The black album is almost unlistenable to me. The drums sound good (considering its Lars playing them) and the bass sound is great (but too low in the mix)... even the vocals are ok. But the guitar sounds awful. It's a thin sheet of distortion. Not huge at all. I need a low/fat mix when it comes to heaviness, the black album is the opposite.
Not to mention the songs are boring and have no movement (i.e. the beginning of every song has the same feel/mood/energy as the end of that song). Riff writing? A+. Songwriting and arrangement? D-.
Metallica has been overshadowed in virtuosity, songwriting, energy, and production by countless other bands today. They are a dinosaur, and there is no way their new album will hold up to metalhead's current standards. I highly doubt the new one can top Megade
ath's (had to include an "a" or else the forum puts in a smiley to make it look like Mega
) latest in terms of respect in the metal community, not sales figures. Modern rock radio and clueless mall-shopping fanboys will gobble it up, but of course these are the same people who listen to bands like Hinder and Seether and other awful garbage like that.