Metallica needs no introduction…as one of the greatest rock bands of all time, they have weathered turmoil, disaster, and heartbreak over their more than 40 years on the scene. The band has had some ups and downs in their career and that includes their albums as well. Below is a list of the Metallica album releases listed in order from best to worst.
1. Master of Puppets (1986)
Master Of Puppets was and will most likely always be the pinnacle of Metallica’s career. It was the band’s third album and the last to feature Cliff Burton on bass who would tragically die in a bus accident during the band’s European tour for the album. After releasing Kill ‘Em All and Ride The Lightning To critical acclaim, Master Of Puppets would be the breakthrough album for the band that saw them reach the mainstream with their thrash metal sound. This album showed a more mature band with an intense focus on both the music and lyrical content that made everyone stand up and take notice of Metallica.Â
2. Ride the Lightning (1984)
Metallica’s second album “Ride The Lightning” is just barely edged out by “Masters Of Puppets” for the best album of their career. While Kill ‘Em All” was a great album, “Ride The Lightning” saw the band increase its songwriting ability with classic songs like “Fade To Black”, “Creeping Death”, “Call Of Ktulu” and the title track “Ride The Lightning”. The band sounds tighter musically and the production is a bit less raw than their debut effort. This album would establish the band as a serious contender and would lead to “Master Of Puppets” taking the band to new heights of popularity.
3. Kill ‘Em All (1983)
Metallica’s debut album “Kill ‘Em All” helped to create the Thrash metal scene in the Bay area of California that would spawn other favorites like Megadeth, Testament, Exodus, Slayer, and more. “Kill ‘Em All” Includes several tracks written with Dave Mustaine who had been fired from the band before the recording began. Of course, Mustaine would go on to famously start Megadeth after the band parted ways with him. This album features such classic songs as “The Four Horsemen”, Jump In The Fire”, “Whiplash” and “Seek And Destroy”. While this album doesn’t sound as polished as some of their later efforts, it makes up for it in raw energy.
4. …And Justice for All (1988)
“…And Justice For All” is the first Metallica that did not feature Cliff Burton on bass and it shows. The blame for that however doesn’t fall on Jason Newsted who replaced Burton, but rather on the band themselves for burying the bass tracks in the mix. While the album helped continue the band’s legacy it didn’t quite match up to the fire and intensity of the three previous albums. The band seemed to struggle with the loss of Burton as both a friend and band member. Those undercurrents seem to drag this album down somewhat and a sense of loss is felt for the listener as well.
5. Metallica (1991)
Metallica’s “Black Album” is the band’s best-selling album of all time. While many would rank it first for that feat alone, it doesn’t measure up artistically to the previous albums before it. The band shifted their sound on this album, which appealed to a more mainstream listening audience but also started the division and alienation process for fans of the band’s earlier sound. Songs like “Enter Sandman”, “Unforgiven”, Nothing Else Matters” and “Wherever I May Roam” saw the band embrace mainstream hard rock in favor of their trademark style on previous albums.
6. 72 Seasons (2023)
72 Seasons saw Metallica bring more fire and energy to their sound than they had in the past 30 years. This album sounds like it logically should have followed the self-titled album. While many fans still yearn for the raw sound of “Master Of Puppets” and “Ride The Lightning”, this is probably as close to those albums as modern-day Metallica will likely get. While the band will never make all of their fans happy, the sound of 72 Seasons is a pretty damn good compromise for a band that’s had changes in sound and been around for more than 40 years now.
7. Hardwired… to Self-Destruct (2016)
This album saw Metallica move closer to their roots and with an improved production over “Death Magnetic”. Overall, the album was well-received by listeners and sounds like it should have been the album between “…And Justice For All” and the “Black” album, a missing link if you will. Highlighted songs include “Hardwired”, “Atlas, Rise!” and “Am I Savage?”. The biggest complaint from most fans was that it didn’t need to be a double or triple disc release, but could have been a great single disc album of the best songs.
8. Death Magnetic (2008)
Death Magnetic was the first Metallica album sing 1991’s self-titled album (also called the “Black” album) that embraced Metallica’s early sound and style again. While it was a step in the right direction, it’s still pretty far removed from the band’s first four albums, all of which were much better. Despite that fact, many of the band’s fans saw this as at least an attempt to return to the sound of yesteryear. Highlights on this album include “That Was Just Your Life”, “The Day That Never Comes”, “All Nightmare Long” and “My Apocalypse”. Much of the album’s sound seems plagued by bad mixing that made everything sound slightly distorted or compressed.Â
9. Load (1996)
By the time Metallica released the Load album, it had been 5 long years since their chart-topping “Black” album was released and a lot had changed in the direction of rock music. Seemingly Metallica was aware of the Alternative rock movement and the band seems to meld their more accessible sound of the self-titled album with a bit more Alternative rock sound. The results were less than stellar. While the band still managed to chart highly, they also moved even farther away from their thrash metal roots with this mash-up of sound.
10. Reload (1997)
If you didn’t like “Load”, chances are good you wouldn’t be too excited by the release of “Reload” a year later. “Reload” was mostly comprised of tracks that the band recorded for the “Load” album but decided against using. Like the old joke when someone says on to plan “B” and they ask if plan “B” is any good…the response is No! If it was any good it would have been plan “A”. Reload is simply more of the same as the previous album but with a few glimmers of interest including “Fuel” and “Better Than You”.
11. St. Anger (2003)
Universally regarded by most people to be Metallica’s worst album, St. Anger has many reasons why this album is so disliked. The sound, especially the drums on this album is just terrible. It sounds like Lars is beating the hell out of a cardboard box and tin can for most of the album and it’s grating to listen to. St. Anger really seems like the band spent too much time listening to their contemporaries of the time, Slipknot, Korn, etc. and it ended up influencing their sound to disastrous results. I suppose the band was going for a more noisy sound but it ended up being mostly unlistenable. Of all the Metallica albums that I have this one rarely gets played and when it does, I am reminded quickly why I haven’t had it in rotation. Metallica still managed to go double-platinum in sales with this album, so for any other band it would hardly be called a failure, but for Metallica it sits at the bottom of their releases.
So there you have it. From the best to the worst albums of Metallica, as ranked by our experts at XS ROCK.
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