I remember way back in the day after the Black Album, everyone was praying Metallica wouldn't go downhill - then MTV aired Until It Sleeps and they changed to that stupid star/jagged metal pointed symbol and it was all over for most of us.
I wrote them off for a very long time as sell outs, and never really expected them to touch anything they were doing back in their thrashy days - especially with Burton, who was the main focus of how heavy they really were live (if you had the pleasure of seeing them play when Cliff was still alive, he was a head banging machine), gone after the bus accident.
I won't listen to any of their stuff after The Black Album, in fact I think The Black Album was also a load of crap. Their best stuff to this day still remains Kill Em' All, Ride The Lightning, Master Of Puppets, And Justice For All...
This album is the first thing they've put out that I've listened to all the way through, and more than once. While it doesn't touch upon the other guys like Testament and Exodus who have stuck to their guns for all of these years, in a day and age where the old school melodic thrash is dying out to blast beats and screaming - this album is a breath of fresh air.
EDIT: I never let who the guys are affect my interpretation of the music. After being a roadie for Pantera a while I came to the realization that most musicians are giant douche bags, and if you let who they are and how they act affect how you perceive their music you'll pretty much wind up not listening to anything. The one thing I could not stand over their last few albums was James tremolo/vibrato crap he kept doing, and he's pretty much stopped it completely in this album. Which is a huge step forward to me.