We present an extensive Monte Carlo investigation of the metastable lifetime through the reversal of the magnetization of the spin-s Ising and Blume-Capel models, where s = {1/2, 1, 3/2, 2, 5/2, 3, 7/2}. The mean metastable lifetime (or reversal time) is studied as a function of the applied magnetic field and for both models is found to obey the Becker-Döring theory, as was initially developed for the case of the s = 1/2 Ising ferromagnet within the classical nucleation theory. We have also studied the decay of the metastable volume fraction which nicely follows Avrami's law for all values of s and for both models. For the case of the Blume-Capel model, the integral behavior of the mean metastable lifetime as function of the temperature (T ) and single-ion anisotropy (∆) shows a monotonic variation of the surface (reversal surface) in a three-dimensional plot. Interestingly, the reversal surface appears to be insensitive to the T − ∆ phase boundary of the ferromagnetic-paramagnetic transition of the Blume-Capel ferromagnet.