Are those even power ballads? IMO, The choice in the 80s is really only "One" and "Fade to Black".

They aren't, but I wouldn't say One is either.

There's only really 'Fade To Black' and 'Nothing Else Matters' that I'd consider as power ballads.

Out of those two, the former is by far the better song.

The worst thing you can say about "One" it is it's half a ballad, but then I'll counter that it's Metallica pushing the boundries of what a power ballad should sound like.

"One" begins very well within the boundaries of a standard ballad by telling a story of a sad young man, melodically with acoustic instruments, before thrashing out. Just because they change up the pace half-way through the song, doesn't stop it from being a ballad. This is a "power ballad" so these types of songs always get heavier and faster as they proceed. Because of the way it's composed, I find "One" much more interesting structurally, than "Fade to Black'. Metallica adds nothing to the power ballad form on NEM, so it's pretty conventional and boring.

I agree that 'One' is a superior song to 'Fade To Black' but I can't for the life of me think of it as a ballad!

I don't think Fade to Black is a power ballad in the same way Journey's Faithfully is a power ballad. Since right now the term is describing both, we should either retire it or come up with a new term for one of the songs.

There's different types of ballads. I think I'd classify Faithfully as a "love ballad", as opposed to a "murder ballad". Power ballads can be about love, murder, suicide among other things.

Well... I'd say Battery is just a more refined version of the same album opener style that FFwF pioneered :p:

Also just because it's slow doesn't make One a freaking ballad (it made it prog)

I love Death Magnetic also its a raw heavy album

i probably like fade to black better to be honest

i used to like one better but that changed overtime

ones got a kind of like.... tyrannical... simplicity to it... its a very unique song