point j'aime dégueuler sur tout ce qui se rapproche du heavy metal ; style que je considère comme une véritable fausse route dans l'histoire de la musique. Néanmoins cet album est très bon, il faut le reconnaître. Pour tout vous dire, à la fin du projet, je portais fièrement un tee-shirt tête de mort, des bottines ainsi qu'un clébard dégueulasse.

Some of the heaviest music you'll get that manages to stay fairly mainstream. The tracks are (mostly) catchy foot-tappers, and a few are compositionally great too. The main issue is the rest of the tracks. Most of the songs on "Metallica" are heavily riff- or atmosphere-based, and hardly vary in terms of structure or texture. Nothing Else Matters is the album centrepiece, the breath of fresh air, that momentarily makes you believe that songwriting is one of the band's strengths. Nah, man. Nearly all 55 remaining minutes in the album are a bit too invariable for my taste. It lacks creativity. And, especially in the latter half, it lacks punch. The instrumentation, though, is about as good as you can get. Hammett's piercing guitar tones, shredding solos, and memorable solo lines definitely make him a contender for one of the best rock guitarists of his generation. Hetfield's vocals are solid and an excellent instrument for the thrash metal genre. The drumming, performed by Ulrich, is in near-perfect sync with the guitar and bass (Newsted). The absolute tightness and synchronicity in the rhythm reminds me of Nirvana, or earlier music greats like EW&F and Tower of Power. I'll also shoutout a few tracks of interest. Enter Sandman is solid, and probably the catchiest of the simple, raw songs on the album. Holier Than Thou has a fun, memorable chorus, and I was a little surprised it hadn't been released as a single. The Unforgiven is my second-favourite track after Nothing Else Matters. It's texturally lush and musically complex - and its placing near the beginning of the album means I haven't yet tired of the relentless onslaught of guitar noise. The four tail-end tracks (Of Wolf And Man, The God That Failed, My Friend Of Misery, The Struggle Within) are indistinguishable in my memory. My conclusion: it's good, but not *that* good. Legacy is nothing without substance. 3/5 Key tracks: Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters, Sad But True

I kind of feel like this is basically a Motley Crue record, just heavier, more beefed up and sans eye shadow.

Reminded me of how, when I’m on a run, I’ll check the time every 20 seconds because I just want it to be over

Metallica's black album, right? That's what this one is referred to? I have no personal relationship with the music of this band. And, I honestly didn't know anything about them until their subsequent Load/Re-Load albums. And, from what I understand, those records are reviled by "true" Metallica fans. That's fine. I hated those records too. All that being said, this is a good record. It sounds dated. Like, in a bad way. Heavy bands just sound heavier now. I hate Lars Ulrich - not for the Napster thing. Because he's a tool that thinks he's a good drummer. Ha. Ringo could have played this shit. And his Ludwigs would have sounded like actual drums. It's hard to imagine anyone would have ever thought this kick drum sound is good. But, let's get to some positives. I really like the guitars (great use of harmonics) and the vocals are still interesting (none of that OOH! WOW! UGH! WUOAHAH! BOOM! horseshit). People I know say that "Master of Puppets" and"Kill 'em All" and the other early Metallica records are good. I hope they are, because this shit fucking sucks.

Man, listening to this album brought up a LOT of memories. Not all of them good. It's a really powerful metal album, one of Metallica's last good albums. But lyrically there's quite a bit here that feeds a bit of an incel mentality, and I can really only see that with some serious hindsight and separation from the material. There is a 'victim of society' mentality present here that I think can really burrow in to someone's mind, and I wonder what impact this may have had beyond the album. Whether it's giving a false sense of injustice, a need to prove oneself (in some ways as better than), or facing rejection with anger - there's a lot on display here that just isn't healthy. But musically holy shit. What a great album full of incredible tracks. Mark's absolute cruising here with insane solos and this becomes less thrash and more power metal, but you can also hear Metallica's sound evolving from here.

It's briliant. I found myself trying to justify not giving it 5*. But I couldn't so I did.

Stunning record. I know that metallica fans like to denigrate it for transitioning from a thrash sound to more of a heavy metal sound, but it worked so well. The instrumentals are timeless, the lyrics are deep and dark - I heard this album caused 3 of the band members to have divorces they worked so hard on it. Literally every song on the album is good. It ranks up there with Pink Floyd's the Wall or the Beatles Abbey Road.

