Poll

Favorite Metallica Album?

Kill 'em All
1 (1.1%)
Ride the Lightning
20 (21.3%)
Master of Puppets
28 (29.8%)
And Justice for All
21 (22.3%)
The Black Album
9 (9.6%)
Load
5 (5.3%)
Reload
0 (0%)
Death Magnetic
3 (3.2%)
Hardwired... to Self-Destruct
2 (2.1%)
St Anger
5 (5.3%)

Total Members Voted: 94

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Offline cfmoran13

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #70 on: May 03, 2021, 07:14:48 AM »
One thing that can be said about St. Anger is that it is probably Metallica's most "dated" album.  They were totally being influenced by the metal of the times.  No guitar solos, super abrasive production.  It's amazing that Kirk went along with everything while making the album.  I don't know if that's a testament to just how powerful James and Lars were in the band or how passive Kirk was.  For him to not say "C'mon, guys!  Throw me a bone!  Let me have one guitar solo.  PLEEEEEZE!".  It totally amazes me.

Online MirrorMask

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #71 on: May 03, 2021, 07:22:56 AM »
I wouldn't be surprised if Kirk was just along for the ride.... the two band leaders were in a weird place, they came up with this album and probably Kirk thought "eh, let's get out of this one and stay alive during these times, better days will come".
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Online Adami

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #72 on: May 03, 2021, 07:25:05 AM »
Kirk argued for guitar solos but ultimately lost out. But he did argue against leaving them out.
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Offline Elite

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #73 on: May 03, 2021, 07:27:10 AM »
Even Limp Bizkit's "Significant Other" has a much higher average score than St. Anger (2.54). Just saying.

RateYourMusic.com is not a measurement for how 'good' music is. Just saying.

How about for once you respond to actual critiques of your posting, instead of throwing random nonsense back into the thread? Of course there's albums rated higher than St. Anger. What's the point in naming that?
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Offline cfmoran13

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #74 on: May 03, 2021, 07:27:48 AM »
Kirk argued for guitar solos but ultimately lost out. But he did argue against leaving them out.
It's funny reading interviews with him from the time saying he's totally proud of the album and when they tried to put in solos, it just sounded "like an afterthought."  Crazy!

Offline cfmoran13

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #75 on: May 03, 2021, 07:33:00 AM »
Even Limp Bizkit's "Significant Other" has a much higher average score than St. Anger (2.54). Just saying.
On the internet, you can find info to back up any narrative you want to make.  This website has St. Anger listed as the 2nd best Metal album of 2003 behind Evanescence.  Just sayin'

https://www.albumoftheyear.org/genre/40-metal/2003/

Offline ProfessorPeart

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #76 on: May 03, 2021, 08:10:09 AM »
Not sure I have ever listened to the whole studio version of St. Anger. The trashcan snare ruins it.

Right from the start I ripped the DVD performance because it was way better. Plus, it has Rob on bass. It's the only way I listen to the album.
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Offline 425

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #77 on: May 03, 2021, 08:41:33 AM »
Not sure I have ever listened to the whole studio version of St. Anger. The trashcan snare ruins it.

Right from the start I ripped the DVD performance because it was way better. Plus, it has Rob on bass. It's the only way I listen to the album.

I was going to mention this if you didn't. It's worth listening to if your main problem with the official release is the production. This is a way to hear the songs without that as a distraction.

Now, I think the songwriting itself is pretty mediocre. I do like some songs: Frantic, the title track, Some Kind of Monster and All Within My Hands are all songs I put on occasionally. The rest of the album has its moments but has a lot of mediocre tracks that tend to meander.

Even as someone fairly experienced in ranging wildly, I am surprised that OP is this adamant about not including St. Anger in the poll. I'm tempted to switch my vote to it now just as a statement, and I probably would if I voted for one of the more popular choices, but I want to give TBA some representation.
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Offline Zantera

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #78 on: May 03, 2021, 09:18:01 AM »
Using RYM as some sort of bible for objective truth is quite bizarre to me because even though it has a decent amount of users, you're still talking about a fairly small hivemind in the bigger picture. Truth is a huge majority of people who like and consume music don't feel that need to catalog it and rate it, they just listen to it.

As for Metallica's discography, I'm definitely not a fan of St. Anger but I'd take a weird attempt at doing something different that ended up being a frankenstein's monster of an album (St. Anger) than a soulless attempt to recapture the glory from 20 years earlier and to get the fans back (Death Magnetic). Even something like Lulu is different enough where you'll get maybe 1 person out of 20 who genuinely likes the album and rates it high, even if the other 19 dislike it.

