Metallica: 10 Most Brutally Heavy Songs - Ranked

Many Metallica fans were a bit skeptical about the band's first album in years with 2008's Death Magnetic. Sure, it was great to see that Metallica was back, but would we be in for a return to form or be lulled into the doldrums like on St. Anger? From the first few chords, we got all we needed to know.

Compared to all of the other tracks on Death Magnetic, "All Nightmare Long" seems to be the one song that has the most in common with the band's early years. The song's epic length and tasty transitions between the brooding verses and heavy chorus will give you flashbacks to the early years of Master of Puppets and Ride the Lightning.

Even the more modern elements like the sing-along type of chorus is fleshed out in just the right way to bridge the gap between the band's hard rock years and thrashy origins.

It's also great to see the guitars back in a more dominant role once again. Given St. Anger's riff based approach and lack of solos, the wailing guitars from Kirk Hammett feel almost like a glimmer of light shining through despite the song's dark subject matter. After a long stretch of toying with their sound, we finally got a Metallica track that actually sounded like Metallica.