On April 4th, co-inventors of thrash metal, Metallica, will be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 25 years to the day of the release of their debut LP Kill ‘Em All.
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(Photo: Jerry Rafaelidis)
On April 4th, co-inventors of thrash metal, Metallica, will be inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, 25 years to the day of the release of their debut LP Kill ‘Em All.
Tonight in the ramshackle home of the NHL’s last place and injury-plagued Islanders, lovingly referred to as “The Mausoleum” by frequent attendees, (an apt title this evening considering the enormous 8 main lighting/laser rigs in this packed-to-the-rafters arena are shaped like coffins) the veterans and future hall of famers hustled to the stage to a recording of Ennio Morricone’s “Ecstasy of Gold” from the Clint Eastwood flick The Good, The Bad And The Ugly….
For a moment, let’s take it back to 1991. The release of their self-titled instant Billboard No. 1 (certified platinum 15 times over) Black Album and every subsequent consecutive release debuting at No. 1, including their current Death Magnetic, to say the least altered their relationship with their base.
For many die-hard fans, Metallica had literally changed its tune. To head-bangers hell-bent on the incomparable excellence of the mixture of British new wave metal, speed, harmonized leads and drumming, innovative composition, and themes dealing in Lovecraftian monsters, religion, rage, drugs and the consignment of grunts serving in a forward area to death and the horrors of war explored on their first four LP’s, Metallica had gone from producing thrashing turgid thumpers to flaccid fairy tale fallacies. To them, with the help of former Bon Jovi producer Bob Rock, Metallica had essentially become Bon Jovi. To put this in perspective imagine: Dizzy Gillespie becoming Kenny G; The Supremes becoming The Spice Girls; Johnny Cash becoming Billy Ray Cyrus. This killed off a fair number of their die-hard followers.
Death Magnetic, produced by Rick Rubin, and the tour in support of it has and will continue to resurrect the fallen fans of Metallica’s first four LP’s, as evidenced by the band’s performance tonight.
Frontman James Hetfield’s singing and roaring was as powerful as ever and miraculously largely bereft of the “-ah” which had tended to suffix nearly every stanza: a major improvement. Lead guitarist Kirk Hammett was as always a national acrobat on his fretboard, playing utterly devastating solos on “Master of Puppets” and “Damage Inc.” both from their magnum opus Master of Puppets. Founder and drummer Lars Ulrich killed ‘em all on his kit. And bassist Robert Trujillo (formerly of hardcore punk outfit Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osborne’s touring band) and his astounding finger-style playing infected, especially the Death Magnetic material, with grooves heretofore absent from the band’s soundscape.
When Hetfield announced to the audience, “Let’s quit messing around and play something heavy. Come on!” he most assuredly did, and led the band the way back from mere hard rock chart-topping mainstream darlings to the heavy metal overlords they once were.
Setlist
1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End Of The Line
3. Creeping Death
4. The Thing That Should Not Be
5. One
6. Broken, Beat And Scarred
7. Cyanide
8. Sad But True
9. The Unforgiven
10. All Nightmare Long
11. The Day That Never Comes
12. Master Of Puppets
13. Damage Inc.
14. Nothing Else Matters
15. Enter Sandman
Encore:
16. Stone Cold Crazy (Queen cover)
17. Phantom Lord
18. Seek and Destroy
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