Point is, not in the astrophycisists’ use of the word (and not really in any other use either – metallic hydrogen is not a metal, just behaves in some aspects l

Point is, not in the astrophycisists’ use of the word (and not really in any other use either – metallic hydrogen is not a metal, just behaves in some aspects like metal). To astrophysicists, hydrogen is not a metal by definition, which is literally "everything except hydrogen and helium". No matter how exotic a phase. Nb. The subset of astronomers who call everything after helium "metals" is mostly disjoint from the subset that’s interested in gas giant interiors.