The Batlord

He said Kill 'Em All is better than Show No Mercy.

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Wpnfire

Those albums are pretty close to even, though Kill Em is better.

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Holerbot6000

Whats the consensus on Metallica's best album? I'm still fairly new to thrash and, to be honest, coming from industrial/noise land, I like the heavier stuff (i.e. Slayer) so for years I 'sorta' liked Metallica but not so much that I'd buy one of their albums. Then I heard 'Master of Puppets' and was blown away. To my ears this stands head and shoulders above anything else they've done that I have heard. Is there something better? Just curious.

Frownland

Ride the Lightning is my favourite. You'll probably like Kill 'Em All a lot because it's their rawest and heaviest album.

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Wpnfire

Honestly I still think that certain parts of ...And Justice contain their heaviest tracks like "Blackened," "Harvester or Sorrow," and the first part of "To Live Is To Die." "Dyers Eve," in particular is among the thrash-iest thing in existence.

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William_the_Bloody

Kill em All is probably their hardest album and my favourite. Its on par with Slayer in terms of heavyness, and is usually considered the first major thrash metal release.

Dave Mustaine wrote a lot of the songs on this album, which may be the reason I like it so much. I find it so frustrating that he chose to play around with unorthodox beats, had he stuck with the Kill Em All formula he would have been legendary! Anyways I digress.

Ride the Lighting probably contains my favourite Metallica song "For Whom the Bell Tolls" The album is fast and heavy but a bit slower than KEA overall. They also start to get a bit more technical in terms of songwriting, a(coustic intros, and a slow song with Fade to Black, ect) . I like to think of this album as the bridge between Kill Em All and Master of Puppets.

Master of Puppets is generally cited as a thrash masterpiece and is often praised by rock critics as the greatest heavy metal album ever made. I tend to concur with this opinion, but personally I find it a bit technical and would prefer to just listen to some straight up thrash like KEA.

Garage Days EP I honestly haven't heard this ep in over a decade, its basically a bunch of cover tunes by bands that influenced Metallica. I can't imagine "The wait" being better than Killing Joke's version though.

And Justice for All This is where Metallica's creativity begins to decline largely because of the death of Metallica's innovative bass player Cliff Burton, who is largely seen as having a tremendous impact on the bands sound and direction. In fact Jason Newsted's bass playing is hardly audible on this release. Despite all of this, the album is still solid and has its moments. Its generally considered their progressive thrash metal release because a lot of the songs were written in odd time signatures, as well as their commercial breakthrough with the song "one" , a song I truly loathe! I want to vomit everytime I hear it!

The Black Album Metallica's self title debut also known as the Black album is largely regarded as their sell out album. Collaborating with mega producer Bob Rock they would begin to abandon thrash for something that was more commercially viable for the masses. That being said the album has its moments as well, but is nowhere as good as their first three.

Everything after that sucks ass! Hope this helps.

Janszoon

I could not disagree more. I've always found KEA to have a very thin sound, less heavy than all their other 80s albums and possibly even less heavy than most of the black album. Definitely not on par with Slayer at their peak.

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William_the_Bloody

If my recollection is correct you've never been a fan of this album?

I've always felt that Slayer's heaviness is largely defined by their speed, and to me KEA is definitely the most hard hitting album in that respect.

In terms of mood of their sound I could see your point, but in regards to the guitar sound itself I don't see a large difference, I believe most of the songs on the first three albums are done in standard tuning.

Wpnfire

Jansz likes this and so do I. This is the closest Metallica came to matching the intensity of Slayer, and it makes EVERYTHING from KEA just pale in comparison. Ulrich even uses double bass! It also singlehandedly torches every track from RTL.




Again, I agree with Jansz that you just can't match KEA to any of their other albums as it's really best described as technical hardcore punk album, at least to me anyway. Only the monstrously "Hit the Lights" and the upbeat "Phantom Lord" have any business being compared to other thrash albums, let alone Slayer.

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Frownland

Metallica can never match slayer, but I think KEA is their heaviest album.

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