With the arrival of the young Danish drummer Lars Ulrich to America in the early eighties, the dozed heavy metal scene of California was first introduced to the music of The New Wave Of British Heavy Metal by bands like
Motörhead,
Iron Maiden and
Saxon. Together with singer / guitarist James Hetfield, bassist Cliff Burton and guitarist Kirk Hammett, Ulrich founded Metallica, in which they combined
… European violence with American discipline and traditional songwriting. The debut album Kill 'Em All (1983) is still considered a milestone in hard rock. On the successors Ride The Lightning (1984) and Master Of Puppets (1986), the concept was further developed by alternating the lightning-fast speed metal with calm and atmospheric passages. Then disaster struck. Burton was killed in a tragic bus accident in Sweden, after which Jason Newsted took his place. In this line-up the band developed - through the cover album Garage Days Revisisted (1987) and the changeable ... And Justice For All (1988) - into a versatile rock band that with the excellent album Metallica (1991) - and the successful single Enter Sandman - eventually forcing a global breakthrough. However, the percentage of metal decreased on the weak albums Load (1996) and Reload (1997) and Metallica fell into a deep artistic crisis. This eventually resulted in Newsted's forced departure after a conflict with Hatfield over Newsted's hobby band Echobrain. With Robert Trujillo (ex- Suicidal Tendencies) on bass guitar, Metallica took revenge for this weak period with the old-fashioned sounding albums St. Anger (2003) and Death Magnetic. (MS)more