I think Death Magnetic was a result of and a response to all the criticism for St. Anger. And i remember when St. Anger was first announced it was described as being raw, heavy, gritty etc. I remember a lot of their critics being like 'hey, this may be good. Maybe they're back'. And yea, it sounded as if it was gonna be like the early albums. Of course it wasn't, but the description they publicized still describes what we did get. I find this interesting, because Metallica has heavy, thrashy, gritty music in them, and St. Anger was just a different approach to this raw garage sound they've always had. So many doubted the fact they could still play classic thrash metal.
Who was it in Metallica that said Korn was the future of metal? It seemed like that was true for awhile, but definitely not anymore. I do find it funny how when asked Lars mentioned the Arctic Monkeys as being one of his favorite current bands, cuz you KNOW he is aware of the backlash he would get. But seriously though, what bands are these guys fans of an admire right now? I'm sure they have mentioned newer bands they like. Anyone know?