That album would have probably been better recieved if it wasn't released by metallica (a new snare sound wouldn't hurt either).
Just like countless other great bands, Metallica set the bar for too high for themselves on the first 5 records, that everything after that had a hard time standing up to those first 5.
Everything after that, while it might not be terrible, is just forgettable and always seems to fall flat in comparison.
i got to see them in Detroit on the Garage Inc tour at a small venue (2k people capacity)....that was killer, even if kirk hammet was on a stool the whole time cuz he just had surgery or something.