The black album is a great album, It's fairlly increidble to have all these metallica hits in the same album.

The best album by Metallica by far. This was the CD with which I got to know Metallica in detail. One of the best metal albums of all time in my opinion.

Perfección

I grew up on this album so I'm biased but crank that shit to 11

This is the first Metallica album I've listened to completely through and I enjoyed the music. I recognized a few songs on this album and knew the words. I could see why people become metal heads, it was an enjoyable experience and it may join my regular listening.

Doesn’t get much better than this. James Hatfield might be the coolest guy alive

Best produced album of all time in any genre. Just classic solid songwriting & playing, can't fault it in any way at all. Would have been a great time to be in your early 20s with a mullet. 5/5.

YUS While not my favorite Metallica album, there's a reason this is included. A huge tonal shift from their previous album "...And Justice for All." "Wherever I May Roam" is still my favorite track on this album, followed by "The Unforgiven" and "Sad But True" to round out the top three.

I have listened to this album, this is Metallica, when they were most famous. It is not their best album, not even close to "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets" or even "...And Justice for All", in justice for all production is bad, but still as album it is better than Black LP. This albums is moment when they decided to become more radio friendly, the fact that their two most famous hits are on this album, Confirms that. It is good listen for metal and hard rock fans, but some tracks here are very weak and too soft for Metallica. It's like, here they lost their own self in becoming more mainstream and because they wanted to sell more records. This record needed to be for more people, so that's the reason why it is softer. "Master of Puppets" is not for everyone, and self-titled, aka Black album is more likable for music listeners.

BANG BANG BANG!!! YELL YELL YELL!!!! SCCCCRRRREAAAAAAAAMMM! yeah... I'll pass

In Holland, I saw an array of bronzed supine beach bodies lift dumbbells in synch to Enter Sandman, the trainer at climax instructing “Enter night… exit light…keep it slow... SUPERSLOWWW” in a Dutch accent as heavy as the riff. Wildest moment of a stag weekend in Amsterdam, so thanks for that, Metallica. Lyrically, James Hetfield minus Noel Gallagher equals Thom Yorke, so to those who deny that Metal is the conduit of the real, living Devil I say: you are fools. I wonder if James Hatfield writes down his lyrics. If he does, does he read them? I’m familiar enough with the Metallica genre to state that this is strong Metallica. The songs are short for Metallica, but long for normal mortals, so: Misery! Took me a weekend to get through this, though I’m sure I thought it was fine back when it and I were shiny. Nowadays, I cannot abide chores. Two.

Heard Before? Duh. Notes: - dazzling guitar solos sounds pasted in from a better album. - ham fisted drumming and crawling tempos really help the stupid lyrics and overwrought singing stand out. - dull, obvious production accomplishes the "let's blend in with the worst of rock radio" goal. - yet another album on this list entirely bereft of interesting sounds. - I love metal and hate Metallica, but at least Master Of Puppets meant something to someone, unlike this dreck. Verdict: What if Metallica but bland riff rock? Listen Again? If only it were avoidable.

Nearly didn’t listen to the first of my 1001 albums, thinking I knew the score already - and then realised that is totally contra to the spirit of the exercise. Glad I engaged and tried hard to think about why it doesn’t resonate for me. Essentially it is incredibly uncool. Cool isn’t everything, of course, and probably it should matter less to me - hence choosing to engage in the 1001 albums. Never less, despite crisp production, super tight drumming and skilled musicianship, this is dreadful. Monotonous, moaning and carping, far far less clever than it believes itself to be. Adolescent bedroom discontent with the world, with none of the energy and drive of adolescence that moves us forward.

Descendants of Spinal Tap, but with nary a whiff of irony.

Listened to Enter Sandman and actually quite enjoyed it. Briefly worried I might have missed out on 30 years' enjoyment. Further listening reassured me that wasn't the case. Relieved.

Music for fat, middle aged men with alcoholic tendencies past their prime.

Never understood the appeal of Metallica. This shit wouldn’t be out of place at Eurovision.

