Metallica celebrate Black album anniversary with 2012 Nova Rock set

Metallica's James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett onstage in 2012 (Image credit: Brian Rasic - Getty)

The latest episode in the Metallica Mondays series was broadcast last night – or early this morning in you’re in Europe – and saw Metallica revisit 1991’s Black album.

The performance was filmed at Nickelsdorf’s Nova Rock festival in Austria on June 10, 2012 – the final show on the band’s Vacation Tour, which saw them play the record in reverse at a number of European festivals.

Drummer Lars Ulrich explains: “In 2012, we did a bunch of dates all over Europe and played the Black album in its entirety – but instead of playing it front to back, we played in back to front which was cool.

“We started with The Struggle Within and ended with the toe-tapping favourite Enter Sandman.”

The Nova Rock bill that weekend also saw appearances from Slayer, Mastodon, Trivium and Gojira, with Metallica’s epic performance from the festival available to watch below.

Last week, Metallica officially launched their Month Of Giving charity drive in conjunction with their All Within My Hands Foundation.

The band are also selling a range of items on their online store which are marked with the tag ‘Month Of Giving’. Proceeds from sales of these items, which include t-shirts, caps, hoodies and more, will go to parter organisations throughout May.

Metallica: Nova Rock, June 10, 2012
1. Hit The Lights
2. Master Of Puppets
3. The Four Horsemen
4. For Whom The Bell Tolls
5. Hell And Back
6. The Struggle Within
7. My Friend Of Misery
8. The God That Failed
9. Of Wolf And Man
10. Nothing Else Matters
11. Through The Never
12. Don’t Tread On Me
13. Wherever I May Roam
14. The Unforgiven
15. Holier Than Though
16. Sad But True
17. Enter Sandman
18. Fight Fire With Fire
19. One
20. Seek & Destroy

Scott has spent 37 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott maintains Louder’s buyer’s guides, highlights deals, and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more. Over the last 12 years, Scott has written more than 11,500 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from news and features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, Marillion and Rush.