Which Metallica Album Is The Best?

I don’t know if there will ever be a real answer to this question, but it always triggers a great debate among the Metallica faithful. So I’ll dare to ask - which Metallica record is their best?

Metallica is one of those bands that can say that they changed music.  They came out of the underground thrash scene of the 1980's to rule both metal and hard rock from the late 80's and is still doing it to this day.  9 studio albums, 4 Live albums and 1 cover album later Metallica remains the kings of heavy metal.  The big question however is of those 9 studio albums, which one is their best?

There are the Metallica purists out there that will tell you that Kill em' All is their best, but that one has never really stuck with me.  Especially with the great songs that come off of Master Of Puppets and Ride The Lightning.  Other "old school" Metallica fans would say that those are the only 3 Metallica albums in existence as the band was never the same without the late Cliff Burton.  That argument to me is just nonsense though.  You cant deny Cliffs contribution to the band, but ...And Justice For All is a great heavy metal album with new bass player Jason Newstead.

Then there is the Black Album debate.  First of all can I say that I am sick of all the people who call them sell outs for making this one.  Regardless as to how you feel, it was and still is their biggest record.  It made Metallica into the music giant that it is today.  One of the best metal/hard rock albums of all time.  Is it a thrash record?  Absolutely not, but you can't discredit them because of that.  If they had not made this album, then maybe we wouldn't even be talking about Metallica right now.

We can look at some of Metallica's newer stuff too.  Death Magnetic is probably Metallicas best thrash work since Master.  I don't think it compares to the old stuff, but it has some really great songs on it and Robert Trujillo on bass is always a treat.  I feel we got to see more of what he could bring to the table on Death Magnetic, than on its predecessor St. Anger.  I'm not even going to address that album.  I do like the song "Some Kind of Monster", but other than that I don't care to hear anything off that record.  Do we even need to the throw Load and ReLoad into the conversation?  Good hard rock albums, but not the greatest effort on those records. I get they were trying to do something different, and yes people do like some of the songs but when comparing to Master and Lightning they don't even compare.

So I have to say that my vote goes to Master of Puppets as the best Metallica album.  It has always been my favorite and I don't think they ever topped the heaviness of that record.  Kill em' All and Ride the Lightning were great warm ups to their crowning achievement in thrash metal.