10 Rock Bands That Bounced Back From Bad Albums

For your average metalhead, you almost have to keep score of which Metallica albums are hated and which ones are the classics. Ever since their commercial peak with the Black Album, these thrash legends always seemed to annoy a certain subsect of fans whenever they tried something new. While Load and ReLoad might have left a sour taste though, St. Anger felt almost treasonous by comparison.

Coming with the Some Kind of Monster documentary, this entire album just feels like the byproduct of Metallica almost falling apart, with songs that feel either half finished or an absolute chore to listen to. After trying to reassemble on the Madly In Anger tour, Metallica hooked up with Rick Rubin to create a true return to form. Considering his track record working with Slayer, Rubin's advice yielded one of the biggest resurrections in metal history, with Death Magnetic being the truest thrash album they had made since And Justice For All.

Across just 10 tracks, Metallica were back to sounding like the thrash we all knew and loved, from the long song lengths to the rollercoaster riffs happening across All Nightmare Long as well as the pseudo ballad The Day That Never Comes. For as much as Metallica looked like they were dead in the water, Death Magnetic was the real assurance that we needed that these guys were going back to the glory days again.