Why would someone like this

The Good: We get Metal! The Bad: of the Lica kind… The Ugly: Metal player wearing Licra… What? Okay, so anyone growing up in the US in the ‘90s has heard the hits… fucking monsters! I forgot how massive this album was, and how important it was for metal music. Now, I am sure that the purist out there view this album is pop, but I don’t care…. I banged my head to this music, saw them perform live 3 times in the ‘90s… and all the time I was viewed as a preppy by my friends. So, needless to say, I had a lovely time thinking about those care free days back in the ‘90s, when all I had to worry about was passing an exam with a C and hoping to get laid over the weekend! Nothing Else Matters… 5*

100%!!!!!!!

Okay, stay with me for this one. Is this Metallica's best album? No. Is this a great thrash metal album? No. Is this one of the best metal albums? No. Is this one of the most important albums ever? Yes. The Black Album is forever the gateway album to other things. This was the album everyone got into (thank you Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven). It was the album everyone owned and everyone had to own. For some, maybe it was the heaviest thing they'd ever own. For many, many others though from The Black Album we learned about Master of Puppets. And from Master of Puppets we learned about the Big 3 (though truth be told, it was probably just Slayer because Megadeth was just as big with Symphony of Destruction) . And from the Big 3, we learned about Flotsam and Jetsam, Anthrax, Testament, Sepultura, Overkill. This isn't Abbey Road, or The Wall, or Kind of Blue. It's musicality will surely be in question by many. But it's importance in the culture of 1991 and the metal world in general can not be understated in the ability to bond wayward youth together into something larger. And for that it earns every one of its five stars.

I didn’t have a single song that I even thought to skip on this album. One of my favorites on this journey.

Awesome album. The last great album from Metallica.

A cracking Friday album. Kirk seems to always table a calm lick of the guitar to set off any track. Iconic drum track

One of the greatest so far.

YUP.

Ei ehkä kolahda enää yhtä paljon kuin aikoinaan liiallisen radiosoiton takia, mutta klassikko ja ensimmäisiä levyjä inspiroimassa omaa musiikinkuuntelua ja sillon tätä tykitettiinkin. Ilman muuta ansaitsee 5*

Seminal album from my teenage years

cool, could be cooler. 4/5

This is very cool, albeit really, really repetitive. I like metal, but it all sort of tastes the same after a while. This still rocks hard and is a hell of a lot of fun to listen to, but I feel like we need some more peaks and valleys here to make it more musical. Regardless, Metallica fucks. Perfect band name.

Better than Coldplay

Metallica? like, from Fortnite? (7/10) favs: The Unforgiven, My Friend of Misery, Enter Sandman

Pretty awesome - the fact that a lot of these songs are all on the same album. Probably uneducated sacrilege but I still couldn't help but feel, however, that overall we could lose a couple of songs and it'd be stronger overall.

I detested this album when it first came out. It felt like a sell out after the first four albums, a slowed down, radio-friendly album. It didn't help that this was the first proper album that didn't have the influence of Cliff Burton on it. I stopped listening to Metallica for a decade or so after this was released, and with good reason, as they released a series of really bad albums (St Anger I'm looking at you) in this period. It wasn't until 2008 that they released something I considered worth listening to again, 20 years in the wilderness! However, any attempt to avoid this album was doomed to failure, as just about all of it would be played on the radio, in clubs, everywhere I went. I think I might have played the entire album from start to finish once before, but most of the album is on constant rotation somewhere. Hell, I even learned to play the opening of Enter Sandman on guitar when I was learning. In retrospect, it's not a bad album at all, just a disappointment after a run of exceptional early albums. I'm torn between a 3 and a 4 star rating, but I'll give it 4 because I know it's one of my daughter's favourites.

A classic of the genre. I just don't love the genre.

Couple bangers, the rest just okay rock.

Capitalist slave, the album.

This is what having a can of Monster Energy as your stepdad sounds like

Fucking incredible. Sandman, sad but true, nothing else matters, what is there to even say about a run that iconic? Drums, guitar, vocals, bass, it's all so good.

This is a monster of an album. It marks a significant transition point in Metallica's journey as a band. The album is more hard rock than thrash metal but it is still brilliant. There is banger after banger on the album.

If Lars can be the 5th most successful drummer of all time, you can do anything <3

One of the all time great Heavy Metal albums. Run's a little long. 2 or so tracks could have been cut for a tighter album. 4.5/5. Raising to 5. PS I'm just over a quarter of the way through this list now. I'm all for expanding my music knowledge/taste but my feeling is there is more disappointment than gems to be found. Starting to believe there isn't 1001 albums worth listening to before you die and this list could seriously be condensed. We'll keep trucking along though.

