Your favorite Metallica album?
 

With their new album being released sometime next year, I figured it was appropriate to see which of their past nine albums was your favorite.

Here's my personal rundown of their albums:

Kill' Em All: I never could get into this one. I'm a fan of good production value, and this just sounds like it had no budget as well, and it's too dated.

Ride the Lightning: This one is their first album with memorable songs. "Fade to Black" comes to mind.

Master of Puppets: This is their most liked album among fans, and I can see why. It's their first album that really solidified their place in metal music, even though they weren't famous at the time.

And Justice for All: This is my personal favorite. Even with Cliff Burton gone, they managed to pull off a kick-ass record that surpassed Puppets in the intensity of the music. "One" was the first song I ever heard by them, so I'm biased towards this album. :)

Metallica (Black Album): Their most commercially successful record, and the most trashed by dedicated fans second to St. Anger. While the black album is their sell out record, I can't really blame them for making it. Without this release, most of us might not have ever heard of Metallica. Besides, for a commercially successful metal record, this still kicks ass.

Load: At this point in the career, they're not even metal anymore. Commercial success clouded their creative vision at this time, but I have to say that this album isn't that bad. Sure, it's not Puppets or Justice good, but it's still heavy enough as well as having that unique Metallica sound.

Reload: Basically a B-side to Load, and my opinion is the same here.

St. Anger: Their most hated record, and deservedly so. The drums sound like trash cans being banged on in a storage garage, the songs are way too long, the lyrics are tired and uninspiring, and the production sounds like it was recorded with the same technology that Kill' Em All was produced with. There is a few good moments here, but they're not worth scouring the whole album for.

Death Magnetic: A definite improvement over Anger, but still very disappointing. It's like the band forgot how to make kick-ass music, and they sound like they're tired of recording in general. Nothing about this album blew me away.

I sincerely hope their 2014 album that they've been working on blows all metalheads away in terms of heaviness, creative lyrics and songwriting, as well as a new-found energy in recording and touring again.

So with that said, what is your favorite Metallica record?

Good post but I'm guessing that this should be merged in the Metallica thread. Of course Kill 'Em All had a tight budget, as early thrash was an underground movement that had a limited budget but it's still one of the best albums that they ever put out. I'm one of the few people on this forum that doesn't mind St.Anger;)

Kill Em All slays. Looking at it as a thrash album is kind of misleading though. Sure it kicked the whole shebang off, but it's far closer to the NWOBHM than to Slayer or Exodus. One of the best traditional heavy metal albums of all time.

Not to mention that the cover of "Am I Evil" from that time period blows Diamond Head's version out of the water.

+1 production value on that record kicked major ass. I wish all Metallica albums sounded as good as Kill Em All. I can see some similarities to the British Scene indeed.

Sure agree with that, I always think of that album as the birth of thrash, but I guess it's really just the perfect bridge between the NWOBHM and thrash.

I actually prefer the Diamond Head version of the song;) but I guess most won't agree with me there.

Thou art a fool. The Metallica version creates the perfect dark atmosphere that the song calls for. It just sounds so sinister and heavy. The head bangs whether you will it to or no. The Diamond Head version just sounds obsolete by comparison.

I miss me some Cliff Burton...

the correct and only answer is the black album

RtL is the first one with memorable songs? Do fans not lose it when they hear the opening riff of "Seek and Destroy"? What about "Motorbreath", "The Four Horsemen", and "Jump in the Fire"?

That being said, I did in fact vote for RtL.

I went with Kill'em All indeedy... by far the very best Metallica album, with some Mustaine's compositions.

I picked MoP, but any one of their first four albums could easily be my favorite.

Also, I agree that Kill 'Em All sounds British, I would say that they were always more NWOBHM-sounding than Slayer, especially on RTL. Seriously:



This is power metal.

I'd probably have to go with Ride the Lightning. It's just so diverse, and the atmosphere is just blacker than black. It feels like everything metal should be. It's also one of the greatest evolutions in style of any non-art rock album I've ever heard. You listen to Kill 'Em All and then listen to Ride the Lightning and it's like two different bands. One was a group of dunderheaded but passionate metalheads and then they became a mature, assured band at mastery with their sound all in the space of two years.

"Seek and Destrroy" is one of my all-time fav Metallica songs. That riff just destroys everything.

Nope. The Diamond Head version has far better atmosphere. Metallica just thrash it out, whereas DH give it an almost progressive, oppressive feel, and Brian Tatler's soloing is far better imo on the song than Hammet's. Also the build up via Holst's "Mars, the bringer of war" is far better done in DH's original. Also again, what's with the production on Metallica's version? Sounds like it was recorded in a garden shed!

Nah, "Borrowed time" is a great album and Diamond Head's original version of "Am I evil" will always be number one with me.

Not that you care...
;)

You're just a pansy who doesn't like Slayer. :finger:

But seriously, the production on Metallica's version is fantastic. Sure it's lo-fi, but it hits like a ten-ton hammer with a crunch like the shifting of the tectonic plates, whereas Diamond Head's version, while still atmospheric, still sounds too seventies (at least relatively) to properly bring the evil. And Hetfield's snarl is pure viciousness. Diamond Head's singer, again, too seventies to tingle the spine in the same way. This is all by comparison mind you. Diamond Head's song is also fantastic, but Metallica's is one of the finest metal songs ever recorded.

Also, Metallica's version of "Blitzkrieg" is also the superior version.

I'd never heard the Diamond Head version before, I'm listening to it right now, although I'm not sure I'll finish it.

Hated Hated HATED the Gustav Holst intro. Hated it.

