Metallica

Metallica, yksi tärkeimmistä ellei tärkein bändi elämässäni. Tarina Metallican kelkassa alkoi kuudennen luokan syksyllä 1989 kun sain kaverin isoveljeltä C-kasettikopion …And justice for allista. Ja se oli menoa samoin tein! Näin ollen seuraajaa odotettiin kuin kuuta nousevaa. Ja kyllähän se odotus palkittiinkin kasiluokan alkajaisiksi! Tämä osui musiikillisesti hyvin tärkeisiin teinivuosiin joten tämän merkitys on ISO minulle henkilökohtaisesti. Jopa siinä määrin, että tämä levy on tullut opetettua rummuilla jokseenkin iskulleen kuten albumilla. Eli kuunneltu on. Don’t tread on me ja Sad but true ehkä ne isoimmat biisit minulle. Ei ehkä ihan täydellinen albumi enää aikuisen minun mittapuulla mutta helkutin rokkaava edelleen. Vahva 4/5

Not bad

"Sad But True" is the only halfway decent song here. It is very difficult to listen to this knowing they were such a good band for the three previous albums. Also hard to listen to because Lars is a such a fucking joke of a drummer. He's the Mike Love of metal - the guy who is superfluous and it would by all accounts be better if he were replaced, but he's convinced he's the most important person ever.

Rate: 100/10. They were just a band LOCKED IN with a purpose.

I feel like I should have a strong opinion about this, but I honestly don't. It's great heavy rock music and Enter Sandman is a classic and a top-tier rock song, but everything else kind of blended together and was sort of one note. They do their one thing really though. Top Songs: Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam, Nothing Else Matters

The Black Album produced by Bob Rock has all their biggest hits. It was a breakout album and was really popular but is it good. I’m not fully sure it great. The big songs are great but the rest are just there. I didn’t care for them. I would want to listen to them. I can listen to Enter Sandman, Sad but True, The Unforgiven, Wherever I May Roam, and Nothing Else Matters. That’s a lot of good songs but the rest are just kind of okay. I do not think they were as good as thrash Metallica but you can’t play fast forever I guess.

Fast ne 5

3,5

Enter sandman is def the best song on here for me but not really my bag

Uznávam ich prínos pre metalové žánre, ale to je tak všetko.

I'd never listened to a Metallica album before, and I really loved this!

Top album! Life long fan

Boring and corny

Metallica's introduction to stadium rock and the second concert I ever saw.

A pretty alright metal album. Interesting instrumentation and melodies before/after the metal parts, which seems not to be my cup of tea. A strong album regardless.

Some greats on there. But I never felt it flowed together. And some songs I just don’t like

A lot of it sounds the same lol

Couple unreal songs, sounded a bit samey throughout though

This is another classic example of an album that comes so close to having everything, but it just gets held back by that one thing. Like on the one hand, this has some of their most effective writing. Songs like Sad But True and Of Wolf and Man are the classic sound they're known for, but they've learned to slow it down and they wrote some pretty powerful ballads in Wherever I May Roam (I'm counting it) and Nothing Else Matters. But on the other hand, Don't Tread On Me. Favorites: Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, Nothing Else Matters

This is probably one of the most important albums that shaped my musical journey through life. It came out when I was 16, and up to that point my musical taste had largely been influenced by my parents’ and my older sister’s taste. I had started to listen to more rock, but had always shied away from heavy metal as a bit scary … and then this album opened the gate for me. I loved this album. I had been teaching myself to play guitar for a year or so before I heard this, then once I heard this I knew I wanted to play like James Hetfield. I was asked to join a covers band at school based on my ability to play most of this album, and that opened up a new aspect to my social life. I listened to other bands that were similar, bands that had influenced Metallica or been influenced by them, and my musical horizons expanded dramatically. I saw them live twice in support of this album including the legendary open air gig at Milton Keynes Bowl, which is probably my most “I was there!” moment. This is not the best album in the world, in fact it’s a bit bloated and over long in parts, and it’s not the best Metallica album, not by a long way. It’s not even very representative of what made Metallica one of the biggest bands in the world. But what this album is, for me, is a huge turning point in my life, and a founding document of the person I became, and for that I whole heartedly thank James, Lars, Jason and Kirk. They gave me a place where I belonged.

Патужна, пойдет

Pedazo de discazo. No me gusta mucho este tipo de música generalmente, pero es que este disco es increible. Nothing else matters es una obra de arte. Enter Sandman increible y The Unforgiven también. Con otros buenos temas acompañando. Algunos otros temas son un poco más pesados pero igual no esta tan mal. 9.5/10

Big hits are big hits!

I think it's a good thing I listened to this at the gym. I wouldn't have enjoyed it nearly as much at night in bed. James Hetfield is an amazing vocalist, by the way.

Icónico álbum. Si durara algo menos, es un 10. Tiene hits a reventar, pero algún que otro tema de relleno. Lo que sí me sorprende es que sigue sonando potente y llenador. Clásico total. 8/10

Καλά ριφ κλπ αλλά από ένα σημείο και μετά το αισθάνθηκα κάπως επαναλαμβανόμενο και κουραστικό

yes

Metallica’s self-titled 1991 album is one of those records that feels huge from the very first track. It’s heavy, sharp, and incredibly well-produced, but it also has a sense of melody and songwriting that makes it much more than just a collection of hard-hitting metal songs. What really stands out is how strong the tracklist is. “Enter Sandman” is an obvious classic, but songs like “Sad but True,” “The Unforgiven,” “Wherever I May Roam,” and “Nothing Else Matters” show just how much range the band had at this point. They could go from crushing riffs to quieter, more emotional moments without it feeling out of place. “Through the Never” and “Holier Than Thou” bring plenty of speed and aggression too. The production is a big part of the album’s appeal. The guitars sound massive, the drums hit hard, and everything feels polished without completely losing Metallica’s edge. It’s easy to see why the album became such a major crossover moment for the band and for heavy metal in general. Even after all these years, Metallica still sounds powerful and surprisingly accessible. Whether you’re already a metal fan or just getting into the genre, there’s a lot to enjoy here. A great album from start to finish and probably one of Metallica’s most important records.

I Metallican't listen to this stuff.

I’ve found every person I’ve met who says Metallica is their favourite band to have questionable taste. It’s a lot of banging from a mediocre drummer and a lot of pretend gruff singing and A LOT of repetitive guitar riffs. It’s music for people who want to like metal but don’t want to try too hard. That being said, the Unforgiven isn’t terrible.

Some real all-timers on this one.

Great heavy guitar sound. More straightforward songs but really strong ones. Loved this.

Get rid of the genera, their vocalist, and lead guitarist and they might be worth listening to.

Metallica exploded with this album with a more polished and better-produced version of their sound. The result is not bad, but I miss the epic direction they seem to be heading in with And Justice for All.

