Personally I had no problem with Metallica's lyrics on their last few albums.
Low Man's Lyric, Devil's Dance, Outlaw Torn, Bleeding Me, Until it Sleeps, Hero of the Day, King Nothing, Memory Remains, Ronnie, Mama Said, House that Jack Built, all have great lyrics in my opinion.
Like was said before if anyone other than Metallica released Load and Reload they would be great albums. Especially compared to today's bands. But being released by Metallica they fell short of the expectations of Metallica.
But I still own Load and wouldn't mind buying Reload.