Ten years on from its original release, Some Kind Of Monster remains a very brave documentary.
You cannot help but admire Metallica’s readiness to expose all the drama surrounding the making of the ill-fated St Anger. It’s so much more fascinating than the hagiographies that most big bands put out, supposedly giving an insight into their lives, but doing no such thing.
What comes across even clearer this time is the way in which Kirk Hammett and producer Bob Rock are reduced to powerless onlookers, forced to observe as Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield negotiate an emotional minefield. Of course, the increasing incursion of therapist Phil Towle and the interference from Lars’s dad Torben still stand out. But you realise now that they were actually encouraged by the band to increase their influence over what was happening in the studio. The pair have often been painted as villains, but this is unfair. The new footage, updating what’s happened by the band over the past decade, is a waste of time, really. It’s anodyne compared to the full-on fright-fest of the documentary. Some Kind Of Monster has aged well… partly because there’s been nothing else like it.
Via Blackened Recordings