9/10 Metallica is an interesting departure for the band. Gone are the lengthy prog-thrash epics and complex compositional works, replaced by a more traditional rock approach to song structure, with an emphasis and focus on central hooks and motifs that often appear across a tracks full length. They also chucked out the thrashy pace and intensity in favour of a slower paced direction, balanced by a weightier production style. I know this album incredibly well already, but listening to it today with a specifically critical ear, I was surprised by quite how slow it is. What that allows for is a sense of groove that wasn’t really prominent in their previous work. It also means that Lars doesn’t have to stretch himself to the end of his talent to keep up, which is nice. What they haven’t changed is their talent for writing great hooks and riffs. Songs like Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven and Sad But True display an ear for catchy songwriting that pretty much lays it at the doors of pop music, albeit through a heavy, pulsing lens. The new production style also offers a more cinematic edge to the sound that gives it a more wide open tone, while also extending the sound palette through a range of effects processes and even the inclusion of a string section for Nothing Else Matters (which is a beautiful piece of heartfelt melodic writing and also probably the definitive metal ballad). With all that being said, I can completely see why traditional Metallica fans often turn their nose up at this record. Essentially what the band have done with this record is to create the Sunday morning cartoon version of themselves. The roughest edges are smoothed off, the hooks are given increased prominence, and the performances turned up to 11, with James Hetfield’s vocal in particular at its most cartoonishly Hetfield. In some ways, this album is to the gritty world of heavy metal what WWE is to bare-knuckle boxing. But while some may consider that to be a weakness, I think that by grabbing hold of an opportunity to make a play for mainstream success, Metallica successfully kicked down the doors of a more underground world of metal and opened it up to a whole new audience, and that should be applauded. So what we end up with is a powerful, heavy and overall fun take on 80s metal distilled into an easy to digest package, while still making enough references to their old work to not completely disconnect. It’s an incredibly solid album and, while it’s a touch too long and there are a few weaker spots, it’s still well worth a five star review, even if it can’t quite make it to a full ten out of ten. Enter Sandman - A classic. Overplayed, yes, but still excellent. The riffs are strong, it feels weighty and powerful and it’s stuffed full of hooks. It’s not the paciest, but it’s so cinematic and the aforementioned weight of the production makes up for the more restrained pace against their previous work. The funny thing is that, looking at this objectively, there’s an almost cartoony edge to it with the subject matter and Hetfield’s throaty chuckles, but I’m totally buying what they’re selling regardless. A brilliant opener that sets the tone for what’s to come. Sad But True - Again, the power of this is in its weight. There are some fantastic riffs and the underlying groove is great, with some cool rhythmic switch-ups in places. The chorus is great too. The main thrust of this song is just built for slow headbanging with a stank face. There’s nothing vastly complicated or adventurous about it, but it does exactly what it promises with great quality. Holier Than Thou - They pick up the pace a bit now and lean more into swagger and attitude without letting go of the riff quality and hook writing chops. They throw in a bit of range with the guitar solo sections, but it’s another brilliantly executed example of simplified songwriting that has enough quality to keep you engaged despite the relative lack of development compared to their previous releases. The Unforgiven - And now we roll into an intro that feels heavily inspired by Ennio Morricone’s Ecstasy of Gold, which Metallica typically use as intro music at concerts. It’s got great dynamic and textural range to it and it’s a nice step back into groove and power, with a cinematic approach to the production and arrangement. Again, great riffs, and more of that face-wrinckling drive and weight in between the more restrained and subtle sections. The melodic chops on this record are actually one of its biggest strengths up to this point, but there’s an extra bit of that cartoonish charm from James Hetfield’s vocal style. It’s good stuff. Wherever I May Roam - There’s actually a decent amount of range and textural interest on this track in a way that the more straightforward tracks on the record have avoided thus far. We do get a bit of Lars Ulrich’s more staccato, machine drum fills here, but I’ll forgive them for the general groove that they build in the rhythm between his straight drum performance and the bit of swing generated by the bass and guitars. It’s a brief but anthemic chorus and, as with much of the record, the cinematic nature of the production is great. Don't Tread On Me - Why not kick off a metal song with a riff from West Side Story? Again, this is fairly slow but oh, so heavy. Great riffs, a cool swagger and more great attitude across the board. There’s something so fun and engaging about this in that it kind of feels like they’ve stripped out the complexity of their music and distilled it into a simpler format, but it’s still pure Metallica. It’s hard not to get on board with the weighty punch of it and, while it’s not musically spectacular, it still ticks a lot of boxes. Through The Never - There’s more range to the pace of this and we get something that starts to approach a more traditional Metallica thrash style in places here. It chuggs along through the slower sections and then when it picks up the pace, they smash in some more great riffs. There are some solid rhythmic stops in the composition that give an extra bit of punch too. This feels a little bit more compositionally adventurous and it’s nice to have something that does a little bit more at this point on the record, while retaining the cinematic feel of the rest of the record. Nothing Else Matters - Time to be objective about the song that my wife walked down the aisle to? Fuck that. This is a gorgeous song that showcases the deftness and melodic quality of James Hetfield’s songwriting. It still has a decent punch to it, despite the focus leaning more towards the melodic. There’s great dynamic range, a heartfelt vocal performance and, despite it having a distinct waft of cheese, it’s executed so perfectly without losing the Metallica edge to the sound that it’s hard not to just get caught up in. It’s probably one of the finest examples of a metal ballad ever committed to tape. Of Wolf And Man - How do we follow that, Lars? How about I hit the drums really hard? Ok, do that then. From a very straight beat, they build a really good groove actually. I think the progression of the chord structure and melody in the chorus is great and quite different from some of the more straightforward riff focused sections on the album. This is not as hook heavy as some of the early record, but it feels like it’s a bit more interesting from a compositional point of view, while again retaining the punch and weight that the album has kept at the forefront. The God That Failed - Weight and punch. The two key words for this album, and they’re here in force again. The swagger and groove of this is what sells it completely because, looking at it objectively, this is probably one of the weaker tracks on the album, but it’s still so full of chugging quality and attitude. There are some great rhythmic choices in the vocal that give this an extra bit of range, especially set against the chugging guitar work. More great stuff. My Friend Of Misery - It’s a really nice bit of bass work to roll us in to this one. As with some of the other later tracks on the record, there’s a bit more development of themes here, although they don’t stray too far. There’s a nice breakdown in the middle and the cinematic flavour of the production add an extra depth of quality to the work. The texture of the different guitar tones rubbing up against one another is pretty cool, although I’m not completely sold on the guitar solo tone about two thirds of the way through. The Struggle Within - And we close off with something that calls back to the pace of previous Metallica records to show they’ve still got that arrow in their quiver. The vocal hooks are top notch, especially the call and response stuff, and we get some more quality riffs, all delivered with the bottom end weight that this album has delivered in spades. I love it when they peel off into the solo section on this one, just with how committed they are to the pace and power of it. It’s just great fun.

saw them live with my brother in 2023. I liked this album more than I thought | would.

good

Classic album all around. Trasher fans or whatever accuse tallica of going mainstream with this one, but Hetfield couldn't sing on the other albums and this is just better music. But yes, tallica is corporate tame metal. They're not wrong there.

Amazing rock album

A transition album for metallica away from the pure thrash. But still hugely influential in the alt-metal and hard rock genres

A very polarizing album in the metal community. A huge shift in style that payed off well for the band. The black album lacks what made Metallicas early albums great, but were it not for its success, those earlier albums probably would not be as well kmown and as highly regarded. It is a great introduction inti the metal world. In a bubble, it is a good album. It falls short when compared to wgat came before it

Classic

I'm not generally a fan of Metallica, and that sentiment has strengthened over the years, but goddamn this one slaps. Start to finish, this one is a masterpiece. Hits all over this album,, and it can still get the adrenaline pumping. Well recorded, musicianship and theatrics on display, hats off to them for this.

Metallica (1991), das „Black Album“, ist pure, monumentale Präzision. Jeder Track sitzt wie ein Stahlträger: „Enter Sandman“ ikonisch, „Sad But True“ schwer wie ein Presslufthammer, „The Unforgiven“ emotional und perfekt gebaut. Die Produktion ist glasklar, die Songs zeitlos – ein Album, das Metal nicht nur definiert, sondern global geöffnet hat. Mit „Nothing Else Matters“ zeigt die Band eine ungewohnte, fast intime Seite – ein Song, der Metallica endgültig aus dem Genre-Käfig befreite und weltweit zu einer der größten Rockbands machte 🤘🏽.

Not only was this one of the first albums I ever owned, it was absolutely foundational in building my musical identity. I was learning guitar at the time and you better believe I spent some hours learning these riffs. Although I love all kinds of music, there was a period in my life where I was a dyed-in-the-wool metal head and this album is probably the primary reason why. Even listening today, 35 years after release, this album feels immediate, alive, and absolutely essential.

Classic album, very very easily cements itself on the list. For some reason I, not a metal head, always quote the lists to Nothing Else Matters, so that means something.

This album has one of the best intros of any album, but it kind of falls off after the first song. Nothing Else Matters is still a good song, but honestly, I think I fell for the hype. I'm not the biggest fan of Hetfield's vocals or how he uses his voice (which is common in this genre), and that takes away from what otherwise would have been an awesome album. The album does drag a bit, but otherwise it's not bad.

Nisu mi se svidjele samo dvije pjesme. Ostale su bangeri(s obzirom na to da sam vec poslusala dvije).

It's an historic album. Metallica just can't be 5-stars though.

A monster of a record. Yeah, the gagillion-selling Black Album is played to death, but that’s not really the band’s fault. These songs have become the DNA of hard rock, and knowing them, playing them on guitar, rocking out in the car, is as much a right of passage as graduating high school. Shorter songs, paired down solos, actual choruses, and fuller production make this maybe the most successful crossover/sell-out record of all time. The song quality meant Metallica didn’t lose its base fans, and the switch from thrash metal to hard rock introduced heavy music to a generation. It’s my fifth favorite Metallica album, but really is one of the very very few “time-capsule” type records that is genuinely an essential cog in the American cultural experience.

Positives: Bass and drums on Enter Sandman rip. Way downhill after first song. All very familiar and slightly nostalgic. I never liked Metallica, but I had a roommate and good friend who loved it. So not all bad feelings. Didn't hate "My Friend of Misery" sounded slightly different at least. That's about it. Negatives: This is over an hour long, way too much, could have been an email. Hard to imagine just listening to this back to front in any normal context. Mostly soulless pop-metal A lot of these songs I think are going to be cool for about 20 seconds then I'm just waiting for them to end. Never liked Hetfield's voice or style, still don't 2 Stars, barely interesting to note that I'm in a phase where I'm pretty into "angry" music, but this doesn't move me at all.

This is an album whose relevance lies in containing some of the most significant hits in the band's discography. To that end, it remains a meaningful record but its longer runtime makes it feel a little one-dimensional and flat compared to earlier records in their discography. For that reason I might prefer 'Ride the Lightning' as a more enjoyable listen. 8/10 [KEEP]

This album transformed my youth

Still an amazing album that came out in a year of amazing albums. The world changed at that time meaning Metallica could get airplay without compromising their sound.

Oh ffs, not another one…I just picture a goatee cunt in a Land Rover defender who likes to lift occasionally because they feel emasculated by the dysfunctional family they’ve created. It’s just the most overrated shit ever isn’t it.

Olkoot kuinka mainstream tahansa nii olihan tää loistava albumi

Aivan absoluuttinen legenda. Erinomaista musiikkia alusta loppuun. Olen tietoinen Lars Ulrich hate-liikkeestä mutta itse ihmisenä joka ei ole ala-asteen jälkeen rumpuja soittaneena tietoinen mistä vitusta puhutaan vaikka olen asiaa yrittänyt selvittää joten en voi alentaa siitä pisteitä. Haluisin antaa 5/5 mutta en tiedä ansaitseeko tämä sitä. Mulla ollut kriteerinä että ansaitakseen täydet 5/5 sen pitää olla minulle jotenkin oikasti säväyttävä kokemus. Myöskin pitää olla jotenkin merkityksellistä musiikkia. Yksikään rap-albumi ei tule milloinkaan saamaan täysiä pisteitä, koska sama konsepti on toisettu jo tuhansia kertoja ja kaikki sielu on lähtenyt musiikista. Kanye West on ehkä ainut poikkeus mikäli sellainen tulee joskus vastaan. Tulin tuon tekstin kirjoittaneena tulokseen että asaitsee täydet pisteet. Musiikki erinomaista, kokonaisuus hyvä ja albumi ylipäätään on ollut aika merkittävä trash-tyylinen albumi ja pioneeri skenessä

Disappointing. Birth of butt rock? YAE-YUH!

