10 Things Metallica Need To Get Right On The New Album

6. Watch The Competition

Slayer seems to be falling apart due to all the members finally being sick of being on the road with each other for 30+ years, yet Metallica have managed their time pretty well, keeping ostensibly the same lineup save for (in total) four bass players (the original was Ron McGovney, before Cliff, if you must know). When Lulu came out, the other members of The Big Four were doing extremely well; Anthrax's Worship Music was regarded as one of the best the band had put out in over a decade, even with returning 'sings-like-he's-falling-down-a-well' Joey Belladonna. Add to that the fact that Megadeth's latest at the time was the superb faith-restoring facemelter Endgame, and Slayer's World Painted Blood was...well it was Slayer, so that's either more "Amazing, meat 'n potatoes for tea!", or "urgh, meat and potatoes for tea". Flashback to now however, and one of Anthrax's twin lead axemen Rob Caggiano has left to join Volbeat, Megadeth's Super Collider from last year was a laughable attempt that resembled something more close to listening to Dave Mustaine sing in the shower (but with good intentions), and Slayer's recent is...well yeah more of the same. There couldn't be a better time to get back in the game for Metallica, considering all their Big Four contemporaries appear to be getting patched up in their respective corners, and new heavyweights Avenged Sevenfold finally took the Donington headline spot with an album that was essentially a lite version of Metallica's Black Album, now is when Metallica need to show everyone how it's done.