Dan & Billy welcome back longtime friend & Nostalgia Test Podcast Allstar Jeremy Madson for the final episode of the Metallica Eras journey, The Legacy Era: Death Magnetic, Hardwired...to Self-Destruct, & 72 Seasons and put them to the ultimate test—THE NOSTALGIA TEST!

“That's an interesting comparison, Metallica to The Beatles [...] The Beatles, depending on how you count them, were only around for, like, six or eight years, right? And they were hyper prolific. They put out all their shit, and that was basically Metallica from however you wanna measure it, from, from Kill 'Em All up to Black or even through Justice, right? They cranked out just, like, absolute pinnacle, God-level material. But instead of, you know, tearing each other down and going off and doing their own thing, they just decided to stick around.”
-Jeremy Madson

Dan, Billy, & Jeremy talk about the most recent albums of Metallica’s long and confusing career, Death Magnetic (2008), Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016), and 72 Seasons (2023). They try to figure out why Metallica made these albums, if they should’ve stopped after Death Magnetic, Metallica’s consistent cover art fails since Load, and why does Metallica insist on recording songs longer than 3.5 minutes at this point. Is Death Magnetics’ mixing really a problem, especially after Saint Anger or is it just some bulls**t to complain about? Their conversation inevitably returns to the influence of Lars on the band’s trajectory after the death of Cliff Burton and how the band might have imploded anyway if Cliff didn’t die. At the end of the episode, and this is an epic one so hang on and hangout, the guys give their individual rankings of all the studio albums from worst to best (minus LuLu, Garage Inc, & the live albums) and Jeremy creates an aggregate scoring of all 11 albums.

We hope you enjoy this final episode. Grab your concert T’s, your closets Metal friends, push yourself through the pit, and let’s scream our heads off together. Come chill!

Listen to the other Metallica Eras Episodes:

Listen to the episode that started it all:

128. 🤘Metallica's the Black Album w/ Longtime Friends Billy D'Elia & Jeremy Madson

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Approximate Rundown

00:00 Pre Show Setup

00:23 Planning The Format

01:50 Ranking Metallica Albums

02:55 Zoom Tech and Sweater Talk

04:21 Legacy Era Intro

05:55 Skipping Lulu

06:51 Release Timeline Shift

09:38 Metallica As Corporation

11:28 Death Magnetic Relief

13:13 Rick Rubin and Album Length

16:45 Bob Rock Debate

19:34 Death Magnetic Track Takes

26:24 Unforgiven Three Debate

31:07 Production Loudness War

33:13 Producer Pop Quiz

33:48 Fidelman and Death Magnetic

34:24 Death Magnetic Nostalgia Test

35:53 Unforgiven III S&M2 Gem

36:30 Hardwired Facts and Setup

37:48 Double Album Debate

38:42 Cover Art Roast Session

40:27 Hardwired Track Highlights

45:13 Filler Songs and Titles

46:48 Every Song Gets a Video

50:52 Kirk Riffs Lost and Aging Band

52:52 Hardwired Nostalgia Verdicts

56:12 72 Seasons Stats and Awards

57:50 72 Seasons Cover and Anxiety

59:23 Song Titles and Vocal Critique

01:01:57 Lux Aeterna and NWOBHM

01:03:27 Riffs Tease Then Stop

01:05:08 Justice Tone Fan Remix

01:06:36 Why Make New Albums

01:09:34 Mustaine Stays in Metallica

01:10:45 Fixing Metallica Song Lengths

01:12:21 Cliff Bob Rock and Decline

01:13:44 Bands That Still Deliver

01:15:34 Radiohead as a Counterexample

01:16:19 Jason Rob and Lars Control

01:18:36 Do We Need New Albums

01:23:26 72 Seasons Live vs Studio

01:27:43 Meh Verdict and Listener Qs

01:31:47 Kirk Hammett Respect Debate

01:38:42 Ranking the Discography Begins

01:41:22 Reload Roasted

01:42:27 Ranking Number Nine

01:43:58 Hardwired Cover Jokes

01:46:59 Sevens and Sixes

01:48:42 Death Magnetic Cutoff

01:55:05 Black Album Line

01:59:09 Kill Em All at Four

02:01:07 Top Three Debate

02:05:41 Justice vs Puppets

02:11:03 Aggregate Scores Revealed

02:14:49 Series Wrap Up

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The intro and outro music ('Neon Attack 80s') is by Emanmusic.

The Lithology Brewing ad music ("Red, White, Black, & Blue") is by PEG and the Rejected