The main body of the song is playing right now, it suuuuucks, there's no balls to it at all, I mean come on, he's singing "AM I EVIL" ferpissakes, he can't sing it with the same gutless delivery that one might hear when the order clerk at McDonald's asks me if I want fries with that, 0/10

I hate what Metallica became but the young James Hetfield emoted this song the way it should've been. 9/10

As Trollheart has already said the DH version has more of a progressive feel, which indicates the roots of the band and they actually play the song how it should be played, which is as a song in various dynamic stages. Whereas the Metallica version is a more one-dimensional thrash sound, that tries to mix things up here and there rather than really embracing the song like DH do. The fact of the matter is, that DH were an old school rock band that based their songs around structure and progression, rather than simply going out to blitz the audience as early Metallica would.

Also DH were one of the more melodic NWOBHM bands around and their influences ranged from Led Zeppelin to Trapeze, which kind of indicates where they were coming from and they also had a passion for AOR which can also be heard on some of their material, which of course set them a long way from what Metallica were all about. Point being, I wouldn't therefore expect any Metallica fans to be overly excited with Diamond Head's discography, whereas a melodic metalhead could easily ejaculate over it.

Paul, you have noticed that Metallica's version also contains the Holst intro, haven't you? I mean, it's the first time I heard their version and I was all ready to say "Oh yeah, but with the Mars intro it's crap", and yet they use it. But you hate DH's use of it? Huh? :confused:

That song encapsulates more or less what DH were, or could have been. They were travelling in a prog rock/metal direction on that album but then sadly overdid it with the next one, and then just went off into the Twilight Zone totally. But as US says, Metallica don't finesse the song the way it needs to be. I mean, listen to it: you have the big Holst intro (boo to you for hating it; I think it sets the scene perfectly plus I love everything about The Planets) then the big guitar breakdown into the chugga chugga intro on geetar, followed by Sean Harris's flawless vocal delivery (how dare you diss him!) :finger: and finally a superb, underrated guitar almost-outro by Tatler which just makes the song.

tl;dr: Metallica's version sucks, Diamond Head's rules!

Who needs finesse when you've got a riff the size of Jupiter?

It's the same song.

Actually, Kill 'Em All pretty much sounds like Diamond Head on steroids.

I went with Kill em all to, a classic thrash album for my musical taste, although I recognize Master of Puppets is the true masterpiece.

Although Kill Em All was a breakthrough album, I feel it lacked the production quality they had achieved with Ride The Lightning, and every album after (up to the point of And Justice, I won't go beyond that). Just a natural progression and evolution of available technologies. Also, they developed better as far as song structuring and took more chances melody wise with RtL. Kill Em All has quite a bit of your standard bar chord chug where there are more breaks, tempo changes, and melodic passages all through RtL. They kept this formula, and built upon it all through Master Of Puppets. And Justice was more of a "Back to the Drawing Board" album as they had lost Cliff, which was key to their creative process, but they did retain the same songwriting structure to which they had built upon.

So, based on that I have to go with Ride The Lightning.

...and why isn't Garage Days listed? Because it was an EP? It comes in at a close 2nd for me. Some great tunes on that one (although they were covers), and I can imagine them beating on Jason all while laughing their heavy metal asses off during recording.

Of course it's the same song: it's a cover. And DH wrote it... :confused: Or are you saying Metallica play it the same as DH? Which they don't, as I've already mentioned...

Yeah, seriously. I love that thing oh so much. When I was young, other metal children made fun of me for this because, hey! what! you like SLOW music?! Metallica's Cliffless bullshit?!!!

Well, yes, I guess I do. Aside from the Misfits ones, all of the songs on that EP are better than the originals. My favorite is this one..



Also, I pretty much agree with everything else you said, Plankton.

I love Metallica, one of the greatest bands to ever grace the stage of rock n roll and defiantly the best of the big 4, but I got to say, as much as I like Garage Days, I've got to go with Killing Joke's version of the Wait

Ride the Lighting IMO has is the best overall, performance-wise, production-wise, composition-wise.

If and Justice for All had better production/audible bass it would be their best album.

I have Behold the Beginning, so I'm not certain I have heard the original song or not. I've heard that that was a rerecording, but I liked it more than Metallica's cover, so I am with you there...!

By the way, I chose Kill 'Em All!

I think Killing Joke is overall a far better band than Metallica but the Garage Days EP made too deep an impression on me when my brain was still mushy and developing

It sounds pretty true to the original, and that's why I think it's odd that you can like one and not the other.

Well yes, they do sound very similar. As I've said before though, I feel DH's original is more progressive and nuanced whereas Metallica kind of just thrash it out. Not saying I don't like their version, but I certainly prefer the original. Now all we need is a hip-hop version! "Yo! Am I evil! I said, am I evil? You bet yo ass motherfucker!" (with apologies to all rappers...)

"Yo, my mama was a crack addict, she smoked herself alive. Agonizing little itch of withdrawl, I'm a crack baby, I'm trying to score after rappn' in a dive." :afro:

Of course, a dive really is more a rock term, I think. But what the heck...!

Master of Puppets <3

metallica's the black album.

I like them all dammit!
 

metallica RULES!!

Not as much as O'Doyle.

I wonder what Metallica next album will sound like ..?????

Probably like Metallica.

It's a hard choice between Master of Puppets and Justice for All......

I think I'll have to go with Master of Puppets though.

Old'er new? :p:

Old, obviously. I haven't listened to anything past Death Magnetic, but i've heard everything before Death Magnetic.

What's older than Death Magnetic? Uh, St. Anger! Let's hope, eh? :bonkhead: