Metallica + Avenged Sevenfold

With its name scrawled in the margins of countless high school notebooks and a catalog of songs that have achieved veritable classic rock status, Metallica has weathered decades of heavy metal history with relative grace. Sure, there have been well-documented breakdowns, band therapy sessions and faulty microphones, but what's metal without a bit of well-placed anger? Metallica's latest album, Hardwired...To Self-Destruct is a calculated throwback to the rapid tempos and thrashing riffs of the band's early days. The latest material might sound a bit forced at times, but the group clearly knows its strengths—played alongside "Master of Puppets" in a rowdy arena, you'll hardly notice the difference.