What albums mark a sad moment in metal?

RTL feels like the awkward phase between the raw super thrashy KEA and the more powerful style and produced MoP. That and it has some of the worst filler of their early catalog (Fight Fire With Fire, Escape, Trapped Under Ice) while the worst/closest track to filler on MoP is Disposable Heroes, which is pretty solid in its own right.

MoP >AJFA > KEA > Black > RTL > the rest
Wut. So much wrong. RtL is anything but awkward. And the only song approaching filler that you listed is Escape.
 
this is totally one of those things where five years down the line youll be like WOW 2016 ME WAS AN IDIOT THIS RULES
Nah. I actually used to appreciate Kill Em All a lot more in the past than I do now. I appreciate the whole "sloppy, amateur speed/thrash" aesthetic they were going for, but in reality it's just a pretty lacking effort in comparison to other sloppy speed/thrash albums.

The only things Metallica released that I consider to be essential, are RTL to AJFA. All others are entirely optional.
 
When it comes to the first four Metallica albums, I can easily listen to Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning in their entirety -- I struggle through AJFA and MoP.
 
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Can't say I listen to Metallica much anymore, but I would go with Ride the Lightning and then Kill 'em All after. Despite this Phantom Lord is one of their best songs.
 
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Nirvana didn't do anything to metal, the 90's was just a very awkward period.

They definitely killed hair metal, but I guess hair metal had it coming. I had a real renewed interest in hair metal bands over the last few months, and listening to a lot of interviews they all (Whitesnake, Warrant, Poison, Ratt etc) talk about how suddenly everything changed, radio stopped playing them, labels dropped them and they had (mostly) went back to playing bars. In some ways sad, in other ways poetic justice for their arrogant flouncing...

As for Metallica, you guys must all be ancient if you can remember how 'sad' it was when the 'Black Album' came out, because I'm 36 and I still distinctly remember my mamma bringing spoilt, whiney, 12 year old requiem the 'Black Album' on tape as my basic entry point to metal after the aforementioned hair bands like Motley Crue and *cough* Poison. I sure as shit wasn't thinking, as my pudgy, chocolate stained fingers slid the cassette into the player after thanklessly snatching it from my harangued and under-appreciated mother, that this was a turning point for Metallica and something to be lamented.

It was the first I'd heard of the band or 'proper' metal after seeing 'Nothing Else Matters' on tv and I thought it was the dog's bollocks. It was only subsequently that I realised what had happened with Metallica. I distinctly remember when 'Load' came out though. Holy hell hahahaha.
 
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I was 9 when the Black Album came out but I still clearly remember my friend's older brother playing Enter Sandman for us and we were like Woah this is the hardest rock ever! while we watched him play Wolfenstein on the PC. I later got into Ride the Lightning at age 13, and it was too heavy for the same friend lol.
 
Hair and Glam metal was a fad. It was going to die eventually. Actually, it never died, because I'm blasting my Ratt "Out of the Cellar" LP and wishing all those djent bands sounded like that.

Absolutely it was a fad. A massive multi-million selling, stadium tour producing trend. Then 'Nevermind', 'Ten' and 'Dirt' came out and it died faster than any other music style I can think of. Like, total wipe out. Just amazing really.

And @Baroque I remember Wolfenstein as well, and I reckon by about the age 12.5 or 13 I had all the Metallica albums, mostly from friends on blank tapes. I never sent tapes anywhere so I can't claim 'tape trading' in the proper sense of the words, but my friends and I all shared and swapped blank tapes. It was the only way to hear music back in 1992. It was awesome. I had a friend who would actually take c.d sleeves and chop and paste them into cassette style sleeves. Amazing. Not sure why he would ruin a good c.d sleeve to make a frankenstein tape version, but I distinctly remember having Megadeth's 'So Far So Good So What' in this way. Half the lyrics to 'Mary Jane' were missing due to his scissor work and it used to shit me.
 
As for Metallica, you guys must all be ancient if you can remember how 'sad' it was when the 'Black Album' came out, because I'm 36 and I still distinctly remember my mamma bringing spoilt, whiney, 12 year old requiem the 'Black Album' on tape as my basic entry point to metal after the aforementioned hair bands like Motley Crue and *cough* Poison. I sure as shit wasn't thinking, as my pudgy, chocolate stained fingers slid the cassette into the player after thanklessly snatching it from my harangued and under-appreciated mother, that this was a turning point for Metallica and something to be lamented.
I was 17. I was already listening to death metal when the The Black Album came out. I was not impressed by the Bob Rock Schlock and James' mullet.
 
^ this

l loved Metallica in the 80's as much as the next guy, but then l discovered DM and Metallica went 'pop'.
l actually heard the Black album on a tape from a friend and heard it from side 2 first so the first tune l heard was
Dont tread on me, thinking that was the album opener. l wish it had have been.
Saying that there are good riffs on there its just not MOP or RTL good.
And anyone who says these 2 albums sound the same is retarded. RTL = Drenched in reverb MOP = Dry as fuck
but l probably prefer AJFA.
 
I've actually got a fair bit of respect for the dude from Nirvana after I saw that doco about him recently and it showed him and that slut of a wife of his going on a bender after their daughter Ballbag was born.