4. Metallica - The Black Album
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S5TnPjOd_To The album that changed everything, proved metal could exist in stadiums and that no matter what you were into previously, you'd be able to find something in Metallica's catch-all hard rock opus to enjoy. Of course these days Enter Sandman is overplayed, but it's for good reason - the song itself is damn-near perfect hard rock. Metallica took what they new - technical multi-section songs comprised of time-changes and eleven riffs-per track - and condensed them down into something that was far more palatable, just because they could. From singer James Hetfield's first foray into more ballad-style territory with the beautiful finger-picked likes of Nothing Else Matters, the intensity still remained on the likes of Of Wolf And Man, Holier Than Thou and Through The Never. And that's not to mention firecracker lead guitar-whizz Kirk Hammett who - at the time - was used to writing incredibly technical pieces thanks to the tutelage of guitar maestro Joe Satriani, yet here was asked to write solos that could reach up to the heavens and beyond. He would do just that of course, with The Unforgiven and Wherever I May Roam being two standout compositions that to this day still get huge crowd-pops regardless of their placement in the setlist. It's impossible to get sick of: Wherever I May Roam. Those distant eastern-sounding octave chords set a perfect bed for Lars Ulrich's firework-display-sounding snare to rattle in overtop, leading to one of the most energetic tracks on the album and some of the finest tapping solo work from Kirk at the song's climax and outro. Sublime.