97-"Master of Puppets" by Metallica

Man, this was a throwback.

I loved Metallica in high school. I listened to their first couple albums obsessively, and learned a bunch of their stuff on electric bass. That said, I haven't listened to them a ton since then, as my musical tastes shifted both to more extreme death metal, and into rap and other genres. This was probably the first time I've re-listened to a full Metallica album since 2012 or so, and man, what a trip down memory lane. Everything about this album is great. It's melodic, heavy, aggressive, and epic. Metallica are one of the few bands who really mastered the art of composing metal songs with an almost symphonic quality. The long instrumental interlude in the middle of the title track is a great example, with its harmonic section leading in to a heavy breakdown, followed by truly epic guitar solo. Disposable Heroes is also a great track, with a handful of awesome thrashy riffs. Metal bands who can really make an eight minute track running time are few and far between (unfortunately, late-era Metallica tended to overdo the song lengths a bit), but these songs feel interesting and engaging the whole way through. Damage, Inc is a great way to end the album; maybe the most aggressive Metallica song ever written. Really great album- it absolutely earns its place in the Top 100 (though I'm pretty annoyed to see that nothing by Slayer appears in the Top 500... come on, Rolling Stone).