Best Metallica Albums?

[Hachibei]

I want to check out a few of their albums after playing Guitar Hero: Metallica, which ones are their best?

 

[Cjuub]

Kill em all.

The first four albums är good, stay away from the rest.

 

[Blood Fetish]

Master of Puppets. Period.

 

[Bovver]

Basicly all albums up to and including the Black Album. That means Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, ...And Justice For All and of course the Black Album (the self titled one).

 

[DeadLocked]

My favourites are Black Album and Death Magnetic...
My favourite songs are Cyanide and The Unforgiven

And guy, sure the new songs might sound a little 'worse to you' than the earlier songs but metallica changed quite a bit in style over the years.

Lol @ Blood Fetish joined in 02 and look at his posts... you must be special for him to use one on here.

 

[TLSpartan]

The first 3 are easily the best and ...And Justice For All is tolerable. Stay away from anything after ...And Justice For All.

 

[Rokamunky]

I would say if you have an open mind then all the albums have there great songs. Just finished playing a monster sesh on GH:Metallica and as a long time 'tallica fan they have a great selection from all the albums. My favourite album is Ride the lightening. My favourite tracks are Fade to Black and Orion.

 

[Rayder]

Basicly all albums up to and including the Black Album. That means Kill 'Em All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, ...And Justice For All and of course the Black Album (the self titled one).

Those, and Death Magnetic. The rest I found to be crap. And when I say crap....I just mean that there were more songs I didn't like on them than ones I did like.....quite the other way around with the quoted albums and Death Magnetic. That said, I have them all. Those first 4 I actually had on vinyl.

 

[Domination]

Black Album and Death Magnetic, period.

 

[SirSweeps]

I get into arguments about this very topic all the time ... but you have to remember "which album is better?" is subjective ... but I can sum them up for you ...

Kill em' all - very thrashy, rough sounding but pure unfiltered Metallica its also worthy to note that Dave Mustain played a big role in the creation of most of those songs. (you can tell the influence Motorhead and Diamond head)

Personal fav. Tracks
Hit the Lights
Four Horsemen
Whiplash

Ride the Lightning - Seemed to be a more subtle approach to their music. Still thrash, still fast but filled with more subtle nuances that seemed to invoke feelings of love or distrust as well as common themes of war and pain. A well thought out album Starts out strong and leaves you in mystery ... (Most of the songs have a Distinct sound to them, most riffs sound Jamesish' But the new bassist Cliff Burton adds a whole new level to each song ... The fact that the bass does not only follow the root as with most bands lends to its complexity)

Personal fav. Tracks
Ride the lightning
Trapped under ice
Creeping Death


Master of Puppets - Arguably their most acclaimed album, You finally hear (my opinion) Kirks Style (Formerly of Exodus) integrated into the metal machine known as Metallica. Its Heavy, Thrashy and combines a plethora of melodic styles. (Has all the songs aspiring guitarists tend to learn first ... all I can say is "I love dual harmonies!")

Personal fav. Tracks
Master of Puppets
Disposable Heroes
Orion

…And Justice for All - Also known as the bass-less album. Most tracks (on original release fixed on the remastered release) Lack an audible bass (its there just very faint) ... Most say it was due to Cliff Burtons death, I say Lars and James did the mixing so I blame them... Its a very strong album, more simplistic riffs but very melodically pleasing, retains the heavy sound I loved from the previous albums. Seems to be more of an emphasis on the solos here as its some of Kirks more "fancy work" (prior to the writing of this album Kirk was learning under Joe "Satch" Satriani ... his solos reflect it being more melodic then just fast and utilizing more effects, the wah and the whammy bar)

Personal fav. Tracks
Blackened
The Shortest Straw
Dyers Eve

.....
....
I won't even try to hide the fact that the following, no matter how much I try will seem ... Well, with the exception of a few songs I don't like where they went musically ... Personally I think it stems from where they where in their lives to the simple fact that its hard to write something when you haven't really played in years but you have a record company and a contract pushing you to write. Most guitarists will tell you that the rest of the albums seem almost phoned in
they retain none of the "trademark" Metallica riff patterns and the solos are just lacking... Thats why you get a distinct break in fans, Old Metallica (pre-Black album

 

[NeSchn]

Everything up to The Black Album. After The Black Album everything is shitty and not worth listening to.

 

[metron]

I LOVE the S&M album! It is their greatest album just because imo they sound great with the orchestra/symphony

 

[TraumaHoundNDS]

I'm with a good amount of the group here in that ...And Justice for All was the last great Metallica album. I saw them (two nights in a row at the L.A. Forum!) during the "Black Album's" tour which were great shows and featured 2 1/2 hours of old and new material (including a 1-night-only playing of Seek and Destroy wherein Lars sung and the other members swapped instruments...AWESOME!). I was listening to the "Black Album" a lot at that time since it was new and yet it never really grew on me.

Master of Puppets is my all-time favorite album. Leper Messiah & Welcome Home (Sanitarium) are awesome tunes and The Thing That Should Not Be is a great Cthulhu-based follow-up to Ride the Lightning's The Call of Ktulu.

To get an even better feel for the speed/thrash metal days of Metallica check out The Vault at LiveMetallica.com. There are a bunch of free old shows you can download (or pay for the newer releases) that will give you a proper introduction to Metallica's roots.