Um... no. There is a reason why every Metallica album has gone double platinum, and every album since Black has been #1 on the charts in the US and Trivium hasn't. Metallica hasn't gotten terribly worse since Black (well except for St. Anger that was garbage)... but their sound has changed. Metal in general (or at least my opinion of metal) is that it has gotten much darker and heavier... too much screaming and noise. Metallica has moved in the other direction, lightened up. To block your response: you might like Trivium better, but that is your personal opinion. Just like I think just about everything is better than the Jonas Brothers (ok, maybe they tie with Fall Out Boy ), while my 10 year old niece is in love with them.
Every Metallica album since black has gone #1 cause people purchase it not realizing that it isn't metal even more.
If you think Metallica isn't metal, then you clearly have a different interpretation of what metal is than me. I can think of a few bands which are lighter sounding than Metallica that I would still consider metal. Metal is a very broad music category. It goes from the hardest of hard rock (hard rock and metal have have some overlap) all the way to as deep and heavy as you can possibly imagine. Just because Metallica has chosen to ride closer to hard rock then other metal bands doesn't make them not a metal band.
I wanted to rez this thread because I think this CD requires an updated discussion. I had it for a month and only listened to it once. Meh I thought. Then I played it a few times around Xmas due to my brother's urging. It's pretty damn good actually; each listen is better. Definitely the best since the black album, maybe even Justice. It has great solos, double-kick thrashing, melodic moments, and James' growling voice is better than it has been in years. The three prior albums did suck, and I almost didn't get this as a result. But Death Magnetic makes up for those years of suckage.
Hmm. The previews didn't really leave me too convinced. First single from the album seemed OK but didn't impress me that much either... and the solo, well hm. But it might just be my ambivalence towards their old-school thrash style - I do have to consider that I was one of the heathens who thought most of the songs on Load were actually pretty good. (Its sequel... not so much.)