40 ATLAS, RISE!
Metallica
In 2003 Metallica released the tortuous St. Anger, in 2008 the overwrought Death Magnetic, and in 2011, in collaboration with Lou Reed, the downright weird art-rock experiment Lulu. Then with 2016’s Hardwired… To SelfDestruct, Metallica’s fourth album of the 21st century, came a triumphant return to form (the seventh-best-selling album of 2016 in the US), illustrated most powerfully by a track as epic as its title suggested: Atlas, Rise! It had the genius-level riffing of Master Of Puppets and, in its passages of twin lead guitars, an echo of Iron Maiden, a band that had a profound influence on Metallica. They hadn’t sounded as great as this since the Black Album. PE From: Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, 2016