But seriously, I get tired of all the "Metallica sucks after x album" crap. Load seems to be the biggest target (although St. Anger really should be...). Load and Reload are absolutely fantastic albums musically. If you can get past the fact that it's Metallica (ie, that they don't sound like they used to) and just listen to the music, it's great. Interesting, layered, deep... and then they started listening to everyone while still holding onto Bob Rock, and made St. Anger. St. Anger shows some flashes of good music, but since it was all apparently assembled in Logic (the program) from jam sessions spanning years, it sounds like it. The fact that they decided to make it sound "garage" didn't help. I still enjoy listening to it sometimes, though.
Garage, Inc., although it's made up of covers, is also a great listen (and some of it is actually well mastered...). And S&M, while certainly a gimmick, is a very entertaining gimmick.
I haven't heard enough of the new album to pass any sort of judgement on it.
