Back
in the day, Metallica moved boundaries. Downright heroes they were. Somewhere
in the wake of the immensely successful Black album, a lot of the
metal glamour disappeared, and Metallica decided to “grow up” and
turn into a heavy rock band. “Load” and “Reload” definitely
had their moments if you took them for what they were, but they never
really cut the cheese like the glorious efforts of the past. Somewhere
in there, bass dynamo Jason leaves Metallica, Larz becomes more hated
than Bush and Jaymz enters rehab. Rumours float in the press and on
the internet, only emphasising that even a weakened version of
Metallica is still an influence for the metal community. When
St. Anger finally hit the streets, it was indeed heavier than its two
predecessors. Blatantly raw and sound-wise different from anything
they’d done before. Regardless
if you liked St. Anger or not “Some Kind of Monster” is worth a
buy. What started as a “The Making of…” marketing gimmick has
turned into a thought-provoking piece of documentary about a bunch of
40-year-old guys who have all the success in the world but have also
pushed themselves into a mental and creative dead end. Seeing
how Metallica tries to untie the knots is in many ways moving, and the
two meta-themes of the media intrusion (the film crew) and the role of
the therapist add really interesting layers to this film. Just notice
how Phil Towles, the pro therapist, becomes so entirely involved in
Metallica. He’s almost in tears when the band want to cut down on
the number of therapy sessions… The
film doesn’t become less moving the second time you watch it,
especially because the extra material on the bonus disc offers tons of
clips that go even a bit deeper, e.g. an alternate cut of the Dave
Mustaine/Lars Ulrich sequence. There’s also an interesting cut of
the collaboration between Metallica and the hip-hopper Ja Rule. |
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