Customer Reviews

Aural Amphetamine: Metallica and the Dawn Of Thrash

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I just finished watching this and was very impressed. It's actually a documentary about the Thrash Metal Scene and how Metallica and a few other bands [the big 4 as they're known] were instrumental in its evolution. It starts with an overview of the New Wave Of British Heavy Metal, with excellent contributions from Diamond Head's Brian Tatler and the band Elixir expaining its unfolding. Brian also tells of how Lars Ulrich - then a complete unknown - was so taken by the NWOBHM that he came to the UK, got in touch [having heard some of DHs stuff at the one store in LA that stocked metal imports], charmed his way into staying at his place, and spent 3 weeks going round stores in the UK buying up every NWOBHM release he could lay his hands on. It was of course these very records he tok back to LA, played them to his buddies [James H most notably] and Metallica formed soon thereafter - those cherished discs being the catylst for this. The band would cover many of the tracks he bought back [including several of Diamond Head's of course] without telling the audience they were covers - word got round and the rest is history as far as Metallica's success is concened.
So now the film concentrates on the subject of thrash itself and it's development in the San Francisco Bay Area [where, by now, Metallica had relocated], and in this section we hear from Megadeth's Chris Poland, Machine Head and Testament's Chris Kontos, Lääz Rockit's Aaron Jellum, Neurosis's Dave Edwardson, Sean Smithson from the legendary Sacrilege B.C. and loads of others from the origianl scene. There's also interviews about the genesis of the genre from Lars, James and Dave Mustaine but these appear to be archive footage , not recorded specifically for this film [apparently Lars and James were contacted by the producers but declined to take part] There are a lot of further interviews with the likes of Metallica's early photographer Harald O [he also shot many other thrash bands so has some great stories] Metal DJ Jeff Duran, RIP magazine editor Lorn French, Kerrang's Malcolm Dome, and what seems like tons of others. There's footage of nearly all the main bands [largely from the early 80s so i would imagine lots of this came from private collections] including some great early performances from Metallica. The other footage of the Bay Area at the time and of some of the main clubs is superb and all in all this is one very well made, informative and entertaining documentary. Very much recommended.

The title says it all. It's not bad, but the fact that it's a thrash documentary with Metallica splashed all over the packaging(both sides of the cover, the spine, the disc label and the title itself, with no involvement from the band)in an obvious and lame effort to move copies should tell you something right off the bat. The dvd also opens with a clip from a Lars Ulrich interview-there goes a star right there.