Sarx, you're full of it. Metallica have been around long enough to prove that they are the masters of their style, but they're musicians, dammit, not music producing droids. They have a right to go where the music takes takes them, and they've certainly earned it. I would hate it if someone criticized me for playing a different style than my main one. That's their ignorance speaking. I get tired of playing metal and instrumental rock sometimes, and then I mess around with jazz or classical. Kirk said in an article that many people have told them to do another Master of Puppets, but he said its been done and they want to move on and evolve as musicians, and I agree with him.

To say that they've succumbed to mainstream music is invalid, as well. No one except them knows how they feel about what they're doing or why they're doing it, and to call them greedy is just rediculous.