REVIEW: Metallica pulls out every arena rock trick in the book

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 12/10/2009 (6186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

WINNIPEG — Winnipeg metal fans had an extra reason to be thankful Monday.

Thrash pioneers Metallica visited the city yesterday for the first time since 2004, capping off the Thanksgiving long weekend for a pumped-up sold-out crowd of 16,000 at the MTS Centre with a career-spanning set and every arena rock trick in the book.

Touring in support of their back-to-form album Death Magnetic, the quartet kicked things off with disc opener That Was Just Your Life in the dark, with only frontman James Hetfield lit by a spotlight, as multicoloured lasers shot out from the centre of the in-the-round stage and from eight metal coffin-shaped lighting rigs, four of which moved and titled towards the audience, that surrounded the massive setup in the middle of the arena.

“Winnipeg, this is your life!” Hetfield shouted to roaring applause at the conclusion of the first number and as an intro to another new one, The End of the Line, which shares a similar vocal melody to early-era Metallica tune Creeping Death.

During their last two visits to Winnipeg the band wisely ignored playing too many songs off the albums they were promoting, but they must be plenty proud of Death Magnetic as they showcased more than half the record, which sounds as if it could have recorded in the late 1980s during the …And Justice For All period thanks to some of the heaviest, strongest riffs they’ve written in 20 years and by letting lead guitarist Kirk Hammett run loose again.

Hammett is one of the greatest lead guitarists of all time and has some of the fastest hands in the business, which he displayed over and over again last night.

But even though Load, Reload and St. Anger didn’t contain Metallica’s strongest material they have always been a dependable live band — this is the fifth time I’ve seen them — and Monday’s show was no exception, with enough classic material to keep fans singing along to favourites like For Whom The Bell Tolls, The Memory Remains, Sad But True and One, which featured a massive pyro display before the intro riff and during the mid-song breakdown.

Metallica has been playing in-the-round shows for half of their nearly three-decade career and know how to reach every fan, with Hetfield taking turns on several microphones set up on the perimeter of the stage, while Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo roamed around playing to every corner of the building. Drummer Lars Ulrich was set up on a circular rotating drum riser in the centre but left it to hype up the crowd between most songs. Ulrich is the most polarizing figure in the band, but love him or hate him, there’s no denying he’s an incredible drummer and top-notch showman.

“I’m glad that we’re here tonight to celebrate life and heavy music,” Hetfield said, summing up the show before the mid-tempo new songs Broken, Beat & Scarred and Cyanide, the latter of which had the crowd pumping their fists in the air and shouting.

Prior to Metallica, Richmond, Va. quintet Lamb of God set the tone with a crushing 45-minute set. Their in-your-face sludgy southern thrash, with some demonic death metal howls courtesy of vocalist Randy Blythe thrown in for good measure, prove these guys are the worthy successors to Pantera.

Rob.williams@freepress.mb.ca

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