So familiar that I actually can't tell where this fit in the history of modern rock. Was this genre altering or just a really strong entry in a bunch of good music? I wish I knew.

Surprised to see this here, after Master of Puppets. There are some memorable--even iconic--songs on here, but overall it lacks the ferocity of their prior albums, especially MoP. This album includes their first power ballads (Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters), and the overall production feels more like a Def Leppard album than a garage metal band. That's not to say this is a bad album per se, it's just not what i want out of my metal. It's probably more influential on the Nu-Metal that would rise in the late 90s than MoP is.

Very very produced. Very clean and minimal. Reminds me of Nickelback in that way. I'm not very familiar with either of these bands however

Overplayed, overwrought, and thoroughly overcooked. This is a band trying to be as big and four quadrant as metal could be and in the process watering down what made them good in the first place. Sure, some of these are classics, but it's because they're radio-ready anthems that could match up to the incoming grunge scene and disaffected kids. But these dudes are getting too old for that shtick, and instead it's absolutely watered down, thin, terrible-sounding dumb rock music that has the faintest claim to metal. And it's effectively the end of Metallica - they'd never get back to their heights after this one, because they'd been pegged in this hole. Charmin soft.

Not for me

A couple of great tracks, a couple more good ones, but I don't much like the rest. I just can't get on board with James Hetfield's vocal mannerisms-ah. Enter Sandman is an all-time banger, though, and the only Metallica song I seek out of my own accord, so I can never fully dislike them!

Surprisingly better than I anticipated. I’ve never really given Metallica the time of day, categorising them with all the post-original heavy metal groups that fail to live up to their forerunners. This was powerful stuff though and just shows how inferior their contemporaries such as yesterday’s band, The Black Crowes, were. The thumping bass and percussion kept my attention and the voice often reminded me of Alice Cooper who I’ve always got time for. Reading that this was a change in style to their earlier thrash metal sound may be the reason I like it and also why I had already written them off before this was released. They were even able to produce a softer, slower song in Nothing Else Matters which featured the LSO and at the start reminded me of when Black Sabbath did Changes. I thought the album could have ended there as the final tracks were not as good as the earlier ones. However, on second listen through I liked them a little more. In the main it’s good old-fashioned head-banging stuff which I enjoyed a lot. Think I will have to reassess my previous prejudice and eat humble pie now as I certainly want to hear more Metallica.

I know I should hate it but I don’t! Hetfields voice is a bit much and the lyrics are cringey as is the whole band really but there’s something about Metallica that is just so enjoyable. I also think they are quite talented musicians (I’m not musically talented in anyway so perhaps not the best judge of this!). They are insanely uncool and I do think some of the joy of this record is how seriously they seem to be taking themselves. Much like the vibes from the Metallica Documentary (Some Kind of Monster) which I also enjoyed. The fact this record was made 7 years after Spinal Tap makes me think they may be in on the joke a little but probably not!

'Chug chug', said the guitar. 'Boom boom', replied the drum. In walked James Hetfield. 'Heavy thoughts tonight, and they aren't of Snow White-AH'. Somewhere in the future, a man winces, adjusts his earphone, wonders why he's putting himself through this. He sighs, fetches a cup of tea. Come on, he thinks, be open-minded, lots of people like this, find out why. Track 2 begins. 'Chug chug' the guitar repeats, 'boom boom', the drum dutifully replies. 'You know it's sad but true-AH', Mr. Hetfield gurns. Back in the future, the man has made an effort, and he will do the due diligence and hear the rest of this nonsense, but deep within him another slight fracture cracks across his soul, another hour of existence lost to this torment. His mind wanders, as it often has throughout this process...why does this exist? Who needs to preen and pose like this? Why are guitar solos so boring? How can we all be essentially the same creature, and yet have such vastly different ideas about what is a 5 star album, and what sounds like the inane ramblings of brainless cretins? 'Chug chug', the guitar offers. The man sighs, buckles up, endures another 45 minutes of misery.

I tried to like this because of an alt girl I had a crush on when I was 13. Couldn't do it then. Can't do it now...

classic

Great metal what can you say.

Preemient metal band. One of their best albums. Few great songs. I don't need to listen to this album again. Pitchfork: 7.7 Rolling Stone: Top 500 Albums #235 Best Songs Enter Sandman The Unforgiven Nothing Else Matters

The lyrics + delivery got me cringing. Even if I were an edgy teen in the 90s I wouldn’t fall for this crap. An album full of “badass”, god awful entrance music, one note and repetitive, until the momentary reprieve of Nothing Else Matters, followed by 20 minutes of unintelligible bullshit. I will say, I was jamming a bit during the guitar solos…until the guy starts singing.

A monster album from my teenage era - and a solid classic.

I liked the singles as a 13/14 year old boy when this came out, especially Enter Sandman. I thought I'd be rating this higher but it sounds kind of corny now. I can't help be see Lars Ulrich's stupid face and feel his stupid personality when I hear his shitty drumming. I hate the snare sound, it's too gated... Sounds like a crappy drum machine. Anyways, doesn't hold up for me

i actually think this is a good album. the guitar solos are amazing. the way they go faster and then slower means they're actually connected. the only thing i will say is that the songs might be too long just because the last minute and a half of each song is basically the same repeated one time and another. it gets kinda boring just for that. but, as i said, i really enjoyed it and there are some songs i loved!

they're famous for a dman reason sadly. -1 point bc they kind of suck morally n stuff

literally just awesome

a few classics but honestly thank goodness it's over. enter sandman and nothing else matters are too good to give sub-3, but to be quite honest judging by the album as a whole, this is a 2. so actually, that's what i'm giving it. with the caveat that those two songs are 5/5s.

I don't need to hear this album again, mostly because I can hear it in my head just by looking at this cover. I played the shit out of this album growing up, and through my teenage years. It's an incredible album, but at this point, I'd rather discover something new.

2.5

What a fantastic classic album full of bangers! Say what you will about Metallica but this is a fucking legit album that changed their trajectory and metal on general

Another one of my soundtracks to a period in my life. Summer of 1992 - had it going non-stop on cassette in my car. Enter Sandman and Wherever I May Roam are my favorites, and a couple of others are decent. I'm not much of a Heavy Metal fan, and really wasn't a Metallica fan either. Not sure why I had this, as it wasn't my cup of tea at all, but different times and places.

Ah takes me back 🤘

I ant listened to this since I was about 15. I can appreciate it for what it is but I'm not likely to bang it on anytime soon.

Didnt even realise it was Black album. Yeah takes me back to me formative years ...NEVA! Has the right amount of slow prettiness with Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, which earliwr stuff can be accused of lacking Album to get into Metallica... using (?) Never liked 'Dont Tread On Me' and 'Struggle Within'. So cant give it 5. 4.5

Favourite Track(s): The Unforgiven Nothing Else Matters

Ok

🙂‍↕️

Liked the songs

Coming from someone who thinks Metallica is overplayed and a little obnoxious, I didn't expect to enjoy this as much as I did. I'll never forgive Lars for being the face of the anti-Napster movement, but I have to give credit where it's due: this is one of the most approachable metal albums out there. I started listening to this in 5th grade and thought I was going to become a metal fan because I liked this album so much. Turns out, I'm not a big fan of metal at all. Listening to it now, I don't know how much of it is nostalgia, but this album holds up surprisingly well and is still a fun listen.

Good, I mean, theres a reason it is so well listened to. Not the kind of thing I'd normally listen to an I will prolly never listen to ever again.

They certainly set a standard. Never been my kind of music.

Sé lo mal recibido que es este disco hoy en día, el cómo es una "regresión" de sus discos de thrash pero para mí, fuera de ser un poco repetitivo con los últimos tracks, me es mucho más disfrutable que sus predecesores

Enjoyed this way more than I was expecting to

Næsten S tier. Udover Sandman og Nothing else matters (som er lidt overspillede) har albummet kæmpe bangers som Sad but True, Unforgiven, Wherever I may Roam. Alle instrumenter er super tydelige at høre, og James er på sit mest ikoniske niveau. Eneste der trækker ned er nogle lidt svage sange i form af Struggle within og Don't tread on me. 4,5, som må blive rundet op

Man, it's been ages since I've listened to this album in full. Playing it back, it's okay. Obviously we all know it as the turning point in the Metallica catalogue, but some of these simpler tracks still hit - "Wherever I May Roam" and "Sad But True" still fucking rip. On the lesser side, "The Unforgiven" has always been boring and will still be boring. I found myself enjoying "Nothing Else Matters" more than I remembered in the context of this entire album. The deep cuts are all pretty decent, and a few of them harken back slightly to the Metallica that came before this, but Pandora's Box had already been opened and there was no going back. I think it's fine, but runs long considering how many songs are based on one riff.

I’m not even a Metallica fan but even I have to admit they struck gold here. One of the best metal albums of all time.

The opening of the album is so strong with the famous "Enter Sandman" followed by "Sad But True", which was probably my favourite song on the album. I also really enjoyed the rest of the album ("Nothing Else Matters" and "The Unforgiven" being some other standouts), but I'm not sure if I would listen to these other tracks as standalone listens rather than part of the full album. I'm giving it a rating of 5 as I think this album would grow a lot on me over time based on the strength of my first impression.

Très cool

Fun

Listening to this since I'm 11 so know it like the back of my hand. Wouldn't put it on much these days but it's a landmark in hard rock/metal, some classic tracks which have crossed over into the mainstream. Sandman, Nothing Else Matters, Unforgiven, Sad but True all hold up still. Few songs which don't hit the same heights and I've never been a huge fan of the closing track but the album hangs together as a coherent end to end listen. The slicker Bob Rock production was a departure at the time but it suits the songs. Plus you can actually hear the bass on this compared to Justice. Hard to mark it down as anything bar a classic. 9/10

Liked it better than I thought i would. Catchy enough songs but it gets a bit repetitive.

