Some Kind of Monster

Metallica: Some Kind of Monster.
2004 IFC Films; distributed to DVD by Paramount Pictures.
Metallica: James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich
Leaves Metallica: Jason Newsted
Joins Metallica: Robert Trujillo
Also appearing: Bob Rock, Phil Towle, Dave Mustaine, Torben Ulrich, Danny Lohner, Jeordie White (as Twiggy Ramirez), Pepper Keenan, Scott Reeder, Chris Wyse, Eric Avery, Joel Berlinger, Bruce Sinofsky (last two uncredited)
Directors: Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky
Available from Amazon.

In 1996, directors Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky released the documentary Paradise Lost about the West Memphis Three. Metallica allowed their music to be used for the film, a first for the band. A few years later, Berlinger and Sinofsky began work on this documentary. By then, Metallica itself was in a state of crisis. Jason Newsted left the group after fourteen years. He was unhappy with the direction Metallica was going, and proposed a year-long break where he'd focus on his side project Echobrain. The rest of the band, particularly James Hetfield, objected, so Newsted departed. A "performance enhancing" coach named Phil Towle is brought in to moderate therapy sessions to help the remaining members of Metallica understand one another. After rehearsals for the next record go nowhere, Hetfield walks out and checks himself into a rehabilitation center, leaving Kirk Hammett, Lars Ulrich and Bob Rock in limbo for the next several months. Well, they get a lot of talking to Towle done...

After Hetfield returns, sessions for what become the 2003 Metallica album St. Anger resume, although Hetfield can only work four hours a day as part of rehabilitation, so he can continue to repair his relationship with his wife and children. This four hour window annoys Ulrich, who sees it as another example of Hetfield needing to control everything, along with his lengthy absence tying up the rest of the band. Ulrich and Hetfield have been best friends and bandmates for twenty years at that point, but they really don't know one another that well...unless they're obliterated on alcohol.

In the meantime, Towle oversees frequent sessions with the group, and it appears that he starts believing that he's a member of Metallica; he even tries contributing lyrics at one point. Eventually, the group decides to inform Towle that his services will no longer be required; Towle disagrees, claiming that there are some "trust issues" that needed to be sorted out. But, while Towle was still being paid by the band, he brought in former Metallica guitarist and Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine to talk to Ulrich about the time he was kicked out of the group for drinking too much. After all of this time, and for all of the success he attained with Megadeth, Mustaine is still resentful that he was fired without ever being given a chance to redeem himself with a stint in rehab, not to mention that he still gets Metallica fans ridiculing him on the street. There were a few more years of bickering in the press between Mustaine and Ulrich, but all parties involved have completely settled their differences.

As St. Anger nears completion, Metallica auditions new bass players (producer Bob Rock handled bass duties in the studio). Robert Trujillo, of Suicidal Tendencies and Ozzy Osbourne's backing band, is hired as the new bass player, just in time for an MTV tribute special. Earlier, rumors circulated that Newsted expressed interest in returning, but he denied this, saying that he definitely does not regret leaving Metallica to concentrate on Echobrain and a little later, Voivod.

Some Kind of Monster is an interesting and compelling documentary that is also unintentionally funny at times, such as the scene where Lars Ulrich sells his art collection for millions of dollars, along with some of the really bad lyrics that ended up getting used on St. Anger. Oh, and the whole idea that a group of multimillionaire heavy metal musicians heavily utilizing a therapist to understand themselves better, and to express their feelings and emotions for their bandmates does seem hilarious, but hey, whatever works for Metallica. Recommended.