Metallica has gained and lost fans in recent years because of their 'new ways' to deal with music. St. Anger is something very different... it is not a return to the Metallica of old, but it has nothing to do with the recent productions like Load and Re-Load: it is raw heavy metal, thought and played to make you bang your head. Pretty good, musically speaking. There is, however, the inevitable downside: very very few of the songs have good or at least interesting lyrics: too repetitive, to shallow and sometimes too disconnected. A sad downside, since most of us expect intelligent lyrics with strong music attached. The companion DVD is a smart move and a great addition to the CD. My final recommendation is: get it, it is a very nice CD and hopefully the start of a tendency for the band.