Heavy Metal

Welcome, gentle Metalhead, to a whistlestop tour of Metallica’s long and winding career. The band who brought Thrash to the world. Four guys who delivered some of the most iconic metal albums of the 1980’s (and early 90’s).

Think of this as the ‘Behind The Music’ with a difference – this is the untold story of Metallica. Because it’s the untrue story of Metallica.

Find out how Metallica formed, how Dave Mustaine got literally ‘ejected’ from the band and find out the real story behind the Metallica v Napster court case.

Garage Days

It’s 1981, and friendless tennis geek Lars Ulrich hit upon a plan to recruit some mates – he was going to start a band. Initially he was inspired by a British musical movement and decided to start a skiffle group with himself on lead washboard. However, upon meeting be-mulletted son-of-a-truck-driver James Hetfield, Lars decided to seek out a heavier sound.

And thanks to a faulty gramophone playing Black Sabbath at too quick a speed, the thrash genre was born. It wasn’t a stroke of genius, Ulrich just didn’t realise the record player was screwed.

Just when I was crying out for a head-clearing blast of metal, I got an email this afternoon about these Canadian metallers A Skylit Drive (contradiction in terms? I think not!) and their new single, Those Cannons Could Sink A Ship.

It's a slab of really heavy, melodic rock, with an accompanying video shot in the Blair Witch style. If you're not familiar with the band, check out the video below.

Those Canons Could Sink A Ship is from A Skylit Drive's second studio album Adelphia. You can listen to more of their music over on PureVolume.

The spiky-ended Metallica logo is one of the most instantly recognizable logos in rock. It's been cast in metal, rendered in marble, and almost completely invisible on the Black Album cover.

You may or may not know this, but James Hetfield designed the original Metallica logo way back in the dark ages of the band. The classic design brings the beginning and end letters into long, sharp points, while the letters in the middle have a solid, block appearance. The only deviation is the middle 'A', which seems to lean up against the 'L' which follows it.

Early Days

Most people's first glimpse of the Metallica logo would have been on their 1983 debut album, Kill 'Em All. This is the logo at its most simple: no textures, just flat red text framing the top of the album cover.

This fits in quite well with the stark black, white and red picture of a bloodstained hammer. It also established a precedent where the band's name would frame whatever image they put on the album cover.

Metallica easily take the crown as “The Masters Of Metal” in their show at Sheffield Arena.

The crowd were not on high form for most of the night, with two unfortunately sub-par supporting acts in the form as Machine Head and The Sword. Kudos for keeping up the energy on a stage that was very much too big for them, but the sound quality was inexcusable. For the hour or so these bands played between them, it all seemed like one long song, with a few breathers to let the crowd half heartedly cheer.

Still the main event was what the crowd waited for. When the house lights dropped, the scream of twelve thousand excited fans lit up the arena. In the pitch black, you could see four small shadows gracing the stage, to epic Don Quixote style introduction.

Then it all happened: Lasers, screeching guitars, and the bright shining lights which let you see every person in the room. Metallica had arrived, and they made sure the crowd knew it. They power straight on with their opener, “That Was Just Your Life.”