Gran album antes del declive

kestää ja kestää ja kestää

Sadly already listened amazing album

god i hate metallica

The gateway Metallica album.

Better Metallica albums

peak metallica!

bro cmon its metalica ofc its really good

Not bad, not their best but I prefer the thrash stuff (Ride..., Master...)

Oh yeah!! So frickin good!!🤘 One of my favorite albums. Never gets old. Great workout music also.

This review is going to be heavily influenced by altitude brain death. I had heard this whole album before and didn't know it. The vocalist has way more range than I would have given him credit for. Long songs but stayed dynamic and new pieces and lyrics. My Friend Misery was the only one that didn't grab me and was a bit weird

I thought this would be a "Meh" because of over-play of their hits but surprisingly listening to the whole album at once was actually entertaining! So kudos for including this on the list (obviously)!

This album is good. It was written before there were words, writing, or the stars. My highs: - "Enter Sandman" intro - "Unforgiven". Esp if you have speakers up loud and there's a moment of panic at the beginning like 'is this noise gonna keep getting louder and explode my eardrums?' - "Nothing Else Matters" is an island of tranquility in a sea of songs with electric guitar, drum bashing, and Hetfield ayy--yyeyaaaauhhhs!

Not Metallica's best work. They simplified after Justice, but this is still a ripper. Greatest guitar riff of all time here. That's not nothing.

Good album - abit heavier rock than I normally like but enjoyed it. 2 iconic rock songs on this album so it's a 4/5

I didn't hate this, however I don't think I'd make an active choice to listen to it again. But if my partner decided on this for our dinner party background music, I wouldn't object.

Limp lettuce? Maybe that is a little too unkind, fellow listener. Overproduced and commercialized for sure. So much less enjoyable than others - I love Puppets and have a soft spot for Justice based on when I started carrying around a walkman. Definitely some gateway drug material here to introduce the average listener to the older, better material in the catalog. I still would like to see the live despite my being 50+. 3.8

It's meh, but also a classic.

Rock on 🤘

One of my most played/ favourite albums growing up. Maybe hasn’t quite aged as well as I might have thought but still a momentous album with no real duds on there.

Amazing album, already listened 8.5/10.

One of the first albums I ever listened to, certified classic. PF: Unforgiven

A good rock album for its time, even if my tastes have moved on.

To be honest I had a lotta expectation yk cuz it's metallica and I loved tracks like enter sandman, unforgiven, holier than thou, sad but true yk the vocals, guitar riffs and stuff. It's peak but then after that for me it was a downhill like i just wanted to finish this album yk. Maybe this one will grow on me yk. I also liked the nothing else matters track. But yk other tracks felt medicore to me. I noticed this album has a lotta guitar playing, drums, and stuff which is nice but yeah overall felt medicore. But I don't think this is the end maybe it will grow on me. I'll give it a 5.5 tbh

Dios q discaso la verdad, Dios bendiga metalica

Pretty good but not my cup of tea

some of it is good

Their last good album before they leaned to heavily into alt music. I prefer the 80s thrash to any of this, but this album is undeniably one of their best.

Pop songwriting chops with big slow groves. What’s not to like?

I’m very biased, since this was one of the first albums what and really introduced me to heavy metal. It was the gateway for me to discover the older Metallica and other thrash bands. With this album the pendulum swing a bit too far from the roots of the band. But I can’t say there are any real skips on this and the singles they released are all iconic.

no es mí onda pero banco, se nota que es un buen disco de metal, ahr que no sé nada de metal.

I don’t like metal music as a general rule. That being said, this is an iconic album from the 90’s (my teens), and it totally rocks.

Ich habe damals das Album rauf und runter gehört, eines meiner Lieblingsalben von Metallica

Full of bangers. Not their best but there’s a reason this album was so popular - not a bad song on the album

Fine album.

Love Metallica!! This album had all my faves on it

Awesome

My first love. I was 9-10 years old when an older boy, living on my street, played Enter Sandmann. I was sold. I know this album by heart, even if I haven't listened to The God that Failed in 15-20 years I still know the lyrics. It may be nostalgia, but this was a lock for 5☆ from the moment Enter Sandmann began.

Don’t think I care about Metallica. RYM: N Saved a song: N

Very solid, with some tracks that are undeniable classics – but classics to which I don't have the same level of attachment that some other people do, since I didn't really grow up with them. Still a hell of a good time.

I guess I just don't rock hard enough for this, but I found a lot of the songs too samey. Favorite Songs: Enter Sandman, Wherever I May Roam

Great production, great melodies, great solos, drums sound thunderous, Het's voice never sounded better than here. There's a couple of clunkers and I never need to hear Sandman again as long as I live but it's overall a mainstream metal smash. Proof an 'extreme' genre can break through to the masses. Is it Ride/Puppets/Justice? No. But it's not trying to be. Also My Friend of Misery is the best song on this album, fight me.

Mixed bag. Some really bad stuff and then a couple of bangers and an influential sound

I'm not one of those Metallica fans that sees this as a "sell-out" album. It's an evolution of their sound. It's pretty successful for the most part. I'm on record as not being a fan of a couple of the bigger hits on this (Sad But True and Wherever I May Roam in particular), but the rest holds up pretty well.

This album brings me back to early high school and the shenanigans I got up to on their binge and purge tour in 1994

If I could give a 3.5 I would. Good album for sure, but it isn't really my type of music. Couple of great classics on there too.

677/1001 2026.08.11 🌕🌕🌕🌕🌕

There are better and worse choices than this album to represent this band, this seems to be a common theme of the list.

1991: what a year in popular rock music! This, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Gn'R, Soundgarden, RHCP, U2, R.E.M. all with classic or near-classic albums. The first CD's I ever purchased were Stevie Ray Vaughn's The Sky Is Crying and this album, from the Sam Goody in Town and Country Mall. The cover was so badass - you couldn't see the snack unless you angled it just so in the light. This album was the gateway for me into earlier Metallica like 'Ride the Lighting' and '...And Justice', but I never quite latched on to the speed metal. This self-titled album was the sweet spot with it's moderate tempos and huge hooks. 'Metallica' was a bold swing for the mainstream fences that wildly succeeded on the back of 'Enter Sandman'. Plenty of other good songs on the album, but Sandman's sinister riff coupled with it's haunting dream imagery made for the perfect translation of metal's anguish to a Rock-Pop idiom. Even bolder, 'The Unforgiven' comes in shockingly early at track 4 sounding unlike anything else the band has done, with it's Morricone-light stylings and nylon string guitars. I was personally inclined to like 'Wherever I May Roam' with it's epic and majestic intensity. And of course, boldest of all, 'Nothing Else Matters', with nary a growl in sight, a string arrangement and which every burgeoning pre-teen guitar player soon learned was easily played with open strings. Otherwise, like most albums in the CD era, it could stand to lose 3-5 tracks. The production wears thin after awhile - there's too much reverb and the drums are too big for these tempos. The bass drum is practically the lead instrument, even on the ballads. Listening back now, what's jumping out at me the most is how emotionally vulnerable the lyrics and vocal performances are. Hetfield is clearly working through some demons and unafraid to show his sensitive side. It's the boldest aspect of the album and underscores what a risk this direction was for the band. It sure as hell paid off, even if they would soon take it a bridge too far.

Era destino il doverlo ascoltare...

black snakey boi turns out it's a good album doesn't feel like "metallica" though, can see why it was polarizing but also massively successful not as much gold as i remember tho back half in particular drags a bit 💥enter sandman 💥the unforgiven 💥wherever i may roam 💥nothing else matters

An excellent album. I knew most of these songs already but the way they are linked together in the album is incredible. The benchmark for metal albums, although it is probably just as much a rock album.

So many thoughts…. Influence: 5 stars Songwriting: 3 1/2 stars … the good is great, the rest is between “standard” and shit Performance: man, Lars really isn’t very good. And a lot of the solos are bland. Overall: this album has gotten worse and worse every time I’ve listened to it. 3 stars. I could live the rest of my life and never hear a song off it again.

It was okay, but I believe there's a reason that the only song anyone knows from this album is Enter Sandman. If I were rating albums on song titles alone, though, this album would get 5/5.

very 'clean' metal, but not in a way it would ruin the sound and experience of the album

Really didn't like this first time around, but it's actually quite good. The album is extremely front loaded, all the bangers are on the first five tracks or so. The album tracks here are all decent, but not really anything to write home about. Still, just having such classic hits right after one another gives it some bragging rights. It kind of represents the downfall of what Metallica would eventually become, but for this release they were still making pretty decent commercial Metal. I guess helping Metal out of the underground isn't all that bad.

