10 Albums We Waited An Eternity To Get

No musician in the world is safe from creative burnout. With managers and record labels treating you like a well-oiled machine, it's perfectly understandable for an artist to take a step back from their usual cycle of albums. So the fans wait... and wait... and wait some more.

Though we shouldn't fault these acts for not wanting to make a half-hearted release, it gets a bit tedious watching some of the greatest musicians in the world not put any material out while still in their prime. Granted, some other factors can play into this, whether it be the strained relationships between the band members or even breaking up, but it doesn't make the wait any less excruciating. When the actual time comes though, fans absolutely lose their minds.

So these albums must be great right? Well... time also takes its toll on the artists too. If you don't keep up your trademark abilities over a long stretch of time, you tend to lose the greatness you once had. But when you come back and win, it feels like you're watching the birth of an entirely new band. Let's take a look at these long-anticipated albums and see whether they were worth the wait or not.

Wait: 8 Years

Out of all the fantastic metal bands of the '80s, Metallica have had the most unstable discography of any of their peers. The shift in quality between something like The Black Album and St. Anger is so drastic that watching the band fluctuate is entertaining in and of itself. However, the prolonged stretch in between releases has been more than some fans can handle.

After half a decade, the band released Death Magnetic, which took them back to familiar thrash territory, but where did they go from there? Thanks to constant touring and strenuous writing sessions, Hardwired to Self Destruct was built up for almost a decade before finally seeing a worldwide release. With sessions delayed due to scheduling conflicts and Kirk Hammett losing his riff log on his phone, the band were back to the drawing board with Hammett only contributing solos rather than any real songwriting ideas.

As such, this double album tends to feel like a James Hetfield-led affair, with the rest of the band struggling to play catch-up. Though what's on display is the best the band has sounded in years, its length ends up making the entire experience feel like a mixed bag rather than a free flowing record. This may have been far from their classic material, but given their position as of late, this is probably the greatest material the band has had to offer in some time.