10 Musicians That Saved Their Careers By Changing Genres
2. Metallica
The transition from Metallica into the world of rock and roll seemed to come out of left field at first. After years of turning the metal world inside out with albums like And Justice For All and Master of Puppets, why would these titans bother with making songs for the radio? Even though simplicity may have been a dirty word, rarely do you get metal that sounds as tight as the Black Album.
Up until that point, Metallica's career trajectory had been about trying to out-heavy everyone else around them, whether it be from the NWOBHM bands or the new thrash scene coming to fruition underneath the surface. While And Justice for All was a hardened metal release, you could tell that there was only so much further you could go with that. With the release of the Black Album, Bob Rock's production brought everything up a notch, daring them to make more melodic material alongside the heavier riffs.
While the amazing thrash riffs are still accounted for on this record, Rock's touch is everything great about Metallica turned up to 10, whether it be the plaintive ballads coming through on the Unforgiven or the blunt force smack that comes from Sad But True. Granted, this may have been a mixed blessing going into the Load/ReLoad projects, but as it stands, The Black Album is the reason why Metallica is still known as legends to this day.