METALLICA - Master of Puppets (1986)

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It's a well established fact that 1986 was the best Metal year ever, but it's also the year a number of bands peaked, releasing career defining, never to be bettered albums. One of those bands was Slayer of course, arguably Dark Angel could also be included in that, whereas Kreator managed to reinvent themselves for the unbelievably brilliant 'Renewal' album and thus avoided direct comparison with their 1986 masterpiece 'Pleasure to Kill'. But for Metallica, artistically, if not commercially, this was their greatest work. I've long said that 'Kill Em All' is my favourite Metallica album, but even I can concede that this is 'better'. The step up from 'Ride the Lightning' to this is a large one, you only have to compare the quality of 'Damage Inc' with the slightly off-hand 'Fight Fire With Fire' or the title tracks of these two albums to see that Metallica really stepped up their game to a whole new level. True there are two tracks that are only okay, and yes because there are only eight tracks they do make up a quarter of the album, but really, who wouldn't be pleased to have written 'Leper Messiah' or 'The Thing That Should Not Be'? 

The big question, destined to remain forever unanswered, is how would Metallica's musical growth been different had Cliff not been killed on the tour for this album. By all accounts Cliff's musical input into Metallica was more than considerable, can it really be a coincidence that things started to falter a little in the quality department as soon as he died? I guess we'll never know, but you only have to listen to the depth of quality of 'Orion' to realise that Cliff was something special.

METALLICA - And Justice for All (1988)

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1988 delivered some massive disappointments and this was another one. Following 'Master of Puppets' was never going to be a walk in the park but this missed the goal by some distance. Sure 'One' was a great song (even if the riff is a complete Dark Angel rip off!) and the title track isn't without merit, 'Blackened' too is a good opener and 'Dyer's Eve' is Metallica's last great forgotten thrasher, but inbetween it's all a bit mushy and frothy with not a lot of substance to any of it. The production is crap too, with zero bass audible from talented newbie Jason Newsted, so overall, I really can't give it more than a '3'.

METALLICA - Ride the Lightning (1984)

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Always slightly less impressive to my ears than the debut, nonetheless 'Ride the Lightning' is without doubt a quality release. In fact if anything the stand-out tracks are the slower more intricate songs, with 'Escape' a particular favourite of mine. Sadly it's the faster songs that let the side down with 'Fight Fire With Fire' sounding a little bit 'off the cuff' and 'Trapped Under Ice' a good belter but no 'Metal Militia'. The real winners here are 'Fade to Black', the massive chug of the title track and the instrumental 'Call of Kthulu'.

METALLICA - Metallica (1991)

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I never understood what all the fuss was about to be honest. How Metallica went from 'Metal Militia' to the nursery rhyme Metal of 'Enter Sandman' completely defeats my powers of reasoning, but there you are, they obviously knew what they were doing. It would have been nice to hear a proper Thrash album recorded this well, but sadly it wasn't to be. 'Through the Never' is a good tune for sure and the ballads drip quality, but overall this album plods and plods and plods, and then plods some more. Kirk Hammet might be proud of writing the riff to 'Enter Sandman', but I really wish he hadn't!

METALLICA - St Anger (2003)

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Widely lambasted as Metallica's worst album and by some as the worst Metal album ever made. The truth is the first song is okay, and the title track is better than anything the band have done since 1988. The rest of it is complete dog turd though. Seriously.

METALLICA - Kill 'em All (1983)

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Still my favourite Metallica album, even though 'Seek and Destroy' is slightly tedious. A powerhouse of Thrash perfection and possibly the best guitar sound ever. Every Metallica concert should end with 'Metal Militia'.