We love you. But no more, please.

Controversial mix and all, ...And Justice for All remains a canonical metal album.

Master of Puppets still looms tall.

Load has better songs than ReLoad.

Metallica may be ready to cast off the burden of being a legacy act in favor of reclaiming its place at the top of the metal mainstream.

Death Magnetic is the Metallica long-time fans remembered and loved.

What it lacks in memorable songs, it makes up for in its startlingly intimate lyrical content.

What possessed a band that started its career with taut compositions and fat-free albums to crank out something so bloated and unmemorable?

Load squandered all the goodwill Metallica had accrued over the previous decade.

Metallica is decidedly a product of its time, albeit one that generally holds up with the rest of its back catalog.