10. St. Anger (2003)

Anyone who is into their rock/metal music, let alone a Metallica fan for life, will have inevitably put St. Anger at the bottom of this list. We should first deal with the elephant in the room and that is of course Lars Ulrich turning off the snares on his snare drum. The stop-start sections leave the echo of what sounds more like a barrel. One redeeming quality for this album is ‘The Unnamed Feeling’ which is lyrically and musically brilliant and weirdly the ‘snare’ drum brings life and character to the song. The songs ‘Frantic’, with catchy lyrics like “My lifestyle determines my deathstyle”, and ‘St. Anger’ are also endorsed by some fans. In addition, there is an abundance of passion that can be felt in James Hetfield’s vocals but is undermined by the numerous sonic imperfections surrounding this album. With the removal of guitar solos and Kirk Hammett’s signature wah-wah sound along with unnecessarily down tuned guitars, St. Anger is quite simply Metallica’s bane. (LISTEN)

9. Reload (1997)

Reload, to most Metallica fans, would be the album that isn’t as bad as St. Anger but still doesn’t have a lot live to up to. The opening song ‘Fuel’ literally gives you “fuel”, gives you “fire” and gives you that which you “desire”. In addition, songs ‘The Memory Remains’ and ‘The Unforgiven II’ are also album highlights and remain favourites among fans whilst also showing that Metallica’s ‘90s sound and style can have some profound effects. Listening to the rest of the album feels like your waiting for paint to dry on a wall. Songs such as ‘Where The Wild Things Are’, ‘Low Man’s Lyric’ and ‘Fixxxer’ feel more like audible obstacles than songs and are simply forgettable. Despite this, Reload has something to shout about and there are guitar solos whirled into the mix. (LISTEN)

8. Load (1996)

Load was the album that defined Metallica’s new ‘90s style and continued where their highly successful self-titled album left off. The ‘thrash’ era had ended for good and now they were going in a different direction along with getting shorter haircuts. But it was also at this point that Metallica had become underpinned and drowned by a tidal wave of so called ‘nu-metal’ bands partially taking their cues from them. Even though Load made it to the top of many album charts around the world, it is considered a lesser album by Metallica fans.

Songs such as ‘King Nothing’ and ‘Hero Of The Day’ are accepted by fans and are the definite highlights. The album opener ‘Ain’t My Bitch’, ‘Until It Sleeps’ and ‘Mama Said’ also don’t fail to please. Whilst one might find the slow and repetitive nature of ‘Bleeding Me’ and ‘The Outlaw Torn’ somewhat intoxicating, it isn’t hard to see why others would walk on by. Overall, Load is an album with conspicuous faults and tedious moments but showed that some fans were willing to give Metallica version 2.0 a chance. (LISTEN)

7. Metallica (a.k.a. ‘The Black Album’) (1991)

With over 16 million copies sold and continuously selling a few thousand units a week even now, ‘The Black Album’ is Metallica’s best-selling album to date. It saw Metallica travelling to a whole new world of music called the mainstream. But it also caused a divide in their fan base, leaving some who have followed Metallica since the early days of Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lightning feeling betrayed. ‘The Black Album’ sees Metallica writing their music in a different style coupled with songs off the album making it onto commercial rock radio stations.

The album opener ‘Enter Sandman’ instantly gets you hooked with its distinctive riff and chorus. ‘Sad But True’ is gritty and nail-biting as a great Metallica song should be. Other great songs include ‘Holier Than Thou’, ‘The Unforgiven’ and ‘Wherever I May Roam’. But the real controversy lies with ‘Nothing Else Matters’. Some consider it to be innovative and well-written; plus James Hetfield treats us to a guitar solo of his own. However, the ballad style did not compute with even the most dedicated of fans. Whilst this album is popular in the rock and metal world, it isn’t what hardcore Metallica fans wanted. (LISTEN)

6. Kill ‘Em All (1983)

The album that began it all. An album that would help to pioneer the term ‘Thrash Metal’. The band’s first song to ever be written was ‘Hit The Lights’ which is fast, frantic and more overwhelming than anything that came out at the time. ‘The Four Horsemen’, which is questionably not played at live shows, is criminally underrated as a Metallica song. ‘(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth’ is Cliff Burton’s moment to show us what an awesome bass player he is, despite the shoddy distortion that lingers.

Other songs to take note of are ‘Whiplash’ and ‘Motorbreath’ and which are essential thrash metal tracks to listen to for anyone who is new to this genre as they define all its core elements: heavy distortion, shredding solos, fast tempos, power chords, high vocals, and the use of double bass drums. Then there’s the infamous ‘Seek & Destroy’ which is easily the greatest track on the album and is generally played at the end of their live shows. Overall, there is a lot to like about this album but it feels more like an experimentation, a first step in a process, and so not perfect. However, Metallica had tasted success and more was to follow. (LISTEN)