Pure metal perfection. All eight tracks are winners. Yes, even "Escape." This was the first Metallica album I listened to and it took me a bit to appreciate it, but now I recognize it as one of the best metal albums of all time.

Seriously, this has some of their best material since 1984. While the second half remains kinda forgettable (except for "My Apocalypse," of course), the rest is great stuff that I would not hesitate to call thrash.

This album has really grown on my over the years. While the lack of bass does hamper it, I like all the noddly, proggy bits. It's not perfect, but features some incredible riffing and songwriting, I think.

The band's most popular album. I know it might seem crazy to put it this high, but this is some pretty consistent stuff. However, I will say that it has dropped for me in the past few years, as some songs don't quite stick with me as well as they used to ("Sad But True" being one that I've gotten tired of hearing).

The original thrasher. While "Metal Militia" is amazing, the rest are varying degrees of okay. "Jump in the Fire" and "Motorbreath" are fun, but the rest get credit simply for being thrash when there was little thrash around.

Some might be surprised to see this one so low, but here's the deal: a few great songs do not a great album make. Sure, "Battery" and the title track are classics, but I feel the rest of the album is really average. I know people call this the band's masterpiece, but I don't really hear it.

Probably the safest album they've put out, but it still has some decent stuff. I love "Lux Aeturna" for it's NWOBHM-style energy. Still, it's way too long to be really be considered good.

This placement is no joke. When I was going through their discography the first time, I listened to this right after Load/Reload and thought it was a breath of fresh air. An extremely stale, repetitive and grindy bit of air, but enough to feel like the band was alive again. While the songs could do with some serious editing and refinement, I think there's good material hidden on this album. I highly recommend looking up the STANGER2015 project on YouTube as proof that this album had potential.

Is it a vital release? Not really, but you can tell the band had fun recording this stuff.

So after the solid Death Magnetic and a few questionable choices, Metallica get back into the studio to give us a very generic double-album that is clearly too long for what they're trying to do. It's Load/Reload all over again, though I will say that "Atlas Rise" and "Moth Into the Flame" are solid tracks. Disappointing for sure.

Load and Reload are almost on the same level. Reload gets the higher rank simply because "Fuel" is so catchy and "Prince Charming" is interesting, so that's two decent songs in the midst of a snooze-fest.

Seriously, I almost fell asleep when I listened to this album the first time. And I'm a guy who enjoys new age like Enya. "King Nothing" is probably the only track worth a listen on here. Everything else is just so mediocre and tired.

Yup, I have no trouble agreeing with everyone that it's probably the worst thing Metallica has participated in. It was an interesting idea that insisted on remaining esoteric, with no real way for the general audience to grab onto what was going on or why. Atmospheric, but completely forgettable.