Metallica

Opening to the sound of a beating heart and a Master-ful build up, Metallica's Rick Rubin-produced ninth full-length gives superfans and naysayers much to debate. From "That Was Just Your Life" to the "Blackened"-like shredder "My Apocalypse," Hammett's charging riffs and incendiary solos, Trujillo's badass basslines and Ulrich's rediscovered love for the double-bass make for a potent backdrop to Hetfield's almost re-ignited snarl. Death Magnetic still may not live up to their '80s heyday, but it finally comes impressively close.

In the Eighties, thrash metal wasn't a scene, it was an arms race: riffs kept speeding up,
drum kits got bigger. But with 1991's Black Album, Metallica opted for unilateral
disarmament, slowing their tempos, shortening their songs and smelting their chugging
guitars and piston-powered drums into armor-plated pop hooks. After that, the band
rushed from one reinvention to another, starting with the Southern-rock infusio... More >