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The Latest Breaking News from James Hetfield

Ride the lightning! Watch Metallica get upstaged by a lightning strike during Master Of Puppets at the opening show on their latest tour

A lightning storm during Metallica’s show in Munich proves Mother Nature still has the best pyro display

Metal Hammer

“In our band we don’t recognise the word ‘mistake’, because there are no mistakes”: watch Metallica play epic 72 Seasons closer Inamorata live for the very first time

Metallica’s 11-minute epic Inamorata got its live debut in Munich, Germany on the second night of their European tour

Metal Hammer

Metallica’s James Hetfield has been “writing lots of music” this year

Papa Het claims he’s been composing and “playing guitar pretty much every day” since Metallica’s last tour

Metal Hammer

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The 14 best new metal songs you need to hear right now

Body Count, Powerwolf and Charlotte Wessels are among the best new metal songs this week. Plus, vote for your favourite!

Metal Hammer

James Hetfield is the undisputed master of metal rhythm guitar – and his downpicking will seriously test your abilities

Get to grips with the Metallica frontman’s punishing palm-muting and chugging rhythms

Guitar World

“It was funny when I first met James Hetfield. I was like, ‘Thank you for teaching me how to play guitar. You paved the way for me’”: Mastodon's Bill Kelliher on how meeting his guitar heroes pushed him to improve his craft

Mastodon's Bill Kelliher also credits Slayer's Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman for changing his previously nonchalant attitude to warming up before a show

Guitar World

“James said: ‘You guys are ballsy as hell!’” Alien Ant Farm frontman Dryden Mitchell reveals the surreal moment Metallica’s James Hetfield took him and his parents to dinner

Metallica frontman Papa Het continues to earn his stripes as the nicest man in metal

Metal Hammer

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“James really absorbed the dual-harmony thing and took it to heart. He made it his but it was originally Cliff’s”: Kirk Hammett on Joe Satriani’s influence and Metallica’s ’84 masterpiece Ride the Lightning

Master of Puppets gets all the attention, but it was Ride the Lightning that made the metal legends sound heavier, more epic, and musically more audacious

Guitar World

“I began playing on the simplest old guitar, which was nearly impossible to tune – some of the tuning pegs even fell off!” Meet Tasha S, the Ukrainian guitar phenom whose nonchalant covers have won her millions of followers

The offset-wielding Ukraine-born guitarist has amassed 4.8m TikTok and 1.7m Instagram followers on her guitar journey. She reveals her plans to transition from the screen to the stage – and why passion is more important than gear

Guitar World

“We took influences from the New York hardcore scene. Our stuff was faster than in the Bay Area”: the 100mph story of East Coast thrash

The inside story of 80s thrash’s great East Coast vs West Coast rivalry

Metal Hammer

"At first, based on the music and the riff, the band and their management thought it could be the first single… then they heard James’ lyrics": When Metallica and Bob Rock changed tack and gambled with Enter Sandman

Via some riff editing from Lars Ulrich

MusicRadar

"I used to hate the sight of Ozzy. I couldn’t stand him, and I used to beat him up whenever I saw him": Tony Iommi in conversation with James Hetfield

In the year of our Lord 1992, the Master Of Reality met the Master Of Puppets: The day Metallica’s James Hetfield and Black Sabbath’s Tony Iommi sat down together for the first time

Metal Hammer

“Without him, there would be no Metallica”: James Hetfield has had Lemmy's ashes tattooed onto his middle finger

Hetfield says the salute to the late Motörhead legend means “he is still able to fly the bird at the world” even after death

Guitar World

“Without him, there would be no Metallica.” See James Hetfield’s new Motörhead tattoo with Lemmy’s ashes in it

The Motörhead man’s remains can also be found in bullets and scattered on the grounds of a German metal festival

Metal Hammer

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Metal Hammer

“If you’re putting all these Beavis and Butt-Heads in the parking lot, where are you going to park the cars?” What happened when Metallica battled the city of Philadelphia to perform in a car park

Metallica played a free gig in a car park to promote 1997’s Reload. In the process, they infuriated locals, got bashed by politicians and sued an entire stadium.

Metal Hammer

"Sir Elton helped cover Nothing Else Matters, and tonight, you can see us return the favor!" Watch a clip of Metallica performing a rollocking cover of Elton John classic, Funeral For A Friend/Love Lies Bleeding, with Elton looking on approvingly

The cover song we did NOT have on our 2024 bingo card!

Metal Hammer

“When James comes in, there’s a presence”: Metallica producer explains what James Hetfield and Johnny Cash have in common

Hardwired… To Self-Destruct and 72 Seasons producer Greg Fidelman has said what trait Metallica’s frontman shares with country’s legendary man in black

Metal Hammer

The isolated bass track from Metallica’s Orion proves that Cliff Burton was a master of his instrument

Orion without guitars and drums is still a majestic experience. That’s how incredible Cliff Burton was.

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Metal Hammer

“It was inspiring to see how Metallica worked. I had their posters before I had my first guitar”: how Volbeat’s Michael Poulsen stepped up to metal’s big league

The story of Volbeat’s Outlaw Gentlemen & Shady Ladies album

Metal Hammer

Are cigars affecting James Hetfield's voice? Not according to the Metallica man, who says he hasn't sounded this good in a long time

Metallica's James Hetfield loves unwinding with a cigar – but does his vice impact his singing voice?

Metal Hammer

“We’d play a song in a certain tempo. Three weeks later, it would be twice as fast”: who invented thrash metal? Kirk Hammett has a theory

Kirk Hammett was there at the birth of thrash with his original band Exodus, so he should know more than anyone who invented the genre

Louder

"Get the **** off my stage before I punch you in the ****ing face": Ten times a band stopped a gig to lambast a member of their own crowd

Shoe-throwing, stopping fights, people chatting, stage invaders... it's tough up there for your heroes

Metal Hammer

Does anyone else remember that time Metallica played a secret show as a Ramones cover band?

In 2002, Metallica (plus fill-in bassist Bob Rock) took the stage at a San Francisco dive bar and played songs by one of punk’s most prestigious bands

Guitar World

“I met Ritchie Blackmore during the Sepultura days. At first, he wasn’t interested in talking to anybody. But the minute I asked, ‘Do you like football?’ he said, ‘Yes – come with me!’” Max Cavalera names 10 guitarists who shaped his sound

The metal pioneer reveals how to score private time with Ritchie Blackmore, the reality of trying to cover Tony Iommi, what Chuck Shuldiner would be doing today – and why he’s finally playing all six strings… on a James Hetfield guitar

Metal Hammer

Every Metallica album ranked from worst to best

From game-changing debut Kill 'Em All to the emotionally-charged 72 Seasons, this is every studio album by metal's biggest band, ranked

1 … 6 7 8 9

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