Metallica • Metallica
Warner Brothers 511831-1
Four 45-RPM 180 g LPs
Despite being eponymously-titled, Metallica (also referred to as The Black Album) is not Metallica’s first album: it is their fifth. The music is, as you’d probably expect hard rock/heavy metal, but just to keep listeners on their toes, the balladic Nothing Else Matters is also present. The album’s opening track is the classic Enter the Sandman.
The sound quality is surprisingly good. The bass and kick drum thunder away (and the cymbals are a bit hard-sounding), but unlike their 2008 album, Death Magnetic—which became a poster-child for the campaign against the loudness wars—this album has a respectable dynamic range. If you’re a Metallica fan, this is the version to get!