I came to The Black Album expecting to endure it. My mental image of Metallica remains two men in a pawn shop shouting at each other while occasionally throwing guitars. What I wasn’t expecting was an album largely concerned with making itself understood. The word I kept coming back to was legibility. This is the record where Metallica simplify, but simplicity isn’t necessarily the same thing as dumbing down. One dominant riff can give an actual song room to emerge. The vocals are front and centre. The structures are clear. There’s an almost pop instinct at work: if you’ve got something to say, don’t hide it behind another six riffs. And they do have something to say. Sad But True is about the shadow self, the psychological permissions we construct to do things we’d rather not admit to ourselves. Holier Than Thou turns towards judgement, gossip and received certainty. Then The Unforgiven does something particularly clever: the verses are oppressive and heavy while the chorus opens out. It reverses the usual rock-ballad grammar. Once you’ve decoded it, it seems obvious, but somebody had to think of it. Gradually I began hearing the album as a journey towards self-determination. Don’t Tread on Me nearly derailed the whole thing for me. I cannot stand that strain of Boys’ Own metal: heroic individualism, flags, slogans and the conviction that having a very large sense of yourself constitutes a philosophy. My rating briefly plunged. Then Through the Never comes along and almost acts as a corrective. It reminded me of Powers of Ten: zoom out and this heroic individual is an infinitesimal dot in an incomprehensibly large universe; zoom sufficiently far in and he’s mostly interatomic space anyway. Get over yourself. Then Nothing Else Matters brings everything back to the personal. For all the songs metal has produced about women, there’s something unexpectedly affecting about a man simply admitting that another person matters to him. The road towards being comfortable with yourself sometimes includes admitting that you need somebody else. At this point I started thinking that Metallica had been through therapy. The God That Failed makes that particularly explicit once you know about James Hetfield losing his mother, a Christian Scientist who refused medical treatment for cancer. The lyric stops sounding like an articulate teenager berating religious parents and becomes something much more specific: someone trying to make sense of a loss he believes needn’t have happened. My Friend of Misery may contain the most interesting idea on the album. People can become evangelical about their suffering. Misery can become identity. I’ve encountered versions of that in peer-support work: when everything eventually becomes okay, what happens if you’ve become emotionally dependent upon the response you receive for telling everyone how badly things are going? Recovery eventually asks the awkward question: who are you when misery is no longer your defining characteristic? Even Of Wolf and Man, which I initially filed under “mandatory metal song about how cool werewolves are”, eventually made more sense. The wolf is the elemental self, the instinctive human underneath civilisation. Myth being used to examine psychology rather than merely because wolves are cool. Although wolves are cool. The album also clarified something I find difficult about metal itself. It frequently heightens everything until the effect becomes strangely flat. It reminds me of driving through the Cascades from the Willamette Valley into the high desert of Oregon. You’re suddenly four or five thousand feet above sea level, yet the landscape can look almost as flat as Lincolnshire. Everything has been elevated, so nothing feels elevated. Metal sometimes mistakes altitude for relief. Every riff is enormous. Every drum hit is enormous. Every guitar solo announces that an enormous emotion is occurring. But if grief, anger, triumph and crossing the road successfully all receive essentially the same intricate distorted-guitar vocabulary, emotional distinction starts disappearing. Compare that with Maggot Brain, where Eddie Hazel’s guitar develops a specific emotional argument rather than merely announcing “guitar solo expressing strong feelings”. The Black Album is at its best when Metallica escape that limitation. They create valleys as well as summits. They leave space. They let Hetfield sing. They allow the words to carry meaning rather than asking volume to do all the work. And the final The Struggle Within brings the argument somewhere useful. Struggle is not something to externalise indefinitely and make everyone else’s problem. Part of the dignity of struggling is recognising that the struggle is yours, while still allowing other people to help you through it. So I ended somewhere I absolutely didn’t expect. At its best, The Black Album is Metallica doing therapy in public. At its worst, it’s mythic comfort food and werewolves. Sometimes the apparent mythic comfort food turns out to be part of the therapy anyway. I won’t be listening to it every day, and Don’t Tread on Me can get in the sea on its own, but this is a very well-made album that succeeds at what it attempts. Four stars. And it taught me something I probably needed teaching. Metal can think.

it's lwk like good tone and good progression of the instruments but I don't like the vocals

Prefer earlier Metallica, but this album is not terrible. Enter Sandman is just an incredible track.

Enter sandman - 5 Sad but true - 5 Holier than thou - 4 The unforgiven - 5 Wherever i may roam - 5 Don't tread on me - 4 Through the never - 3 Nothing else matters - 5 Of wolf and man - 3 The god that failed - 3 My friend of misery - 4 The struggle within - 3

Pretty fun.

This is when they lost it

Top end of a 2 for the great guitar riffs and solo’s. Otherwise I just find this kind of music boring and can’t listen to more than 2 songs at a time

Better than last Metallica album. Still a slog. Devastated to learn that there are another two of their albums on the list.

Jeez another Metallica album already. I thought this was an upgrade on master of puppets though. Contains the big hit and it was generally more refined.

The music is amazing but the vocals sound like pirates.

Yes, I suppose this is baby’s first metal album and it drags a bit in the middle, but I still it deserves a 5

I regret to inform you that the butt-rock version of Metallica is better than the earlier thrashier version.

🐺🎸😴🌚⛓️

Легенда. Мощь. Удар. Плотнючий жёсткий мощный альбом. Он гораздо чище первого их альбома, что разочаровывает, но здесь прям полностью ощущается что они нащупали они нашли они сделали. Неимоверно заряжающие барабаны несмотря на все брошенные камни в технику Ларса - на этом альбома звучит и партии великолепны. Да может этот альбом слышатся как уже состоявшийся коммерческий, а не вульгарный и грязный, но это звучание мне нравится гораздо больше и подчеркивает их идентичность и узнаваемость. Оценка 8/10.

Couldn't finish the whole album. Less angry/metal than I thought, the songs just sounded the same to me after a while.

Damn, I came to this party late! It took my teen son to bring me around to the fold. This album is a classic, and these musicians are the kings of Metal. God bless Metallica!

These lads do take themselves seriously don't they? A few days back I had another album with a black cover assigned to me and AC/DC are a lot more fun, in a sort of seaside postcard manner. Still, you can't deny the talent on display here. In the "crunching bass / thumping drums / frantic guitar shredding" sort of thing they're probably peerless. There is a lot of testosterone seeping out of the speakers while you play this and I can't help thinking that teenaged boys faced with the howling abyss of existential dread would lap it up and come back for more. I'm not sure it needed to be an hour long. And the big ballads are a bit dull. The trouble with them slowing down and actually singing, is that you get to hear the lyrics. It's not edifying. But it's pretty impressive when it's firing on all cylinders

I have listened to the album circa 1994 around 13 year old and the first metal album i ever experienced.. the moment it hit my ear i was blown away by the sound and to me it is majestic. Disclaimer: i listen to a lot of genre so its hard to focus to one genre or artist.. i enjoy all..

Goated album, starting off with enter sandman an absolute staple. Didn't listen to the album very intently, just had it in the background but it was overall very good listen. 8.5/10

Hush little baby don't make me listen to this ever again.

So there’s a nostalgic spot for this album for me because it was the first metal album I ever heard. That said, it absolutely does not hold up. The first 4 songs rule, so does Nothing Else Matters. But the rest? Woof. I’ve long said if you took the best songs from this, Load, and Reload you could have a solid 45 minute album. Giving it the benefit of a round up since it was my first.

i dont like metallica

It’s the black album. It’s obviously 5 star.

It's fine. Whatever

I will never voluntarily listen to Enter Sandman again, nice try. Lars Ulrich sucks, almost as bad as James Hetfield. You don't gotta hear this.

starts strong, ends strong, gets a little lost in the middle. On the long side, but still emblematic of the rise of mainstream Metallica.

I was 15 when this came out so of course I knew Enter Sandman, Sad But True, Wherever I May Roam, and Nothing Else Matters from MTV. Even though I enjoyed hearing them when they came on, I never felt the desire to seek out more. That year I buy CD’s for Badmotorfinger, Nevermind, and Ten.

Floyd rose, wah wah scooped mids.. Why not

It’s not good. It’s like the worst junk food. You can excuse someone liking it when you’re young. But as an adult a little goes a long way. Enter the sandman is fun. Then the rest of the album just drags out.

Some people call the black album the last truly great Metallica album. It isn’t. It’s their first embarrassing one and it only gets worse from here on in their discography. I’d put the average age of a fan of this album at 14. These guys were nearing 30 when they put this out.

Day 349 Easy 5, Metallicas best album imo Highlights Holier than thou The unforgiven The god that failed

Metal royalty. Hard to find a more locked in moment in a band's history.

It's been over a year and a half since I got my last Metallica album on my journey, and it's time to talk about the self-titled release, aka The Black Album. While the band started to gain more traction from their prior release, ...And Justice for All, particularly off the music video for "One", it was The Black Album that broke them, and metal in general, into the mainstream. It's to the point where not only do all the singles still get radio airplay, but for the album's 30th anniversary, a tribute album was released, illustrating how The Black Album had a profound impact across many genres. I don't consider it hyperbole for me to say that this record's had quite the legacy. It certainly helps that The Black Album still holds up. I think the main factor in the record's mass appeal is the mature songwriting. Before this, Metallica lyrics largely dealt with relentless violence and destruction to the surrounding world. With The Black Album, the lyrics got more personal and introspective, as James Hetfield, with the guidance of Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock, dug deeper within himself and his background to find something more profound. His struggles with addiction are alluded to on "Sad But True", his bitterness over his father leaving his family is felt on "The Unforgiven", life out on the road is expressed with reverence on "Wherever I May Roam", and the heartfelt message toward his then-girlfriend on "Nothing Else Matters" ends up rather touching. Probably the most profound of these songs is "The God That Failed", written after James's mother passed away after refusing to receive cancer treatment over her religious beliefs. His absolute disdain towards Christian Science is palpable on this track. That said, not every song is directly linked to James's background, as other tunes express more universal themes. The nightmare fuel of "Enter Sandman", the calling out of self-righteousness on "Holier Than Thou", the badassery of "Don't Tread on Me", the endless search for enlightenment on "Through the Never", the primal instincts on "Of Wolf and Man", the existential dread on "My Friend of Misery", and the suicidal ideation on "The Struggle Within" all carry a good emotional weight to them. If anything, these songs encapsulate the confidence that James has built as a songwriter. Alongside the lyrics, the music itself is just as menacing. While there are trace elements of their earlier thrash sound on cuts like "Through the Never" and "The Struggle Within", the overall style on The Black Album is a lot slower and tuned down, making the catchy guitar riffs, Jason Newsted's bass lines, James's gruff vocals, and Lars's hard-hitting drumming all the more prominent. Credit to Bob Rock for making the production on this record as layered and dense as it is, while also bringing in the orchestration for "Nothing Else Matters" to elevate that track. Hell, even the cowbell on the chorus of "My Friend of Misery" goes hard. All in all, The Black Album certainly justified its notoriety with an impressive stylistic change that Metallica pulled off. Of course, the band would continue down this experimental rabbit hole with the bloated Load and ReLoad records to mixed results. Regardless, this album is quite the triumph for heavy music.

