Album Rating: 2.0

this is nooooot a 4 lol and i really do not want to even bother with going through this slog all the way through again to prove it.

to quantify my disappointment but overall non-surprise: avenged sevenfold and metallica took just as long to release new music, maybe off by about 6 months or so. in 2016 avenged sevenfold came off of a reinvention foray into prog metal in the stage, metallica dropped hardwired which...i feel only had like 3 really good return songs after a while.

avenged returned completely out of left field with one of the weirdest things i've ever heard from a mainstream act since, well, metallica & lou reed got together to do lulu with that first single. metallica returned with... a Kill Em All B-side with identical production value to hardwired.

this full album really meanders on, doing very little you haven't heard before. i'm not surprised - the last time they tried to do something different, they got a ton of hate for it. i guess if all you want is a nostalgia trip this is fine but i'd rather just pull out an AJFA or Black Album vinyl. meanwhile life is but a dream is bizarre, it's weird, it's unapologetic with its bizarreness, and it's an endearing kind of feeling. especially since they straight up went in with an old-school approach of playing just about EVERY part physically. it's unmistakably them, but also completely un-them at times.

this is just so paint-by-numbers and it did NOT need to take 7 years for them to do the exact same album you heard 7 years ago with a few minor tweaks. to each their own but it's weird how these bands are able to do the minimum and still get these comments.

how are we in 2023 and people STILL complain about DM's production as if the iTunes remaster isn't like their best-sounding record released after the black album

then again I believe Spotify has the horrid original master so it's not the listeners' fault, is it

Album Rating: 3.5

This album takes what they tried on Hardwire and improved upon on it tenfold. So if you didn't like Hardwire then of course you are not going to like this at face value. However, at least for me the first listen was disappointing as I thought "oh boy this is Hardwire part II...", and I think that album is just okay, but then the nuances and enhanced songwriting started to come out with further listens. It's much more fun.



Some parts here do remind me of black album and even KEM (specially the title track, which isn't my favorite here), but I think it filters out the Load/Reload influence that Hardwired had, and that alone makes it much better. Just my two cents.



@Sabrutin Right. The 2018 iTunes remaster I shared a number of pages back pretty much corrected everything that was wrong with that dreadful mixing of the original. It's not perfect but it is, at the very least, competent and pleasant to the ear.

Album Rating: 1.0

this album sucks, this band sucks

Album Rating: 2.0

I mean I guess I could revisit someday. But honestly it's a daunting ask since it's so long lol. To me the highlight was Lux Æterna and I kinda was never as high on Kill Em All as most people are.

Album Rating: 1.0

venin, do not revisit, trust me on this, you will contract sugma

Album Rating: 3.3

It's pretty insane to think that Metallica haven't released an album below 70 minutes since the black album. Over 30 goddamn years ago, lol



And even that one was pushing it at over 60 minutes

Album Rating: 1.0

the best part about that is that metallica has no business releasing an album over 45 minutes

Album Rating: 3.3

I guess that's why Ride the Lightning is one of their best. Their shortest at 47 minutes, no bullshitting around

Album Rating: 2.0

Besides the elephant in the room (bass) I'm the one fan that says AJFA was their peak. It's an album that made me want to become a drummer. Granted Lars was never the tightest under the kit, his style just worked for that album.

Album Rating: 3.3

MoP > AJFA > RtL > KEA for me. Prog-tallica is my favorite version of their sound, which is also why DM is (by far) my favorite of their later albums

Album Rating: 1.0

death magnetic is the best thing they did since the s/t, everything else has been qweef

Album Rating: 2.0

AJFA > RTL > MOP > Black > Load > St. Anger (yes, really) > KEA > DM > ReLoad > Hardwired > 72 Seasons

"MoP > AJFA > RtL > KEA for me. Prog-tallica is my favorite version of their sound, which is also why DM is (by far) my favorite of their later albums"

agreed with all of this (but I'd put the Black album above KEA these days tbh). I'd also add some (moderate) love for Load though, after the first few songs it becomes a surprisingly "atmospheric" album with all the quiet-loud dynamics and bluesy/country (Ronnie is an underrated song I think for example) inspirations. Outlaw Torn and Bleeding Me are great

Album Rating: 3.3

MoP > AJFA > RtL > KEA > DM > Black > 72 > Hardwired > Load > St Anger > Lulu > Reload

Album Rating: 3.3

@Sabrutin: I have a bit of a weird relationship with Load. I defended it a lot when I was younger, but now I can never make it through the album without wanting to switch to something else. I appreciate that they wanted to experiment with new sounds, but I just don't think it turned out very well in the long run

Album Rating: 1.0

st anger over kill em all is the most haunted metallica take maybe of all time

Album Rating: 3.3

MADLY IN ANGER WITH YEWWWW 😡😡😡

Album Rating: 2.0

Honestly I know people who would say with a straight face that st anger is their favorite Metallica album and I'll be honest I can't even argue with that. Got so much flak but I really feel like it was the most important album they've made in the last 20 or so years. It was them really going in there and getting all the emotions they'd pent up out of their system. Catharsis is a huge plus for me.

Album Rating: 1.0

sweet amber is actually a good song, dirty window is actuallty not bad either, but the production is awful obviously and just generally most of hte songs sound half finished and like they gave up, that's what is inexcusable to me about that album and about this band generally going back all the way to load/reload. DM had a few fire moments here and there, but this band phoned it in 30 years ago now