Metallica New Album: 10 Old-School Thrash Lessons They Need To Relearn

For as metal as the band were in their early days, you always understood that Metallica were "composers" in the metal world. Instead of knocking you over the head with four or five killer guitar riffs in a row, every single facet of one of the band's classic songs seemed perfectly arranged down to the final blast of distortion. They may still be able to write a quality riff, but the musical shifts can use a bit of work.

Take "Halo on Fire" for example. The song is a pretty good metal banger throughout its runtime, but by the time it gets to about the midpoint, the band just snap on a dime to another heavy riff with no real anticipation or build up. Much of these nitpicks would be forgivable for any other metal band, but this is the same group of guys who put together beautiful transitions on songs like "Fade to Black" and "Fight Fire With Fire."

If you compare this to something like "Master of Puppets," where the heavy and soft sections are balanced out more efficiently, you'll see the subtle nuances that have since fallen by the wayside in recent years. There's a lot to admire about the new Metallica material, but when it comes down to songwriting, the transitions will help the headbangers look beyond the riff marathon that you just put them through.