Daniel’s Picks of Underrated Metallica Gems From Every Album

Since 1981, Metallica has been rocking the WORLD & has released 10 studio albums, 8 live albums, countless music videos & as someone who's listened to ALL of the Metallica albums... I'm gonna pick, what I think, are the most underrated Metallica song from EVERY single studio album Metallica has ever released. So I think it's only fitting that we start from the beginning...

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Kill 'Em All (1983) [No Remorse]: Metallica came out of the gate STRONG with their debut. When you think of songs like Jump in the Fire, Whiplash, Seek & Destroy, it's definitely a contender for one of the best debut albums in the world of metal. Some of my favorite songs are on this record but I have to go with the song that inspired the soundtrack for the video game DOOM, No Remorse.

Ride the Lightning (1984) [Fight Fire With Fire]: Metallica opening tracks have usually been absolutely EXPLOSIVE (for example, Whiplash, Battery & Enter Sandman) & for the Ride the Lightning, Fight Fire With Fire is NO exception. Not to mention it's one of the FASTEST Metallica songs to date...

Master of Puppets (1986) [Leper Messiah]: The last album to feature the late, great Cliff Burton but my GOD what an album... an album regardless to be one of the best (if not THE BEST) thrash metal album ever & to be honest... it's a little hard picking an underrated gem because almost every song has been shown A TON of love; Battery, Orion, The Thing That Should Not Be & of course Master of Puppets. But... there is one that gets overlooked just a bit & I think it needs more recognition...

...And Justice For All (1989) [The Frayed Ends of Sanity]: After losing Cliff Burton, Jason Newsted stepped in & in my opinion, did a better job I think anyone would've expected. It was hard picking ONE underrated song cause there are a few from this album but I think the one that people DEFINITELY should talk about more? The Frayed Ends of Sanity.

Metallica (The Black Album) (1991) [The God That Failed]: Their most successful album that made Metallica a household name EVERYWHERE gave us some of their BIGGEST hits to date. But after listening to the album (literally dozens of times) there's one song that I always come back to & I can explain why in three words... Jason Newsted's Bass.

Load (1996) [The Outlaw Torn]: A dramatic change in Metallica's sound, bringing in less metal and more hard rock to their sound. But after listening to the whole album... I can understand why people found this polarizing but you really get an appreciation in Metallica showing they're not just metalheads, they're appreciators of all kinds of music. And the best example of this is shown on the closing track of Load...

Reload (1998) [Devil's Dance]: Once again, Jason shines on this song. His basslines really added color to Metallica's music & I think Devil's Dance proves that he truly really was the right fit for Metallica, to keep the legacy alive through the 90s.

St. Anger (2003) (Sweet Amber): All drum jokes aside, St. Anger WAS Metallica's most emotional album back in the day (& still to this day). While it is a shame we couldn't get any guitar solos on the album, the one song that people would agree is a stand out track is Sweet Amber (partially thanks to the breakdown at the end).

Death Magnetic (2008) [Suicide & Redemption]: What's better than a Kirk Hammett solo? How about Kirk AND James soloing in the SAME song? Ignoring the issues in the production & how it sounds, Death Magnetic was a refreshing return to their thrash metal sound (& honestly one of my favorite albums by Metallica). But I think this song definitely deserves a lot more love (& just imagine seeing Metallica perform this song LIVE).

Hardwired...to Self Destruct (2016) [Halo on Fire]: The latest Metallica album released, at the time of writing this article, & it is proof that Metallica has STILL got it after 35 years. Most of the songs were released as singles but there's one I love hearing, (& that includes the S&M2 version) &  a good friend of mine, Edgar Rodriguez, is featured as an extra in the video.