This album deserves no less than 5 stars, 100%, however you want to put it. It is a masterpiece, each song perfectly crafted with power, agression and emotion. When I first bought this i had high expectations of it, as it was a Metallica album after all. But i never thought it would be so good. The drummer (Lars Ulrich) astounds me in every song with the perfection of his strong drumming which i have never heard so good. James Hetfield (vocals/rhythm guitarist/co-song writer) is equally astounding with the amazing heavy and melodic riffs he wacks out and some of the most original and touching lyrics inside his powerful vocals. The fact he can do both at once is pure talent. Lead guitar is also great and fairly frequent, keeping each song nothing less than perfect. Metallica's black album is the real beast of heavy metal and no metal-head can call themselves by that name unless they have witnessed or own this 'brainwashingly' good album. Linkin Park sound like S Club 7 next to this, and i am not joking! Just buy it and you will see what i mean...