Metallica made their long-awaited return this year with their 11th studio album 72 Seasons, a dense, epic slab of noise and turmoil that proves once again why they’re the biggest metal band in history.
No other band have a back catalogue that's as venerated as that of the Bay Area icons, from their game-changing debut Kill ’Em All, through 80s thrash landmarks Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets, to 1991’s world-beating Metallica (aka the Black Album). While the subsequent albums haven’t been held in quite the same regard, the likes of Load, Reload, Death Magnetic and Hardwired… To Self-Destruct are still the kind of records most other bands would kill to have made. Hell, even some people would defend St Anger to the death.
But what’s the greatest Metallica album of all time? This is where you come in. Rather than rank them in order of greatness ourselves, we've decided to throw it open to Metalli-fans everywhere.
We’ve listed all 11 of their studio albums, plus the Garage Inc covers set and the two S&M live albums. All you have to do is pick your favourite. To make it fair, we've given you three choices, because we’re kind like that.
And that’s it. Cast your vote below and check back in soon to see what came out on top…