AJFA is way better than Ride The Lightning, also Death Magnetic is goated
Death Magnetic is goated but come on Ride the Lightning has Fade to Black, For Whom the Bell Tolls, Ride The Lightning, Trapped Under Ice and Creeping Death! I'm not sure if One, Blackered, Eye of the Beholder and And Justice For All can top that! I guess we're cool as long as we can agree to put these albums above Fuel, Refuel, Black Album and Master of Puppets.
I'm not one of those guys that's like "holy shit Metallica is a sellout!", I don't think the Black Album was, but they surely got rid of their thrash metal roots in a favor of a more accessible sound
But yeah, they made AJFA and never recovered, it's their most complex and progressive album and it's my personal favorite. Ride The Lightning is also a masterpiece, Master of Puppets is considered the quintessential thrash album, but I still like AJFA more