I am already familiar with this album so happy to see it on the list. Not a huge metal fan, but I can definitely see the appeal after listening again. Enter Sandman goes so hard. Top songs: Enter Sandman, Holier Than Thou, Nothing Else Matters

I'll be honest, I was a little tuned out while listening to this one. Unfortunately, I don't think that speaks well to this album as everything kind of blended into one for me. I know that cohesiveness is sometimes what makes for a great album, but in this case I think it instead led to something pretty boring and one-dimensional. It made me realize that I think Metallica is kind of corny, and I don't think I'll be a metalhead any time soon. 2.5/5 Favorite tracks: Enter Sandman (yes I know this is a basic choice, and yes I did know this one beforehand)

legend

I liked this and was interested the whole time.

Superb!

enter sandman is the best amongs other songs, overtime you just get bored cause the beat is almost the same everytime

Very powerful riff-heavy hard rock and metal album that took the metal genre to new heights. The heavy-hitting songs on this record have not lost their bang at all. They sound as menacing as they did in the early 90's. However, as someone who is not a huge fan of this record, some of the longer tracks definitely drag on. The tail end of the record overstays its welcome for a bit longer than liked. All in all, great record to sparse within a hard rock playlist and the beginning of the metal genre going mainstream.

Sad but true, Unforgiven, Wherever I may roam...didn't remember that so many classics and even Nothing Else Matters are on this one. I reckon that the speed is lacking compared to their previous efforts, but the melodies, the riffing and the songwriting are fantastic on the Black Album.

Seen them live, got to the t-shirt. A classic for the ages.

La verdad tiene unos temones, qué decir.

No need to overthink this. This is a seminal, genre defining icon of an album.

Slower, heavier more refined Enter sandman Nohing else matters

I hate Metallica gng

And nothing else matters…

Yep, that was Metallica. Had this on cassette tape, from Columbia House! Haven’t listened to it since and it didn’t take long to remember why. Not necessarily bad, but predictable and that’s bad.

“Enter the Sandman” is a superb way to begin an album. I like this album. Brings out the teen boy in me. Another album that’s popular for a reason. album. Not an uplifting album by any means (“My Friend of Misery,” “Through the Never” are glaring clues), but a good one.

Metallica automatisch 5 Sterne. Zweit bestes Album nach Master of Puppets.

🎸🎸

- enter sandman: i have been listening to this since 2023 when i was 15, this one genuinely changed my life, mostly because i had nightmares every freaking night and this one resonated a lot with me. - sad but true: how the hell have I never heard this before - holier than thou: my dad should listen to this ( love the drums in this ) - the unforgiven: I liked the last 2:40min I just don’t think this song should’ve been that long. - wherever I may roam: also should not be this long, but who is the other person singing in this? I like it, also in the unforgiven. - don’t tread on me: kind of getting bored - through the never: this is what I’m talking about, love it - nothing else matters: great fucking song but my divorced parents had their first dance to this in their wedding so not many good memories I’m afraid. - of wolf and man: I don’t really get this, why are we shapeshifting lil bro - the god that failed: I like the lyrics, but wouldn’t exactly listen to this a lot - my friend of misery: oh 15 year old me would’ve ate this up - the struggle within: oh I love this, yup 15 year old me also would’ve loved this.

it's really good but i just can't get into it. my favourites are probably "the unforgiven", "nothing else matters", and obv "enter sandman" is immortal at this point. but i get so tired listening to this. maybe that's the point but what i love about music is that it fills me with some kind of energy. this is more on the draining side. metallica is one of the few metal bands that i've listened to that let their albums breathe, and taking my headphones off after this still felt like coming up to the surface after being underwater for too long. ehh maybe just not my cup of tea, that's ok!

Through the Never and Nothing Else Matters are bangers, but the rest is pop metal garbage. Justice for Jason Newsted.

No

Ohhh hell yeah. Anything that starts off with enter sandman is gonna be a great time. Sad but true is a rocking track that doesn’t have many words to describe it other than awesome. That drop out and then coming back in with the solo was awesome. The energy carried into holier than thou was phenomenal. It didn’t slow for a second. It then goes into the unforgiving which is great placement as it’s a different sounding track. It’s also the best song recommendation I’ve ever gotten from reddit. I quite liked wherever we may roam too. It was a bit of a slow down but I didn’t mind it. Don’t tread on me had a nice beat to it. Nothing else matters was very pretty. Of wolf and man was pretty great. My friend of misery was so beautiful in a misshapen way. The struggle within was a great way to end this off. Great energy, just so much fun. 5/5 ⭐️ easy 201/1089

This is just so not my thing - sludgy, plodding, monotonous Nickelback-esque music with no finesse, wit or really anything much of anything redeeming. 2 stars because I guess I'm not utterly horrified by it, but it's really close to 1.

Hab's nochmal ganz gehört...

Schon einfach immer wieder geil. Mir fehlt bisschen das thrash-metal von älteren Alben deshalb "nur" 4.5/5

Este álbum es poderoso tiene canciones muy emblemáticas de la banda Especialmente para mí Nothing Else Matters Me parece curioso que históricamente hablando (al parecer) este álbum representa un cambio de enfoque para poder mostrar resultados que puedan ser más abiertos a otras audiencias Algunas de las pistas en el álbum son buenas pero no memorables Pero si está reescuchable y se aprecia mejor conforme avanza el tiempo, estoy convencido de que hay álbumes más cohesivos que este, pero de nuevo, este es un muy buen álbum, sus estadísticas lo ratifican

This is very very good. Just so.

Pretty solid album from them. I like the music a lot more than the vocals - his voice gets old quick. I can dig Nothing Else Matters almost always - great song.

I thought I was lukewarm on Metallica but those riffs are irresistible.

I still listen.

some bangers on here

Metallica is a band I've heard basically since I was born. One of my dad's favorites so a lot of these songs are burned in to my memory after hundreds upon hundreds of plays. The legendary act's shift away from a thrash focus, a controversial decision among hardcore fans accusing them of "selling out" but a homerun commercially became the bands biggest release and the most successful metal album of all time. Of course, you don't need me to tell you that. Everyone has heard at least one song from this album, its that widespread. Despite the controversy with in their core fans this was generational on release and holds up extremely well today. Enter Sandman is an insane start to this album going on to become their biggest hit still to this day. From the iconic opening riff, to the crescendo led by Lar's drums, to that outstanding chorus every single aspect of this song works. An awesome exploration of the theme here as well led to this track deserving the praise and adoration its received over the years. The hard hitting drums of Sad But True take stage front and center and create a very stead rhythm just for another iconic chorus to come in and tie the song together. Holier Than Thou is a tongue in cheek jab at the hypocrisy of thinking yourself better than other and has a tight fast past solo that completely makes the track. The Unforgiven is maybe my favorite song here and one of my favorite Metallica songs period. Almost feels like the soundtrack to an old western and it makes for an engaging listen. The atmosphere is fucking perfect the opening guitar sets up a stellar mood for the more vulnerable song writing on more of these tracks to come, but especially here. Every verse is performed through the eyes of a man who finally had enough and is just completely burned out, not in a completely angry way but almost more apathetic and defeated and is a soaring high point in James' performance throughout their entire career. That guitar tone in the solo is legitimately beautiful and is the best guitar playing on the entire project for my money. Further amazing light strings that break into to a much punchier instrumentation once the drums come in on Wherever I May Roam. Again just another fantastic song. Don't Tread On Me is one of the weaker songs here but that is not to say its is a bad song at all as that guitar is wonderful. Through The Never once again has a solo that absolutely rips. Just breath taking guitar work throughout which was most definitely to be expected of these guys at the time. Nothing Else Matters is yet another masterpiece that completely mesmerizes anytime it comes on. A slow gorgeous guitar, subdued but still hard hitting drums, a perfect baseline, and the hushed vocals all create a mood that had yet to be seen from these fellas, but my god do they knock it out of the park. Even that solo is gently weeping and says just as much as the vocals without any words. Following up that absolute peak is no easy feat, but Of Wolf and Man does an admirable job at bring the energy back up. I cannot praise the guitar here enough, James and Kirk put in all their effort into a set of incredibly catchy riffs. The God That Failed was definitely the song I slept on most, what a banger. An interesting inspiration behind this track too, continues to add to the more emotional feel this record works towards. In an album full of stellar solos, My Friend of Misery stands near the top because holy shit I was ascending through the whole thing. What sounds like a tambourine too just invokes the feeling of a rattlesnake that reminds me of the by simple but superb cover art, The closing song, The Struggle Within is definitely the weakest track here, but still a completely competent song just a bit of a weak way to close out a landmark album. I love this album unsurprisingly after that long winded review. It was what I knew Metallica for most growing up and it was really one of my early introductions to metal and I can respect what it did for both this band and genre.

A great album which I do not think I ever listened to in sequence. Some songs I do not like (Enter Sandman, Of Wolf and Man) because I find them uninteresting and sort of forced upon me. Some are different than what they did before and feel interesting (The Unforgiven, Nothing Else Matters) and some are similar to the old albums in a good way (The God that Failed, My Friend of Misery).

4/5 not their best more mainstream

4.0

I'm going light 3 on this one because even though I found it really boring and repetitive by the end, I feel like I would have had a pretty good time if the album was just Nothing Else Matters, The Unforgiven, Enter Sandman, and maybe any 3-4 of the filler tracks. I just can't get that excited about a band that varies its sound as little as this and isn't doing anything all that interesting when it does. I prefer metal like Lacuna Coil or Rammstein where synths and vocals add more interesting layers. This thing is just a dull monolith of gloom.

