pbthal's rips have never struck me as bright. Quite the opposite, actually: some of his older rips were a tad rolled-off in the highs. His more recent rips have been superb, however. I've only grabbed a few, since the majority haven't interested me, but many of his rips have placed themselves as my favorite versions of those respective albums. Pink Floyd - Animals, Yes - Going For The One, Led Zeppelin II, Alan Parsons Project - Turn of a Friendly Card, a few Beatles albums... these are where pbthal's source vinyl, recording process, and gear have produced the finest results I've heard anywhere.
And with the Metallica, as I said, I don't know their albums well, so I can't speak to the differences between pbthal's rips and any other versions, but Kill 'Em All sounded superb. I'll be checking his rip of Ride The Lightning against the DCC release when I have some time, but it's worth noting that when I've compared pbthal's rips against some MoFi copies of matching albums, I've had great difficulty telling them apart. Quite a testament to his work with some good early generation vinyl.
I think he's done some Judas Priest and Slayer. I'm not particularly interested in either band, but those of you who are should check those out.