God damn it skankhunt ! <| sep |> How about biggest metal releases this fall ? Its been busyAvenged Sevenfold The Stage A great return to form from the disappointment of the easy rock singles of Hail to the King . Songwriting lyrically and musically has taken a turn to progressive metal and its great . Not the best work of a 7 x but I ' ll take it over Nightmare and Hail to the King . Korn The Serenity of Suffering This is my pick for album of the year . A magnificent return to the glory days of Korn . Everything you cried about when you heard The Path of Totality . Every song is catchy in its own right as far as the hook goes and the lyrics are everything you could want from a Korn song . This is some of Korns best work , their songwriting is stronger than ever . I feel my preteen angst anew once more ! In Flames Battles Overall , mediocre album . If you hated siren charms , you will not like this one . It is heavier than Siren Charms but it is similar otherwise . Some memorable hooks and riffs but not what you would expect from the melodeath titans of In Flames . Metallica Hardwired . To Self Destruct Another disappointing album after 8 years of waiting for redemption of Death Magnetic . Every single song sounds the same with very little variation in tempo , dynamics , and chug guitar riffs . A solid release , but no imagination or originality . It is hard to believe this is the same band with classics like One , Fade to Black , Master of Puppets , Ride the Lightning etc . The best part of this album was the inclusion of live tracks of some of their better work from days clearly long gone .