It's quite long. A few bangers but ends up samey. James Hatfield's voice is so corny.

It was cool. I've never heard deeply Metallica before, and I think they are a very good band, with an amazing solos and a very good sound-narrative inside each song. I enjoy it so much. Particularly, there's not my genre.

Really liked the energy, but I think I would have appreciated it more when I was younger.

Me gusta mas otros albunes de metallica

I liked this album a lot better when it was called And Justice For All and was good.

The ballad nonsense can get on the bin, other than that it's Metallica, albeit a bloated version. It's on my shelves - obviously. Heard before ✅️ Listened this time ✅️ Revisit ✅️ ★★★★☆(7/10) Total reviewed : 384 Already owned : 85 Purchased : 16 To buy : 7 Nope : 276

j'ai failli mettre le 3 pour nothing else matters

Top to bottom perfection

I know I'm a broken record on this topic, but while I love music like this, I prefer when it has lengthy instrumentals and less singing. Or all instrumentals! - that would be even better. The music on this record is marvelously intense, though. 3

Enter Sandman is bearable but after that it was an hour of noise that put me on edge whilst I was attempting a relaxing drive. No thanks.

Songs are simple and slow (lars probably can't play fast) but this causes the riffs to have a sinister vibe - cool, James does play faster (chug). Probably their best album considering Kirk is not playing shit yet. James' lyrics are a bit like they are written by a child that just watched monsters inc, yet it is catchy in an anthem like way. Also James cooks with the acoustic.

must have thundercunted its way through America, great but not quite black sabbath for me

An hour is a long time to listen to Lars Ulrich

was nice to listen to de not so popular Songs on the Album again!

відчуваю себе американським підлітком в сша в 94му

Do you remember when you were younger and certain stimuli used feel like electricity coursing through your body when you were excited? "Enter Sandman" used to give me that feeling. Before learning about the band and their history, I heard the Black Album. It's a great starting point for most listeners, because this is Metallica at their most radio-friendly, while still retaining the metal edge that made them superstars. I get it, anthemic tracks like "Enter Sandman", ballads like "Unforgiven" and "Nothing Else Matters" are new tricks for the then-biggest metal band on the planet. However, once I explored Metallica's discography, the Black Album seemed less interesting. The 80's albums are just so incredibly strong that the Black Album feels watered down by comparison. It's also unfortunate because the success of the Black Album inspired a lot of generic sounding radio rock copy-cats for the next two decades. Have I spent hours listening to this and pouring over the insert, yes; did I memorize the lyrics, absolutely; that said, this album has not aged as well as Metallica's earlier, more interesting work.

it’s not horrible but it’s just not my thing. i’m not an instrument music kind of person. i can objectively appreciate all the guitar solos and nice drums but ultimately it’s just not my favourite genre. some good gems here like nothing else matters, enter sandman and the god that failed. but as i am not super familiar with the band and genre it just sounds like generic no copyright metal music which makes sense because this is where they all took inspiration from. also weird seeing dont tread on me here (song imagery etc) and seeing what it means nowadays #awkward

Gran disco

Massive album, I know most if not all of the songs. It was ubiquitous in my youth and that was at a time when Nirvana, Pearl Jam and Achtung Baby were fighting for air space. I won't deny that the songs are catchy, to a point, but the same self seriousness of all Metallica songs is even sillier as I have grown older. Unforgiven sounds like it was written by a 5th grader. Don't Tread on Me...utter nonsense. I know this isn't Shakespeare or even Dylan but it's just so sophomoric. I will give it a 3 because it was important during it's time but I don't think it influenced a thing. There was no metal revival that came of it. If anything, it was the last vestige holding on as alternative definitively put a stake in the heart of 80's metal in the coming months.

The hits are amazing. The rest is pretty samey. 4/5

8/10 album <3 this was actually way better than I thought. I like 4 songs from the album and the rest are equally just as good, I gave it an 8 because I think it’s amazing but also could use maybe another slow song or just James and a guitar, just my personal opinion. Totally cool for new metallica fans 🫶🏽

Probably the album on this list so far I've unintentionally listened to the most, every gym has most if not all of this album on repeat. I don't know if I would actually say this is a great album musically, but in terms of cultural impact and staying power it's hard to rate it anything other than a 5. "Enter Sandman" "Don't Tread On Me" and "Of Wolf and Man" are the ones on here I enjoy the most, but of course "Sad But True" "The Unforgiven" "Wherever I May Roam" and "Nothing Else Matters" are noteworthy too. The one song on here I hadn't really caught before but did enjoy is "The God That Failed"

Far from being my favorite Metallica album yet there's still this very heavy sound that make this release very enjoyable. Favorite songs: Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven

This is the album that got me into my Metallica phase!

Si me gusto mi fav fue the unforgiven 10/10

Tows the line between hard rock and metal like no other, no wonder it was their most mainstream, however I'm still waiting to find their best... ahem Master of Puppets

This album really blended into my morning commute. Chugging riffs, chugging train, chugging coffee. But for a heavy metal record, it left me feeling rather sleepy.

high 1 so many albums like this on the challenge. some somehow win me over, this is not one of them. boring, samey, formulaic, not even a good example of what it is i checked the track listing thinking it must be nearly over only to discover im on track 5/12

I mean in this group it's five, for Metallica, not

Standouts Enter Sandman Sad But True The Unforgiven Wherever I May Roam Don't Tread on Me Through the Never Nothing Else Matters

On the last Metallica record I heard about a year ago (AJFA...), I praised the band for adding depth to what I believed to be a shallow genre. Metal to me was always stubborn blast beats and hair-flailing guitar tricks that impressed me as much as Brad Pitt impressed Shania Twain. That album was cool because despite the lack of bass, the band still had some progressive ideas. That's not really the case with their self-titled. I'm sure I can call this Metallica's full-dive into the mainstream. After all, it's an album synonymous with the genre which means it sold a shit ton of copies. Plus people tend to like it and consider it the last great Metallica album before they arguably lost their footing. That should give me enough reason to believe in it! So I turn it on and it's Enter Sandman! I know this one and it's good! Kick-ass riff, off to the NeverNeverLand, YEAHHHHHH!!! All the goods. Then like 5 songs happen where it's all dramatic and shit. Through The Never's a bit notable, Nothing Else Matters is great and it goes out from there. So I leave this album having heard it twice and both times I thought "Man, that was mostly wasted time". And Justice is the longer album by 3 minutes, but again, the time they fill on that is meaningful and warranted. This is just basic bitch pedal to the metal that everyone got on the train for. At least that's how I hear it. It's in no means a bad album but, massively overrated to me. That doesn't mean its success is undeserved; the songs that kick ass do indeed kick ass. I just don't feel the need to fill 62 minutes of my day with the same 7-8 sounding songs. You know it's sad but true (5/10, 2/5 on this scale)

I love lars simple drumming against these awesome songs. By the back end I’m starting to lose interest, because every song is similar, but you can’t deny the front end of this album is full of classics. It’s the kind of album that puts a smile on your face.

Can’t believe I liked this as much as I did. Loved the guitar solos.

There’s some good drums here but honestly, this genre has always been an uphill climb for me and this album is no exception. Likes: Enter Sandman; The Unforgiven

Already heard. No bad tracks. However very few peak tracks

I swear every song sounds exactly the same. I mean that one song is okay but does grate a bit after an hour of it

A staple of rock radio with 5 of the 12 tracks on heavy rotation this is what comes to mind for me when I think of Metallica. It's hard to set that to the side and evaluate. The singles are stand out good, though again is that just familiarity? The non-singles don't really do much for me. Lars continues to be a white bread and mayo sandwich. With all of the truly talented drummers out there it's a shame that he was able to hitch his wagon to superstardom with such lack luster talent, and then have the audacity to act like all of the criticisms about him are unfounded.

I remember a lot of Metallica fans being upset with this album because the band was "abandoning their roots." Of course, it also turned them into worldwide superstars and made them millionaires, so I imagine the band members don't feel too bad about it. This is more enjoyable to me than earlier Metallica. I'm still not a huge fan of Hetfield's vocals, and "Don't Tread On Me" gets massive negative points for inspiring an entire generation of right-wing militant assholes. As a rock album, though, it's pretty good.

Ok

Tedious

I'm sure they're great musicians but this is sooo tedious.

Sorry, I can't do an hour of this

Old man, rock ‘n’ roll/heavy metal not for me except the first song, which is very Poppy

Not a massive metal head and find some of this kind of thing inpenterable, but I really enjoyed this. A lot of the songs are such classics they are inbedded in my conciousness even though I've never really gone out of my way to take an intense listen. My least favourite thing was James Hetfield's vocals, my favourite thing was the drums although I hated the horrible snare sound. Worth another listen.

Probably the best to ever do it

Had to listen to it twice cause the first time I thought it was shit, but it grew on me. If you pretend to be someone's 50-year-old dad, then it works better

didn’t finish but i was waiting for the generator to give me this album

It might not even be my favorite Metallica album, but this is one of the first CDs I ever bought, and i have so many memories of listening to this over the years. Still a fun record!

Enter Sandman and Nothing Else Matters!

Unfortunately, there is nothing I like about heavy metal. Just painful noise to me.

Metallica's big commercial statement brings pop crunch and a handful of killer tunes highlighted by the ubiquitous "Enter Sandman", but overall the record doesn't stand up to their earlier masterpieces. That said, its crunchy pop metal of the highest order.

