Monday night: Metallica

The 2004 documentary Some Kind Of Monster got credit for exposing the private side of Metallica's transformation from metal godhead into a pack of spoiled, creatively arthritic millionaires, but from Load to Napster-bashing—milestones so widely reviled that their names alone signify shark-jumping—that shift was already public knowledge. Say what you will about 2003's St. Anger, the troubled, willfully tuneless record whose creation Monster documented: As a group-therapy session and creative reset button, it was the only honest thing Metallica could've written at the time.

Death Magnetic, on the other hand, is the record Metallica—playing tonight at the Bradley Center—had to write to stay relevant after St. Anger's tragic group portrait. Ditching longtime producer (and long-suspected weak link) Bob Rock for rock-star-crisis expert Rick Rubin, the band positioned itself for renewal even before entering the studio. And in reconciling the moody, contemplative hooks of 1991's self-titled pop-breakthrough (a.k.a. "the black album") with the searing solos, punch-press rhythms, and sheer balls of 1988's …And Justice For All, it's ultimately proved that Metallica can still be Metallica.

Death Magnetic's first three tracks are a master class in the formula, with "The End Of The Line" evoking a mind-meld between Master Of Puppets' "Disposable Heroes" and the black album's "Sad But True" (particularly in James Hetfield's vocal phrasing). "All Nightmare Long" and "The Judas Kiss" serve up searing, '80s-style thrash dosed with Kirk Hammett's wah-driven soloing, and even the lead single, "The Day That Never Comes," salvages its turgid opening with a lead-soaked closing blitzkrieg. Still, even if you agree with the big music magazines that ranked Death Magnetic among the best albums of the year, it’s tough to make the argument that Metallica has produced a truly classic song in nearly 20 years, a fact the band tacitly recognizes in concert by focusing mostly on '80s material. So, even if you hated Death Magnetic, you'll probably still love them tonight.