Offline WildRanger

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #79 on: May 03, 2021, 09:31:38 AM »
One thing that can be said about St. Anger is that it is probably Metallica's most "dated" album.  They were totally being influenced by the metal of the times.  No guitar solos, super abrasive production.  It's amazing that Kirk went along with everything while making the album.  I don't know if that's a testament to just how powerful James and Lars were in the band or how passive Kirk was.  For him to not say "C'mon, guys!  Throw me a bone!  Let me have one guitar solo.  PLEEEEEZE!".  It totally amazes me.

Lars is ass. Kirk is impersonal.

Online Adami

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #80 on: May 03, 2021, 09:52:10 AM »
One thing that can be said about St. Anger is that it is probably Metallica's most "dated" album.  They were totally being influenced by the metal of the times.  No guitar solos, super abrasive production.  It's amazing that Kirk went along with everything while making the album.  I don't know if that's a testament to just how powerful James and Lars were in the band or how passive Kirk was.  For him to not say "C'mon, guys!  Throw me a bone!  Let me have one guitar solo.  PLEEEEEZE!".  It totally amazes me.

Lars is ass. Kirk is impersonal.

What?
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Offline Stadler

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #81 on: May 03, 2021, 09:58:22 AM »
I want to vote for St. Anger, but I can’t do that in this poll, so this poll will never ever give a valid representation if that’s no possibility. Bullshit thread.

You know you can avoid the threads started by WildRanger, right?

They drag me in, I can't help it.

Elite, I'm with you.  I knew full well what I was getting into, but seeing a three-page Wild Ranger thread that started while I was away from the board, and it was like sitting in the car driving by a highway accident that closed down four lanes on the other side of the divider and STILL slowing down to rubber neck.  :)

Offline Stadler

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #82 on: May 03, 2021, 09:59:50 AM »
Where is St. Anger?

In WildRanger's polls, you don't get to vote for an album he doesn't like.

Who in their right mind would vote for St. Anger? Do you know it's one of the most hated albums?

You do know that you can - GASP! - have opinions that deviate from the conventional, right?  What the group says impacts what I like not even a LITTLE bit.  MOP is going to crush this poll, and it doesn't make my top five Metallica albums.

Offline Stadler

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #83 on: May 03, 2021, 10:00:44 AM »
Where is St. Anger?

In WildRanger's polls, you don't get to vote for an album he doesn't like.

Who in their right mind would vote for St. Anger? Do you know it's one of the most hated albums?

I did not! Can you show me a source for this?




And seriously though, whether or not people would vote for it is not up to you to decide. The fact that you don't even give the option shows you're biased in advance. Then again, based on the ridiculous elitist statements you've made elsewhere on these forums, I shouldn't be too surprised. But let's turn this around; say I were to make a poll asking people for their favourite food and the only options would be pizza, hamburgers, a steak and oven-baked salmon. See how ridiculous that is? This is the same thing, but in a smaller scale. The poll is void if you don't give all options. You ruling out stuff beforehand is bullshit and you've done it before and you'll probably keep on doing it no matter what, so this message likely has as little point as this entire thread.

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Offline Stadler

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #84 on: May 03, 2021, 10:07:29 AM »
Who in their right mind would vote for St. Anger? Do you know it's one of the most hated albums?
It's sad to see such dismissive thinking.  Just because [insert name] doesn't like something doesn't mean someone else can't.  If there were only a certain amount of choices you were allowed to insert into the poll, I'd understand leaving that one out.  But, I don't know why it was so hard to include St. Anger.  And, I know it has since been added.

As for The Black Album, I remember grabbing it the week before heading off to my freshman year of college.  This was the first Metallica album I grabbed on release day.  Definitely a more streamlined Metallica with every song coming in under 7 minutes.  It had my least favorite Metallica song, "Don't Tread On Me", until Load and Reload were released.  This album also marked the first time I got to see them live, 3 times actually.  Not my favorite album.  But, all in all, a pretty solid release.  I can't wait for them to announce its 30th anniversary vinyl box set release.  I'm dying to see what they include.

I think it is fair to say that St. Anger is objectively bad, especially if you know how the album was conceived, which most of us do just based on the Some Kind of Monster documentary alone. You can't say that about most music even if you don't like the music or the style of music. I can say I get slight enjoyment out of the first 4 songs on the album on very rare occasions, but I'll never admit that it's a good album. It's OK to like bad music sometimes. I like bad music sort of like how I like bad movies. Bad music doesn't necessarily mean "not listenable". It's mostly humorous for me, I like satire, and St Anger is Metallica self-satire, with all the Hetfield o0o0o0o's and Oscar The Grouch on drums. But I won't ever criticize someone if they like it and think it's good, I just won't agree with them, but it shouldn't be taken as an attack on someone or their taste in music. Everyone has different tastes.

