Editing Metallica (album) (section)

== Critical reception ==

{{Music ratings
|rev1 = [[AllMusic]]
|rev1score = {{Rating|4.5|5}}<ref name="AllMusic">{{cite web|last=Huey|first=Steve|title=Metallica: ''Metallica''|website=[[AllMusic]]|url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/r12993|access-date=December 5, 2007|archive-date=July 18, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110718103141/http://www.allmusic.com/album/r12993|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev2 = ''[[Chicago Tribune]]''
|rev2score = {{Rating|3.5|4}}<ref name="Kot">{{cite news|last=Kot|first=Greg|author-link=Greg Kot|date=December 1, 1991|url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1991/12/01/a-guide-to-metallicas-recordings/|title=A Guide to Metallica's Recordings|newspaper=[[Chicago Tribune]]|access-date=July 28, 2013|archive-date=September 27, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130927224542/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1991-12-01/entertainment/9104180330_1_star-cliff-burton-classic-status|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev3 = ''[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]''
|rev3score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Larkin">{{cite book|last=Larkin|first=Colin|author-link=Colin Larkin (writer)|year=2006|title=[[Encyclopedia of Popular Music]]|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|page=725|isbn=0-19-531373-9|edition=4th|volume=5}}</ref>
|rev4 = ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]''
|rev4score = B+<ref name="EW">{{cite magazine|first=David|last=Browne|title=Metallica Review|url=http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315172,00.html|magazine=[[Entertainment Weekly]]|date=August 16, 1991|access-date=May 26, 2012|archive-date=January 22, 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130122144557/http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,315172,00.html|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|rev5 = ''[[Los Angeles Times]]''
|rev5score = {{Rating|3.5|5}}<ref name="Gold"/>
|rev6 = ''[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock]]''
|rev6score = {{Rating|5|5}}<ref>{{cite book|editor-first=Gary|editor-last=Graff|editor-link=Gary Graff|title=[[MusicHound|MusicHound Rock: The Essential Album Guide]]|publisher=[[Visible Ink Press]]|location=Detroit|year=1996|isbn=0787610372|chapter=Metallica}}</ref>
|rev7 = ''[[Pitchfork (website)|Pitchfork]]''
|rev7score = 7.7/10<ref name="pfrev">{{cite web|last1=Camp|first1=Zoe|title=Metallica: Metallica Album Review|url=http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/metallica-metallica/|website=pitchfork.com|access-date=July 9, 2017|archive-date=July 9, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170709110410/http://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/metallica-metallica/|url-status=live}}</ref>
|rev8 = ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]''
|rev8score = {{Rating|3|5}}<ref name="ReferenceA">''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'', October 1991</ref>
|rev9 = ''[[Rolling Stone]]''
|rev9score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="Palmer">{{cite magazine|last=Palmer|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Palmer (American writer)|date=August 12, 1991|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/metallica-19970121|title=Metallica Album Review|magazine=[[Rolling Stone]]|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=May 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160506172933/http://www.rollingstone.com/music/albumreviews/metallica-19970121|url-status=dead}}</ref>
|rev10 = ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]''
|rev10score = {{Rating|4|5}}<ref name="ReferenceB">''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'', September 1991</ref>
}}

''Metallica'' was met with widespread acclaim from both heavy metal journalists and mainstream publications, including ''[[NME]]'', ''[[The New York Times]]'', and ''[[The Village Voice]]''.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8fm8mN58lQC&pg=PA334|access-date=January 28, 2014|title=Enter Night: A Biography of Metallica|last=Wall|first=Mick|page=334|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishers|Macmillan]]|date=May 10, 2011|isbn=978-1429987035|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=Q8fm8mN58lQC&pg=PA334#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> In ''[[Entertainment Weekly]]'', [[David Browne (journalist)|David Browne]] called it "rock's preeminent speed-metal cyclone", and said, "Metallica may have invented a new genre: progressive thrash".<ref name="EW"/> ''[[Q (magazine)|Q]]'' magazine's Mark Cooper said he found the album's avoidance of metal's typically clumsy metaphors and glossy production refreshing; he said, "Metallica manage to rekindle the kind of intensity that fired the likes of Black Sabbath before metal fell in love with its own cliches".<ref name="ReferenceA"/> ''[[Select (magazine)|Select]]'' magazine's David Cavanagh believed the album lacks artifice and is "disarmingly genuine".<ref name="ReferenceB"/> In his review for ''[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]'', [[Alec Foege]] found the music's harmonies vividly performed and said that Metallica showcase their "newfound versatility" on songs such as "The Unforgiven" and "Holier than Thou".<ref>{{cite journal|last=Foege|first=Alec|author-link=Alec Foege|date=September 1991|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=b4qmcLhXEsYC&pg=PA98|title=Spins|journal=[[Spin (magazine)|Spin]]|location=New York|access-date=July 28, 2013|pages=98–99|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=b4qmcLhXEsYC&pg=PA98#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref> Robert Palmer, writing in ''[[Rolling Stone]]'', said that several songs sound like "hard-rock classics" and that, apart from "Don't Tread on Me", ''Metallica'' is an "exemplary album of mature but still kickass rock & roll".<ref name="Palmer"/> In his guide to Metallica's albums up to that point, [[Greg Kot]] of the ''[[Chicago Tribune]]'' recommended the album as "a great place for Metallica neophytes to start, with its more concise songs and explosive production."<ref name="Kot"/>

Some reviewers had reservations. Jonathan Gold, in the ''[[Los Angeles Times]]'', said that while Metallica had embraced pop sensibilities "quite well", there was a sense the group was "no longer in love with the possibilities of its sound" on an album whose difficulty being embraced by the "metal cult" mirrored [[Electric Dylan controversy|Bob Dylan going electric]] in the mid-1960s.<ref name="Gold">{{cite news|last=Gold|first=Jonathan|date=August 11, 1991|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1991-08-11-ca-1010-story.html|title=Advisory to Metallica Fans: It's a Pop Band Now|newspaper=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 8, 2016|archive-date=August 6, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160806150722/http://articles.latimes.com/1991-08-11/entertainment/ca-1010_1_metallica-fan|url-status=live}}</ref> More critical was [[Robert Christgau]], who wrote in his "Consumer Guide" for ''The Village Voice'' that he "put James Hetfield out of his misery in under five plays" of the album and that he "found life getting shorter with every song".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj91.php|title=Robert Christgau: Pazz & Jop 1991: Reality Used to be a Friend of Ours|access-date=April 25, 2018|archive-date=June 16, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200616182804/https://www.robertchristgau.com/xg/pnj/pj91.php|url-status=live}}</ref> In his 2000 collection ''[[Christgau's Consumer Guide]]'', Christgau later graded ''Metallica'' a "dud", indicating "a bad record whose details rarely merit further thought".<ref name="Christgau">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xVQbszFuEGMC&pg=PA205|access-date=July 28, 2013|title=Christgau's Consumer Guide: Albums of the '90s|last=Christgau|first=Robert|author-link=Robert Christgau|year=2000|pages=xvi, 205|publisher=[[Macmillan Publishing|Macmillan]]|isbn=0312245602|archive-date=September 16, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240916120454/https://books.google.com/books?id=xVQbszFuEGMC&pg=PA205#v=onepage&q&f=false|url-status=live}}</ref>