Here is myself with James Hetfield back in 2009
They are my favorite band ever and the reason Heavy Metal is my favorite genre. I can understand a lot of people not liking the material they produced post black album and even to some post AJFA but for me there is some amazing material they recorded since then. In particular both Bleeding Me and The Outlaw Torn off of 1996's Load are amazing pieces of music.
As per the band today James and Rob are easily the best out of all four of them. Even though James' voice ain't what it used to be his guitar playing is still on point and Rob well he's always been a monster on the bass. Kirk has his moments but my issue with him is his over use of the wah pedal and especially on solos that weren't recorded with the wah at all. I have a feeling he uses it a lot to mask either not remembering how to play a songs solo correctly or as a way to mask mistakes he makes while playing them. As per Lars he will freely admit that he doesn't practice much in his free time and also has said he never actually learned the proper techniques during the 80's and relied heavily his youth to get him through gigs and recording which is why his playing style is a lot more simpler than that of his contemporaries. He is definitely the weakest link in the band live. However he is pretty damn good at songwriting I'll grant him that.
I've seen the band countless times live and they have yet to disappoint.
Kirk Hammett is the nicest musician I've ever met. We both spent almost 30 minutes talking about our mutual love of the horror genre and I will always cherish that.
And lastly I don't bother arguing with anyone anymore who talks shit about the band granted there is some legitimate criticisms that could be levied at them. It's just a lot of people who hate on them do so because it is the fashionable thing to do. Alright I'll shut up now about them