Its not even close. The black album was the stone that tripped Metallica and started their fall. Its not even a metal album unless you're one of those who consider ac/dc metal. If it is, its the easy listening, elevator musak version of metal.

It marks where Metallica decided mass radio play was better than developing thrash further.

It marked the point where they decided fans were the enemy. Just a sack of dollar bills to exploit. Where they got in with the RIAA on order to sue fans because they were ing a song that they could, and just a few years prior were exclusively, just record off the radio onto a tape - while pretending that grabbing it from Napster would cause them millions in damage vs recording it off the radio, which apparently didn't hurt them at all.

The Black album is where Metallica gave up and decided being musicians wasn't nearly as worthwhile as just being a show. Where a lot of old fans gave up on them.

Now, you can tell me they went back to being metal eventually, that they took up the standard oc thrash again, and i'll take your word for it, as i havent touched anything of theirs since. Once they decided half their fans were the enemy, i followed their lead and treated them the same. There's enough metal out there that i don't need to worry about a few thrashers who decided to flirt with dadrock level hard rock, even if they did return to the fold.

Nicole has it right, the Guarxmds subseries would probably be the best ones to start with, as it contains the most byplay with the factions with the least amount of fantastical elements to make production difficult. Either that or the Von Lipwig storyline. Its similar in that way, tho shorter than the full Guards. Plus, there's already a suprisingly decent version of Going Postal out there.

. Don't get me wrong, i love the wizards and the witches, but those require a lot more fx and a lot more buy in from the audience. The Death stories are probably in between those two extremes.

Agreed. I like Jackie Earl, but he's no Freddy. Unlike the vast majority of slashers, who become iconic through their presence, Freddy was uniquely successful because of his *personality*. Any replacement HAS to be able to recapture that, whereas Jason and Mikey only need an actor with an intimidating presence (though quality can still matter here, Hodder had a way about him that's hard to beat).