![\"Metallica](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/Metallica-1997-James-Hetfield-Lars-Ulrich-Kirk-Hammett-Jason-Newsted-Far-Out-Magazine-1140x855.jpg\")
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(Credits: Far Out \/ Metallica)<\/p>\n
Sat 13 September 2025 4:00, UK <\/p>\n
The story of Metallica<\/a> has always been strange by most metalheads\u2019 standards. <\/p>\n Despite them being perceived as sell-outs by some fans who refuse to hear anything that they did past the 1990s, there aren\u2019t too many bands that could claim to be the spokesmen for a genre quite like the thrash titans have over the years. They have helped promote the idea of metal music to millions of people, but sometimes the biggest triumphs of their career don\u2019t necessarily have to come from them.<\/p>\n Before the band even had a single song under their belt, they were already willing to play whatever heavy riffs struck their fancy. During their first performances, it was all about paying tribute to the biggest names in British heavy metal, be that Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, or even the more obscure bands that Lars Ulrich was listening to like Diamond Head and Angel Witch. The only problem came when they had unintentional plagiarism thrown into the mix.<\/p>\n For instance, \u2018Am I Evil\u2019 was quickly turning into one of the concert favourites during the early days of the group, but they left that one detail out of the equation when they forgot to tell people it was by Diamond Head. So when they finally became one of the biggest bands in the world when \u2018Enter Sandman<\/a>\u2019 started blowing up, the band felt it was right to give back to their influences when working on Garage Inc. <\/p>\n Alongside the covers they had been playing for years, though, the studio record is a look at what made the band tick outside of the traditional rock and roll songs. There are pretty obvious artists that were no-brainers for them to cover like Black Sabbath and Mercyful Fate, but if people came into the record knowing only the basic taste of Metallica, they would probably be surprised to see songs by Bob Seger and Lynyrd Skynyrd sprinkled in amongst the other tunes.<\/p>\n But outside of the typical rock and roll tunes, James Hetfield knew a thing or two about darkness, and Nick Cave\u2019s \u2018Loverman\u2019 felt like it was made for his voice. Cave already has the most deliciously vile pipes in the world of gothic music, but Hetfield isn\u2019t half bad at translating his words to metal music. And according to Kirk Hammett, the band couldn\u2019t have picked a better time to lay everything down.<\/p>\n