YAY, I'm so excited because now I get to justify my gripes with Black Album.
First of all, I don't like it because it deformed Metallica into something of a joke. The mainstream success gotten by this album lead to Load of Shit, Reload of Shit, and St. Ang-shit.
Which lead to a 'comeback' which lead to the same sales as when Coke tried a new flavour and went back to 'classic' after pissing off a Ton of people. Blah. So this is the album that ruined Metallica.
Here's why this album isn't good (it isn't flat-out awful either):
The album tries too hard. It tries to be big and loud and 'heavy', but it goes about it in a cop-out way, making a whole pile of redundancy that never sounds like anything more than an attempt at metal. If they want to make a rock album or a soft album, fine, but don't try to go in with a guise of metal, because that makes the album feel too contrived.
Everything is too standard. The song Enter Sandman starts out great--a real good way to start an album, but its structure is so standard it makes the song feel like it goes nowhere. More than one song off the album goes that way. Riffs that are heavy on this album, such as a certain riff in Sad But True, are milked too much, and I get the feeling that Metallica thought that they came across a real kicker of the riff (something that in truth would only be used as filler if it was on the first 2 albums), and kept using it, thinking it would automatically make their song better.
The album is much too simplistic and defenitely more juvenile than anything else Metallica had then released. The drumming... oh, GOD, the drumming. Ever notice how the drums almost never vary? The same beat is almost always going. Lars Ulrich=best drummer ever? Bullshit.
It's corny, too. A lot of what is there feels very corny, most riffs feel weak, and there's almost no Power save for the awesome production. It's too simple an album, Nothing really shines on it, it feels like it was gone at with all the subtlety of a caveman, it's underintelligent and too long, it's boring, and while it does have good songs on it, it DEFENITELY is not Metallica's best. A lot of the songs get old before they're over.
So yeah, good songs here and there, great grungy production, but it just is weaker than previous efforts. I'd give it 13/20 if I was doing a legit review of it. I hope my reasons came across clearly here?
 

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Candlemass - Tales Of Creation

Good GOD, this album is KILLER! Heavy riffs + powerful male vocals = Masterpiece.

I don't know why, but I always tend to like a band's earlier releases versus their new ones.

...good Lord it's worse than I thought. Even with the halfway decent bands like Fear Factory and At The Gates, you managed to pick their WORST albums.

Amon Amarth's good, but saying their recent material is their best is...well, it's just strange. Dissection was never all that great but Reinkaos was them trying and failing to be In Flames, awful. Anything after Blackwater Park (my little pet Opeth album) was loads of ass and was right about when they became a parody of themselves, and....Mudvayne? fucking Rob Zombie? wow.

The only one I'll give to you in Skinless, but that album's nowhere near perfect.

Also, Infinity, I can see why you think the way you do, but I don't think Metallica has ever failed at "trying to be metal" or whatever. The Black Album was their inevitable "sellout" album due to the large amount of exposure the band was getting. It's got some strong hooks here and there, but to say that it's their best album Means that you have no idea what Metallica's all about. It's not representative of the band's original vision at all. It was Metallica trying to be metal- it was Metallica trying to be rock music. You've got it backwards.

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Isnt it a good thing we all have opinions?
I grew up with The Black album, Ever Since i was like 9 or 10 dad'd play it in the cd player at home or in the car. I grew to love that album and sometimes you cant just change your oppinion. And yeah, Master of Puppets is a Beast of an album along with Ride the lightening. My old man and i have very similar tastes and he got me into metal. Hence the reason why i like the bands i do.
 
How about you guys post some albums you reckon are flawless and ill give them a listen

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"I Wish I had that AR-15 in here, then I could probably get out.....I don't like being locked up, it's not very nice."

-Martin Bryant, after the Port Arthur InfinityZero