Metallica in 1986 got perpetually shattered when bassist Cliff Burton died one of the more tragic and unexpected deaths in rock history. In the interim of finding a new bass player, they compiled together this very rough, raw collection of performances, back stage footage, screwing around footage, drunken bits, and just random shots of them doing stuff. It's amateurishly shot, but in the very 80s metal way that Metallica was then it's a kind of charmingly amateurish way. Sometimes the quality ranges from song to song, with some stretches being a little better than others (the first two songs are the rougher ones, with someone in the nose bleed section with one zoom in and out camera). Best is seeing the group play in Germany- where there are multiple cameras used- and songs like 'Fade to Black' and 'Seek and Destroy' get very good treatments to tremendous live performances of each. There are also memorable turns of 'Whiplash' (my personal favorite from Kill Em All with a much better than average bass solo by Cliff), and 'Creeping Death', and one of their very best 'Welcome (Sanitarium)', even with just one cam and deteriorating sound/picture quality it, for lack of a better term for this review, rules.
The behind the scenes footage is also worth it for any collector or just casual fan, as you see more-than-rare TV interviews, and even the group in their pre-Kill 'Em All time with Dave Mustaine (he also performs on Whiplash in another ultra rare appearance). It's sometimes funny, crude, f***-off-ish, but they're always realer and far less stuck up and estranged as in the recent Some Kind of Monster. This is a band at the real peak of their powers, and the musicianship is tight as can be even as Hammet or Burton brash through their solos like their on their way to the electric chair. Sometimes the off-kilter quality of the filming does get in the way- especially when someone's head gets in the way of the camera- but it's not as often as might be expected. It's un-polished but very memorable, and should be apart of any serious fan of metal; as it is there is quite the lot that have a dis-liking to Metallica of the post-Black album (or even Black album on), to which this is like the perfect shot of Kill em All through Master of Puppets live memorabilia. As much a fitting tribute as it is a pretty good video in its own right.
The behind the scenes footage is also worth it for any collector or just casual fan, as you see more-than-rare TV interviews, and even the group in their pre-Kill 'Em All time with Dave Mustaine (he also performs on Whiplash in another ultra rare appearance). It's sometimes funny, crude, f***-off-ish, but they're always realer and far less stuck up and estranged as in the recent Some Kind of Monster. This is a band at the real peak of their powers, and the musicianship is tight as can be even as Hammet or Burton brash through their solos like their on their way to the electric chair. Sometimes the off-kilter quality of the filming does get in the way- especially when someone's head gets in the way of the camera- but it's not as often as might be expected. It's un-polished but very memorable, and should be apart of any serious fan of metal; as it is there is quite the lot that have a dis-liking to Metallica of the post-Black album (or even Black album on), to which this is like the perfect shot of Kill em All through Master of Puppets live memorabilia. As much a fitting tribute as it is a pretty good video in its own right.