What's weird about St Anger is that the studio clips in Some Kind Of Monster mainly sound miles better than the album release... Not a great collection of songs even without the production kneecapping but it had potential to at least not be rotten. The version of the album on the DVD, which I think was recorded as live takes in the studio, is miles better...
But, every time a disappointing Metallica album comes out I always think "That's them gone rubbish"- and then I see them live again and they're still fantastic. So I doubt the next album will change that... First time I saw them was at Milton Keynes in 99, after Sepultura, Symposium and Pitchshifter I was pretty much knackered and ready to go home... And by halfway through the first song (which my distorted memory tells me was Master of Puppets, but could have been anything) all doubt was gone.
So I'll listen to the album, but I'll be as much of a metallica fan after as before regardless.