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Metallica

mettal

Through The Never 

Blackened Recordings/Vertigo

It’s strange to think Metallica’s film Through The Never is their second foray on the silver screen (third if you include The Big 4 concert which was shown in a few cinemas) and stranger still that this one has a fictional story. The movie revolves around a young roadie popping off to the shops to buy Lars Ulrich a sandwich or something while the band smashes out a concert in IMAX. In lieu of a soundtrack Through The Never is the live set shown in the movie covering most of the ‘hits’, so there’s nothing from St Anger.

Metallica are touring machines despite their age and anyone who saw them at this year’s Soundwave or the Death Magnetic tour a few years ago will have an idea about how this live show goes: The Ecstasy Of Gold to kick things off, generic crowd banter by Hetfield and lots of fireworks. Fuel and Cyanide make up the entire post-Black Album era of the set with the possible motive of matching their earlier, grimier material to the movie’s narrative.

Bizarrely, about halfway through Ride The Lightning Hetfield’s microphone cuts out and you’re left sitting through about five seconds of awkward padding until it’s fixed. Unless it’s a fake malfunction of course (spoilers, there is a big one). As a live album it’s serviceable, but nothing we haven’t seen from Metallica before..

Rating: 3 & 1/2 stars

_ BRENDAN HOLBEN

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