Translated material
Stainless Metallica
Heavy Metal veterans will perform at Luzhniki on Wednesday
This will be the second concert of the cult band in Moscow - sixteen years ago the musicians performed at the rock festival in Tushino along with other metal stars: AC/DC, Pantera and The Black Crowes. Metallica was created in 1981 in California by Dane Lars Ulrich (drums) and American James Hetfield (guitar, vocals). In 1982 they were joined by Cliff Burton (bass guitar), and in 1983 by Kirk Hammett, who became lead guitarist. A year later, the release of the first album, Kill 'Em All, marked the beginning of the “legalization” of the metal underground. The album immediately became a legend and showed the possibilities and depth of the trash metal style. With each subsequent album (Ride The Lightning in 1984 and Master Of Puppets in 1986), the band's sound and lyrics only improved, and James Hetfield developed his own guitar rhythm to suit his vocals.The band's lineup remains unchanged until 1986, when, while on tour in Sweden, the musicians' bus gets into an accident and bassist Cliff Burton dies; Jason Newsted is invited to replace him.
The group became truly popular after the release of the album Garage Days Re-Revised. Single One hits the top of the US and UK charts, and Metallica's 1991 album sold over thirteen million copies in ten years. The song Enter Sandman is played on radio and MTV, and the group begins to sell out stadiums.
The album Load (1996) changed the band's image towards alternative rock - and the musicians lost some of their fans. And although the album reached number one on many charts, fans and critics were disappointed by the changes. The following year, the band returned to their style, releasing the album Re-Load, which included both new material and material that did not make it onto Load, as well as the song The Memory Remains, recorded with 60s legend Marianne Faithfull. In November 1998, the album Garage Inc. was released, which included several cover versions and new compositions. The disc took second place in the US charts. In the fall of next year, the group released the live album S&M, which was recorded with the participation of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra, and in early 2000 they recorded the song I Disappear for the soundtrack to the film Mission: Impossible 2. In the same year, the group begins a war with the Internet company Napster, which allows users to freely exchange MP3 files.
In January 2001, after 15 years together, Jason Newsted announced his departure from the group. He attributed this to “the irreparable damage to my own health that I inflicted on myself over the years of playing the music that I love so much.” However, from later interviews it becomes clear that the real reason for Jason's departure from the team was the conflict between him and Hetfield. Newsted wanted to record and tour with his sister project Echobrain, but Hetfield was strongly opposed to such an idea, believing that the work of one of the Metallica members on the side could seriously weaken the band.
In June of the same year, Hetfield decided to go to a clinic to get rid of “alcoholism and other addictions,” and the group stopped all activities for about a year. Lars Ulrich and Kirk Hammett later admitted that they seriously considered the possibility of officially disbanding the group. However, after Hetfield returned to duty, the musicians began working on new material. The three of them played, and the bassist was performed by the band's permanent producer, Bob Rock. The recording process was very difficult, scandals constantly arose, and in the end the group made a very unexpected decision - they hired a psychoanalyst for collective therapy. Each recording day began and ended with a joint discussion of what had happened. A film crew was also invited into the studio, resulting in the documentary Some Kind of Monster, which "documented" in detail the painful process of recording the album.
Album St. Anger appeared on store shelves in the summer of 2003, and the music it contained turned out to be perhaps the most aggressive and extreme of the band's entire career. Opinions about Metallica's new work were sharply divided - some praised the musicians for such a brave and uncompromising step, others decided that Metallica had completely blown away. That same year, the band finally found a new bassist, Rob Trujillo, who had previously played in Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzi Osborn, and went on another world tour.
In the fall of 2005, the musicians announced that they were going into the studio again to record new material - according to preliminary forecasts, the new album should appear this year. It will include 14 compositions. All of them, according to Lars Ulrich, are imbued with “unbridled energy, lightning-fast riffs, guitar solos and hard drums - just like the old days!”
The band arrives in Moscow after concerts in Helsinki as part of the Sick of the stufio 07 tour. The famous Finnish HIM, a frequent guest of Russian venues, is the opening act.