Metallica – Some Kind of Monster (DVD)

One of my first 'secular' albums I ever owned was Metallica's Master of Puppets when I was about 15 or 16.  I was blown away.  I became a fan from then up until the black album.  They lost me after that.  They ceased to be metal at that point and became a hard rock band.  Yeah, I’m one of those guys – longing for the music that made me like Metallica.

 

So you can see where I'm coming from, here's what I think of Metallica… best metal group ever.  It starts and ends with the great vocals that are cool and sometimes even catchy.  Musically, it's the right fit – aggressive, palm-mutey, E-minory, gallopy and fast. 

 

BUT WAIT!  While they may be the best metal band, the best metal album of all time is Megadeth's "Rust in Peace".  It's way more creative, fast and flat out good.  Okay, now you have an idea of where I'm coming from as I watched this documentary.

 

Here's the rundown of the documentary… they were going to film the making of the new album (which turned out to be St. Anger - yeah, the one with that completely irritating snare), but they get into fights, there's drama, and James Hetfield (the singer/guitarist) goes to rehab for like a year.  He gets back and they try to finish the album while dealing with their feelings.  They hire a group therapist and half of the film is them talking about their feelings. 

 

Okay, so while that sounds totally un-metal (which it is), no band is the music alone.  The music comes from a group of people that have to be able to communicate.  The film isn't about music; it's about a few guys dealing with themselves and each other.  And that's why the film works even if you've never heard any of their music.

 

The film is extremely well done, well paced and well edited.  They probably had three million hours of footage, and they had to edit it down to a couple hours with some sort of emotional focus. 

 

You really get a feeling for everyone's personalities.  James Hetfield has a strong personality, but not over the top.  Kirk Hammet is likable and is more the guy who says, "C'mon guys, stop fighting."  And Lars Ulrich, well I'll put it this way, whenever he talks, I keep thinking Spinal Tap.  On top of that, he thinks about himself first (Kirk's birthday party) and acts like an eight year old.

 

So a lot of the film is James and Lars fighting cause they want to win the argument, rather than get through it.  Part of it gets a little like the MTV's Real World, but the filmmakers edit in a way where it's not as over the top as that.

 

You also get the feeling that these guys are old.  They are not metal-gods.  They are in their forties, with kids.  But that doesn't make them lose their metal-god image; it's the jogging in really lame outfits, and the tendency to wear overalls.  But that adds to the charm of the movie, even if it disrobes them of their metal-god personas.

 

The DVD contains TONS of additional scenes.  A lot of them are great.  Another movie could have been made with all entertaining scenes that didn't make the film.  I had to watch all of them.  If you've seen and liked the movie, the additional scenes are completely worth watching. 

 

A major additional scene is when they are discussing their contribution to a Ramones tribute album.  Jason Newsted (ex-bass player) just called, wanting to come back and they discuss Dee Dee leaving the Ramones and wanting to come back to the Ramones – and then things get really weird.  They then get the news that Dee Dee died that day while they're talking about all this.  It's crazy. 

 

But there are a bunch of fun scenes as well, like Kirk in traffic school – he actually sings a song to the class. 

 

Bottom line, it's a revealing documentary about a few guys trying to work through their problems to reach a common goal, and these guys just happen to be behind some of the best metal ever.