The black album is on this list? Now this is a sound of my teenage years. It's entry level metal, more hard rock with a slight edge. Which is why as an adult 25 years later I can see this for what it is. It's Metallica cleaning up their sound and seeking mass appeal. I'm thinking - when was the last time I listened to this album? I was probably 17. In the last 22 years I haven't put it on. I've listened to the odd song from time to time. Since then I've gone through the archives of metal. I probably sit as a black metal man at the minute, but had phases of power/symphonic, doom/sludge, and death being the dominant forces. Can this appeal with my developed tastes? I'm apprehensive. ----------------- Reflection It's easy listening hard rock/metal. It achieved it's goals and Metallica became icons. The production is very clean. The pace slower. The bass actually audible. The songs have simple hooks that make for radio friendly hard rock. The guitar is prominent and technically proficient. The drums are there and the vocals bark and croon as the songs dictate. As an album it feels very polished. It doesn't challenge or deviate from it's formula. And yet that formula provides toe tapping rhythms, memorable hooks and undeniable success. There are at least 5 songs that are Metallica classics but honestly there is quality throughout. An iconic album in the trajectory of hard rock and metal, no doubt.

Oh hé, du metal ! Incroyable, il y en a, dans cette liste ? Bon, soyons sérieux 5 minutes, évidemment qu'il y aurait Metallica et Robert Dimery faisant du Robert Dimery, évidemment qu'il allait mettre le Black Album. Si c'est le seul album de Metallica dans la liste, ça va un peu m'énerver. L'album Metallica, c'est un peu le gros album controversé de Metallica. Parce que St. Anger, il est pas controversé : tout le monde le trouve nul, et à juste titre, mais on va éviter de parler de cette purge. La particularité de cet album, c'est le changement de style du groupe. Et qu'on soit d'accord : je ne pense pas qu'un changement de style soit une raison pour maudire un groupe. Mais là, c'est quand même un peu particulier. Parce que Metallica, c'est un titan du metal. Avec Kill'Em All, le groupe a ni plus ni moins fondé le thrash metal, en concomitance avec Slayer. Et ses trois albums suivants sont tous cultes, des exemples de thrash nerveux parmi les plus influents de l'histoire. Je vais pas m'étaler plus que de raison sur cette période de l'histoire du groupe, parce qu'il y a beaucoup de choses à dire et de nuances à apporter (comme la prod assez infâme de ...And Justice For All). Ce qu'il faut retenir, c'est que dans les années 80, avec ses 4 premiers albums, Metallica s'est démarqué en étant un monstre du thrash et son influence sur tout le metal extrême, de façon directe ou indirecte, est fondamentale. C'était un groupe révéré du genre, l'un des plus populaires au monde, voire même le plus populaire. Oui mais voilà, alors qu'on arrive dans les années 90, Metallica voit plus grand. Metallica veut remplir les stades, attirer les foules, vendre des albums par palettes entières. Et c'est pas avec du thrash que tu peux faire ça. Alors, sur le Black Album, le groupe se métamorphose. Finis, les titres rapides, rageurs. On ralentit le tempo. Et on ajoute plein de parties mélodies et accessibles qui parlerons au grand public. Et pour faire bonne mesure, on met une balade presque consensuelle. Metallica avait déjà de l'entraînement dans le style, avec le début de Fade to Black qui préfigurait un peu Nothing Else Matters, sauf que cette fois, pas de déchaînement, on reste sage et tout doux jusqu'à la fin. Et le pire, c'est que le groupe arrive à ses fins. Le Black Album a été un succès monstrueux. C'est l'album le plus vendu du groupe et, si je ne m'abuse, du metal tout entier. Un succès phénoménal, donc ? Si on regarde les ventes, oui. Sauf que ce qui fait la qualité d'un album, c'est pas les chiffres des ventes. Et c'est là qu'on entre dans la controverse : pour beaucoup, cet album est une pure trahison, un scandale que beaucoup n'ont pas digéré et maintenant, même des petits jeunes qui n'étaient pas nés à l'époque détestent Metallica par principe, juste à cause du Black Album (ok, ils sont assez rares, surtout hors d'internet, mais le simple fait qu'ils existent, je trouve ça dingue). Beaucoup de gens détestent cet album qu'ils voient comme une aseptisation du groupe, dans le but de faire plus de ventes. Et difficile de leur donner tort, à mon avis. Ceux que je comprends moins, c'est ceux qui adorent cet album. Parce que, et là, on entre dans mon avis personnel, c'est quand même pas dingue, comme album. Je ne fais pas partie de ceux qui le détestent, je trouve qu'il a des qualités, mais bon sang, que les parties metal peuvent être mollassonnes ! Il y a vraiment des passages lourdingues, où il ne se passe rien. Et limite, je trouve que c'est quand Metallica assume le plus ses ambitions commerciales que l'album fonctionne le mieux. Je parlais de mélodies accessibles un peu plus tôt et on pourrait croire que c'était péjoratif, mais en fait, trouve que c'est les moments qui fonctionnent le mieux. Mais pour moi, ça ne sauve pas entièrement cet album que j'aime vraiment pas trop, même s'il a ses qualités. Je comprends ceux qui le détestent, je ne comprends pas ceux qui l'adorent. Pour moi, c'est un 3, parce que c'est pro, c'est bien joué et il y a de vrais passages de qualité, mais c'est un net recul après 4 albums presque irréprochables.

It's been so long since I listened to this, I'd forgotten that it's just absolute wall to wall bangers. Imagine not liking this. Boring people.

There are some absolutely outstanding tracks on this album - Enter Sandman, The Unforgiven, and Nothing Else Matters are incredible. Sad But True and Wherever I May Roam are great. The rest? ok to somewhat good.

There is nothing about this album that appeals to me in any way. I’d rather listen to a constipated capybara perform the complete works of Edgar Winter on harmonica than listen to this again.

Back to front iconic. Every song has potential to be a lead single. These guys perfected thrash and that's why they broke the mainstream. Fitting as I saw them only last week and boy do they still have it

it's not enough my type but good music

Not so much that there’s any bad songs, it’s just that the album is too long at a bit over an hour and whether or not I like the sound now as much as I did as a teenager, it does feel like a bit of a wash across so many of the tracks. I think part of the trouble is that, in stripping back to a simpler, more live approach to the music (which was a good choice for the band clearly), you lose the proggy variance through the songs themselves of the earlier thrashier albums. Instead it’s kind of like 5 minute tracks supposedly designed for easier listening and radio play and the like (but I’ll grant them, they absolutely hit it on the initial tracks).

Iconic

I’m torn here: do I rate it according to “objectively” how good it is or according to how much I like it. It’s really not my type of music, but much like it happened to me with “ten” by pearl jam I discovered this album had classic songs I’d heard a thousand times before.

I like the Black Album, but I do feel it is a step or two down from their first four records. Metallica had a great 5 album run, but to me this is an unfortunately the first sign of where they end up going. 4/5

Slick, overproduced, glorious. Best sell out album ever?

Some standout tracks on here that aren't the ones everyone knows.

Again not my thing, but extremely well done and influential

i have this in my collection :) been listening to black album for half my life at this point because my mum passed down all her old music to me, i remember listening to friend of misery on the school bus in the morning and thinking i was the shit

This month has been an incredible run of rock albums that have been great and we can add this one to the pile. In some respects, it's ironic I got this one immediately after Coldplay's A Rush Of Blood To The Head, as I commented in that review how commercialized Coldplay had gotten and that they were mainly producing slop recently. It blew me away to go back and listen to that album before they sold their souls, as their original sound was truly special. Perhaps some would say the same about Metallica with this album as evidence that they gave up who they were, since they vaulted much more onto widespread radio airplay with the Black Album. The difference, at least for me, is that while Coldplay became much more watered down and programmed, Metallica never really lost their identity. This album, instead of giving into the machine, shows a level of maturity for Metallica, as they create a sound that still has those hard driving roots, but is much more refined and melodic, all while demonstrating their ability to be incredibly diverse within a single record. There's still a lot of heavier songs like The God That Failed, Holier Than Though, and the amazing Of Wolf and Man. There are tracks that still have an edge but crossed into the mainstream like Whenever I May Roam, Sad But True, and my personal favorite, Enter Sandman (love it when my Iowa Hawkeyes storm the field when this is played). But that's not enough, they also pack in two really well constructed ballads like The Unforgiven and Nothing Else Matters, the latter of which even the great Elton John called one of the best songs ever written. There are purists who will say they sold out. I get it. But I just don't see it, at least with this record. They just composed a complete sound that the public latched onto because the compositions were that good. 5 stars. A truly fantastic album.

YES

Have obviously heard of Metallica, own this album but never listened end to end. Starts off with an all timer. Enter sandman is a top 50 song ever. Drums, guitar lyrics all so good. Don’t want it to ever end. Guitar and drums so good again on sad but true. Definitely not as catchy but not a terrible chorus. Awesome solo. Holier than thou is very well written. Cool guitar again but not as cool drums. Unforgiven is a nice change of pace. Not as metal, a lot more emotion to this one. Cook strings. Solo again is so good. What a guitar player. Great riff to open wherever I may roam. Good bass on it too. Good lyrics too. This song is another banger. Good guitar on tread on me, rest of it is just eh. Not my fave. Through the never is classic Metallica. Very metal. Sweet guitar solo. Nothing else matters is another nice change of pace to open. Good vocals/lyrics. Honestly surprised that this song didn’t have more commercial success. Back to heavy metal with of wolf and man. Well written and good guitar but too much for me. The god that failed is a banger. Awesome guitar all the way through. Good enough lyrics to back it up. And then my friend of misery might be even better. Best guitar solo so far I think. Just awesome song after awesome song. Struggle within is a pretty good song, just not sure it works as a closer. But with that being said I don’t really think any heavy metal song would. 0 outright skips which immediately puts it in the 4s. This album is really good, would be even better if I enjoyed heavy metal. I’d say this record is an all timer. 4.6/5 stars.

Yep. Five stars.

i like this

Feels raw. Some of it felt same-ish. I was surprised about how much pointless rage seems to be in this album.