Metallica's 11th Album: 10 Things Fans NEED To See
8. Better Production
Though Death Magnetic was a sign that the glory days were coming back, many fans were quick to judge the production of the record. Coming as it did in the 2000's, the album was a victim of the loudness wars, which ended up kneecapping the album's replay value. Though Hardwired was definitely a step up in sound quality, it might be time to enter the studio with a greater attention to detail this time around.
Even the band's earlier records like Ride the Lightning still hold up today due to their crisp sound, so it's clear that the band knows how to pull off this kind of production. Given the new abilities of modern recording technology, the band could also do some more sonic experiments to create more sinister sounds for riffs or intros.
Hell, it could even be time to work with another big name producer like they did with Bob Rock. While Bob Rock is known as Metallica poison in some circles, what he brought out of the band made each track have a greater sonic punch. Most of Metallica's later output has been very in-house, but just imagine what would happen if their next album had someone like Ross Robinson (Slipknot) or Terry Date (Pantera) involved.