Aural Amphetamine: Metallica and the Dawn of Thrash

(Sexy Intellectual)

In 1997, the unnamed director of Aural Amphetamine scored a brief interview with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield in support of Metallica’s covers collection, Garage Inc., and must have spent the last decade trying to figure out what to do with it. This documentary attempts to prove the blatantly obvious – that the Bay Area thrash scene was a natural extension of the new wave of British heavy metal and that Metallica’s early catalog rules – and barely succeeds. Not only does it all lack focus, especially in comparison to 2006’s Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey, but it fails to offer new insight on any front or capture the sociological impact of the movement. With the exception of Diamond Head’s Brian Tatler, interviewees lack serious credentials, forcing viewers to endure dim-witted commentary from a Metallica photographer and fake-baked California DJ in between poorly dubbed music videos. Isn’t that essentially the premise of Beavis & Butt-head?

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This article appears in December 26 • 2008.

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