Men in Black

They are quite the top class metal band around. I am talking about Metallica, the no nonsense heavy rocking real McCoy. I like them.

Their songs, "Seek and Destroy", "Enter Sandman", "One", "Fade to Black", "Nothing Else Matters", and others are some of my metal favourites. Listening to such metal classics are indeed, a phenomenal experience. Many metalheads would or could chorus those words and raise their fists in the air…in unison. Metallica brings metalheads together. Sheer unadulterated rock.

I’m not sure how much changes have the band undergone. The Metallica I knew of was James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Jason Newsted. Oh, who can forget the late Cliff Burton. Watching them trading those grinding licks with their axes. What sweet cacophony. For an untrained metal ear, it is noise. To metal fans, like me, it is a bacchanalian celebration of life with all the attendance of joys and trapping of fears.

True… Metallica’s lyrics are morbid, anti-war, angst, frustration and disillusionment. Headbanging to their songs, their heady beats borne of life’s harsher knocks. I will always remember "One" as the most towering anti-war anthem of all time. "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" showcases the greatest metal bass solo ever. "Enter Sandman" was startling, in a sense that it sounded more mainstream than metal.

James Hetfield, the tall metal messiah. His gravel stab at what we call singing will always be a hypnotic mantra, a grim reminder that all is not right in this world. Hammett and the then bassist, Newsted trading those furious licks. Ulrich pounding on the drums with demonic fury. Top draw.

My men in black. Their trademark low-slung axes and all black attire, spewing with the panache and macabre fury that fed off us, the adoring metalheads.