Wait, what?  I'm not being contrarian here at all; I really believe this: I've watched Some Kind Of Monster about five times now (I'm fascinated by it, frankly) and knowing how the album was conceived, it makes it BETTER for me.  I don't listen to it much (and when I do it's the live in the studio DVD version) but that is a raw fucking piece of art.   Kiss - my favorite band at any given time - couldn't have put out something as naked and raw as that album.   James Hetfield is one of my musical idols and in large part it's his candor and vulnerability through that period of the bands career.   St. Anger is, literally, a soul screaming.  It ought to be number one on this list for that reason alone.

Offline kirksnosehair

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #85 on: May 03, 2021, 11:53:17 AM »
I've never heard a single note from St. Anger  :lol




And by the way, as far as reviews go it's got:


69%................5 Star
19%................4 Star
9%..................3 Star
2%..................2 Star
2%..................1 Star

On Amazon.com


I might have to check it out at some point.   

Offline pg1067

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #86 on: May 03, 2021, 12:24:39 PM »
Wait, what?  I'm not being contrarian here at all; I really believe this: I've watched Some Kind Of Monster about five times now (I'm fascinated by it, frankly) and knowing how the album was conceived, it makes it BETTER for me.  I don't listen to it much (and when I do it's the live in the studio DVD version) but that is a raw fucking piece of art.   Kiss - my favorite band at any given time - couldn't have put out something as naked and raw as that album.   James Hetfield is one of my musical idols and in large part it's his candor and vulnerability through that period of the bands career.   St. Anger is, literally, a soul screaming.  It ought to be number one on this list for that reason alone.

Ummm...what?

It ought to be #1 on this list (i.e., it should be the favorite album of more people than any other album) because of your characterization of it as "a soul screaming"?
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Offline Elite

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #87 on: May 03, 2021, 12:36:39 PM »
Well, I too think St. Anger might very well be their most 'sincere' album and it almost certainly is their most creative one.
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Offline twosuitsluke

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #88 on: May 03, 2021, 12:39:29 PM »
And as Zantera said, I'd rather see them do something brave and try something new, than put out an album trying to recapture their first 5 albums.

Offline Stadler

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #89 on: May 03, 2021, 01:01:37 PM »
Wait, what?  I'm not being contrarian here at all; I really believe this: I've watched Some Kind Of Monster about five times now (I'm fascinated by it, frankly) and knowing how the album was conceived, it makes it BETTER for me.  I don't listen to it much (and when I do it's the live in the studio DVD version) but that is a raw fucking piece of art.   Kiss - my favorite band at any given time - couldn't have put out something as naked and raw as that album.   James Hetfield is one of my musical idols and in large part it's his candor and vulnerability through that period of the bands career.   St. Anger is, literally, a soul screaming.  It ought to be number one on this list for that reason alone.

Ummm...what?

It ought to be #1 on this list (i.e., it should be the favorite album of more people than any other album) because of your characterization of it as "a soul screaming"?

Well, kind of, yes, but when you put it that way... it sounds more and more ridiculous.  :) :)

I was more responding to the characterization that it was "objectively bad".   I don't really care about whether anyone lists it as "number one", but I very much do believe that is metaphorically a "soul screaming" - I can feel Hetfield's pain all over that record (remember the therapy and rehab that James was involved in around that time).  If that's not what you look for in a record, so be it.  I'm not suggesting that anyone ought to adopt my standards.  And that doesn't mean that I listen to it a lot; it's a lot like Alice In Chains' "Dirt"; that's the sound of a soul succumbing to desperation and addiction, and it's an honest, brutal record.  Doesn't make it "fun" to listen to.

Offline Fritzinger

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #90 on: May 03, 2021, 01:05:23 PM »
Where is St. Anger?

In WildRanger's polls, you don't get to vote for an album he doesn't like.

Who in their right mind would vote for St. Anger? Do you know it's one of the most hated albums?

I voted for St. Anger, deal with it
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Offline Dedalus

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #91 on: May 03, 2021, 01:35:16 PM »
Of the bands/artists' albums that I'm interested in, I think St. Anger is the only one that I dislike 100% of everything that is there.

Offline 425

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #92 on: May 03, 2021, 01:56:02 PM »
I like how, in trying to exclude St. Anger from the conversation, WildRanger inadvertently created a thread about St. Anger.
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Offline TAC

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #93 on: May 03, 2021, 01:58:32 PM »
 :lol
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #94 on: May 03, 2021, 02:02:58 PM »
Respect to people who like St. Anger. I love pretty much everything Metallica have done (haven't attempted Lulu and don't plan to) and since its release in 2003, I don't think I've managed to make it through the entire thing in full once. It's unlistenable in every possible way to me.

