10 Massive Drops In Quality Between Albums

Throughout most of Metallica's career, fans have had no problem talking about the massive drops in quality between every album. When you look as far back as the '80s, you had people complaining about the lack of bass guitar on And Justice For All, and the thrash elitists were already getting pretty pissed when Load and ReLoad came out, thinking they were leaving their metal roots behind for good. They may have wanted Metallica to get heavy again, but St. Anger might be the best example of being careful what you wish for.

Though Load and ReLoad might not be the best albums that Metallica have ever put out, you can definitely tell the vibe they were going for, looking to put some hard rock into their sound that was more powerful than straight up metal. Considering the kind of atmosphere around this record though, you'd be surprised to hear any kind of cohesion in any of these songs, from one of the worst production jobs on any Metallica record to James really phoning it in with the lyrics, which oftentimes feel like first drafts.

As much as these songs sprawl out, they seem to mean nothing most of the time, just showing the band jamming and hoping to get something made. Then again, maybe this record isn't really for us. If you go back and look at the documentary Some Kind of Monster, this is more of an album that the band needed to make to keep themselves intact. It may have kept the band alive and going strong into the next decade, but it doesn't make a song like Purify any easier to listen to.