Metallica does not play heavy metal music.
Metallica is an American heavy metal band based in San Rafael , California . The band 's fast tempos , instrumentals , and aggressive musicianship placed them as one of the founding `` big four '' bands of thrash metal , alongside Megadeth , Anthrax and Slayer . Metallica earned a growing fan base in the underground music community and won critical acclaim with its first four albums ; their third album Master of Puppets ( 1986 ) was described as one of the most influential and heaviest of thrash metal albums . Metallica ( commonly known as The Black Album ) is the fifth studio album by American heavy metal band Metallica .