Indeed, it took WildRanger's attitude to create an outpouring of sympathy for St. Anger  ;D, but gosh that album sucks bombs and balls and I've heard it literally twice before giving up and never ever wanting to hear it again. This of course doesn't invalid the opinion of the 9 people worldwide who enjoy the album and, as it's been said before, it's cool that music reasonates differently with everyone and it's cool that at least some people find some entertainment in such a musical atrocity.

And hearing St. Anger live was actually cool, that song is ok.

I'm sure it's been brought up in this thread already, but some band edited and re-recorded the entire thing and put it on youtube and while it's an improvement, it still does next to nothing for me. Glad they got it out of their system and I guess it was a necessary step towards reclaiming their identity, but I just can't get over how uninspired it feels despite me knowing how much passion probably went into it.

Online MirrorMask

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #95 on: May 03, 2021, 03:32:36 PM »
That cover version on YouTube was my another attempt at giving a chance at the album. I thought "well, it's been years now, this version sounds better and they even cut some of the fat and made the songs more concise, let's give it a try".... and it was a big NOPE NOPE ABORT MISSION ABORT MISSION.
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Offline IDontNotDoThings

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #96 on: May 03, 2021, 03:34:01 PM »
One thing that can be said about St. Anger is that it is probably Metallica's most "dated" album.  They were totally being influenced by the metal of the times.  No guitar solos, super abrasive production.  It's amazing that Kirk went along with everything while making the album.  I don't know if that's a testament to just how powerful James and Lars were in the band or how passive Kirk was.  For him to not say "C'mon, guys!  Throw me a bone!  Let me have one guitar solo.  PLEEEEEZE!".  It totally amazes me.

Idk if you recall, but there's a scene in the Some Kind Of Monster documentary where Kirk puts his foot down, saying something to the effect of "you guys talk about guitar solos being a thing of the past, but if we suddenly stop making them it'll date the album to this exact moment".

For whatever reason, that didn't seem to affect the end product though. :-\
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Offline TAC

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #97 on: May 03, 2021, 03:34:42 PM »
Seems I'm the lone Kill 'Em All vote..

That will always be my top album from them. The first time I heard Hit The Lights, with that intro, on the radio, I was amazed. Their entire Classic Era is great, but Kill 'Em All still rules for me.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline Dream Team

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #98 on: May 03, 2021, 03:39:36 PM »
Somebody takes a shit on a piece of paper and hangs it on a wall. Oh but it was the most SINCERE shit ever taken therefore it is ART.

Offline Dream Team

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #99 on: May 03, 2021, 03:40:57 PM »
Seems I'm the lone Kill 'Em All vote..

That will always be my top album from them. The first time I heard Hit The Lights, with that intro, on the radio, I was amazed. Their entire Classic Era is great, but Kill 'Em All still rules for me.

Yeah talk about raw and 10000% sincere.

Offline TAC

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #100 on: May 03, 2021, 03:50:37 PM »
Yup. Still the most badass first 35 seconds of any band's career.

Although Queen Of The Reich's intro is just as great!
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol

Offline soupytwist

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #101 on: May 03, 2021, 06:11:09 PM »
Well, I too think St. Anger might very well be their most 'sincere' album and it almost certainly is their most creative one.

I don't really get St Anger being their most creative - from my recollection most of the album sounded the same.  Regardless of your thoughts on Load/Reload the you cannot throw that critism at them!

Offline cfmoran13

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #102 on: May 03, 2021, 07:26:23 PM »
I had mentioned this in the other Metallica thread.  I think it might be better suited here...

There's a Metallica podcast called Metal Up Your Podcast (great title!), https://metalupyourpodcast.simplecast.com.  They have a 2-part interview with Mike Gillies (Bob Rock-s brother-in-law), a sound engineer who worked with Metallica in various capacities from The Black Album through Hardwired.  He goes in-depth on both the Load/Reload and St. Anger albums.  Some pretty cool minutiae.

Offline darkshade

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #103 on: May 03, 2021, 08:29:25 PM »
As for Metallica's discography, I'm definitely not a fan of St. Anger but I'd take a weird attempt at doing something different that ended up being a frankenstein's monster of an album (St. Anger) than a soulless attempt to recapture the glory from 20 years earlier and to get the fans back (Death Magnetic). Even something like Lulu is different enough where you'll get maybe 1 person out of 20 who genuinely likes the album and rates it high, even if the other 19 dislike it.

DM and Hardwired sound more like the natural follow ups to The Black Album. Everything in between was an identity crisis.

Offline TAC

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Re: Favorite Metallica Album?
« Reply #104 on: May 03, 2021, 08:32:22 PM »
Death Magnetic is great, and I have never understood why it catches flack.
would have thought the same thing but seeing the OP was TAC i immediately thought Maiden or DT related
Winger Theater Forums........or WTF.  ;D
TAC got a higher score than me in the electronic round? Honestly, can I just drop out now? :lol