Could easily be the best album of the 90s. This album brought rock back to life for me after the land of the lost 80s. After watching the video Enter Sandman on MTV I bought the album then backtracked before the release of Load. What this album offers is what the band was and where they were heading over the next 3 or 4 releases.

A metal classic, seen as some as the beginning of the end for Metallica, but was my first steps into heavier metal after growing up with Black Sabbath and Ozzy.

This album generator has been about expanding my musical horizons, but damn if I haven't had a long string of 'great' albums that I really didn't like much. Metallica's Black album is a familiar album. One I listened to many times over the years. This album was more or less my intro to Metallica, I wasn't familiar with their previous work when Enter Sandman blew up on radio and MTV when I was about 10. After familiarizing myself with everything from Kill Em All to And Justice For All, I can see how some people would find this an abrupt change to the sound of Metallica. Nevertheless, I love this album, there are so many timeless songs, from the aforementioned Enter Sandman, Whereever I May Roam, The Unforgiven Nothing Else Matters, this album is a powerful introduction to Metallica of the 90s.

top of the top

I’ve never been a huge Metallica fan, but this is the era I think of when I think of them. Great album. Probably my favorite that I’ve heard from them so far. Solid 4.5 stars

Bought this on cassette on the day it came out

Teenage me was obsessed with this. Brought back some great memories.

Cool, found 1 new song Whenever I may roam. Liked the snake on the cover :)

drums really slap. great album

Peak Mettallica IMO. Nothing but bangers on this album. To see them play this album live would be a treat. Definitely a defining point for metal and metal popularity

Hell yeah brother

enter sandman is truly one of my favs

My favorite album from Metallica. This was a staple for me in high school and I still love it.

A lot of bangers on here. Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters. The rest is okay, but nothing incredibly special.

Metallica the best

I love this album. Great riffs and solos and so many songs end up on the orchestra collaboration album S&M.

Excelente

Another solid one. No complaints.

5/5

I C O N I C 5/5

I already knew this album was going to be 5 stars as soon as I saw it pop up. This album is one of my top 10 all times so suffice to say, I love it. Sorry, to every other future album, this one is the gold standard and that’s just Sad But True.

This is probably Metallica’s most accessible album and contains most of their well known tracks. I have this, S&M and Master of Puppets all in my collection and I see no real need to have anymore. This is the album I return to most probably because of the excellence of Enter Sandman and The Unforgiven. A solid album well worthy of this list. 5/5 1/2/26

I'm a huge fan of Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets, with And Justice For All being pretty fantastic too. I would choose any of those albums over this any day, but man this thing is stocked with riffs baked into my life and transports me back to early high school. Never owned the album but didn't have to as the Blitz 99.7 in Columbus still plays half this album in heavy rotation to this day. Unforgiven and Dont Tread on Me are standouts.

Haters gonna hate. This is a great album full of bangers. All these haters will never sell as much albums as Metallica has. Eat shit, mofos. 🤘🏼😂🤘🏼

Brought out the jack black in me

I need to listen to this more. Great album from start to finish.

Fan fucking tastic album hearing this live in its entirety in reverse order when the first time i saw them at the festival was amazing. Lars still cant drum for shit though

Just what I needed at 7am on a Tuesday at my desk job. 5/5

A seminal masterpiece that will forever have a place in the debate for one of the best metal albums of all time. James Hetfield’s personal songwriting, combined with some of the band’s most iconic riffs, spans from the defining singles that inspired the rebellious phase of countless generations to deeper cuts that still pack a punch, such as “The God That Failed” and “My Friend of Misery.” This feels like Metallica at their absolute peak.

Best Metallica album in my opinion

"You think one day some fucker's gonna tell you, 'You have a number one record in America,' and the whole world will ejaculate. I stood there in my hotel room, and there was this fax that said, 'You're number one.' And it was, like, 'Well, okay.' It was just another fucking fax from the office." -Lars It's a perfect album. Not their best album, but definitely best sounding. Props to Bob Rock. James's voice is consistently consistently used as a musical (rather than blunt) instrument.