1. Megadeth - Risk
2. Metallica - St. Anger
3. Sepultura - Nation
4. Slipknot - Volume 3
5. Pretty much any generic death metal band.

Slipknot Vol.3? I have no love for Slipknot by any stretch of the imagination, but compared to the first album, Vo.3 is not too shabby. At least they diluted the need to make 8-year olds think they were cool. Didn't get rid of it, mind you, but diluted it.

To be honest, I've never seriously heard Slipknot's first two albums. But after hearing the rave reviews Volume 3 was getting, I listened to it a little over a year ago and was bored to tears by it.

Trust me, it's nothing compared to the Krakatoa of shit that is the self-titled. Of course you could argue that an album that bored you to tears is even worse as you don't even remember it.

What I remember of it is that it had a very weak guitar sound.

and I don't want to make knee-jerk entries like "St Anger" without hearing the album in it's entirety

Dude let me save you the time it's like wiping your ass with sandpaper it's not worth it just trust us we know what we are talking about that album sucks so bad it makes a shit stained piece of toilet paper look like a work of art.

Is it really as bad as people say? of what I've heard (frantic, title track, some kind of monster) I'd give about 30%, because SKOM had one good riff.

Is it really as bad as people say?

There are some good riffs on St. Anger, the problem is every song on the album repeats the same few riffs over and over again for 7-8 minutes each. There's also no solos to break up the monotony, Bob Rock is playing Bass(badly) for some reason, Lars sounds like he's banging on a Trash Can and Water Jugs, and Hetfield is wailing like a wounded cat through the whole thing. For such an accomplished band like Metallica, it truly is an embarrassment.

No way. Clean up the production, give Jaymz singing lessons and reduce the song lengths a bit and we're talking a solid 20-25% raise in overall score. I mean, it would still kind of suck, but there are some truly great and memorable parts on there that prevent it from being the worst thing ever created or whatever. "And the unnamed feeling...that cooooomes alive..." - fucking great chorus for one and all of Sweet Amber is pretty damn solid overall too...there are other examples as well.

No way. Clean up the production, give Jaymz singing lessons and reduce the song lengths a bit and we're talking a solid 20-25% raise in overall score. I mean, it would still kind of suck, but there are some truly great and memorable parts on there that prevent it from being the worst thing ever created or whatever. "And the unnamed feeling...that cooooomes alive..." - fucking great chorus for one and all of Sweet Amber is pretty damn solid overall too...there are other examples as well.