Carlos Osorio/Toronto Star

James Hetfield takes a break from last night's Metallica show to do some yoga.

It’s difficult to see Metallica other than through the lens of their self-indulgent therapy documentary Some Kind of Monster, since anyone who has seen it is well aware of the inner workings of the band’s insecurities and group hugs and shouting matches. So when Metallica hooked up with Slayer’s classic-period producer Rick Rubin to make a return to thrash with 2008's Death Magnetic, you had to wonder if they were really interested in another Master of Puppets, or if it was just an album-length exercise in exorcising past demons. Sometimes, you kind of wish they would have just settled their differences the old fashioned way: by kicking the crap out of each other like the dudes in Lamb of God.

Speaking of which, the Richmond, VA opening band has a bit of difficulty getting a serious response from the Monday night crowd at ACC, which is surprising considering that there were rowdy fans all the way from Union Station to the media gondola. Though Lamb of God look a little bit lost on this hockey rink-sized in-the-round stage and the sound is basically just kick drum and vocals, anthemic thrashers “Walk With Me in Hell” and “Now You’ve Got Something to Die For” go over quite well. “Redneck” incites the only decent circle pit of the night amidst a series of juvenile cheap shots from the disorderly dudes of the floor.

With a mix sounding 10 times louder than Lamb of God, Metallica open with “That Was Just Your Life,” which is treated to a cheesy laser light show. They throw the lights up for the song’s end and launch into “The End of the Line,” but the two Death Magnetic tracks (which also lead off the album) come across like “Blackened 2009” and “Creeping Death 2009” respectively. “Ride the Lightning” lends some old-school awesomeness that finds Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield tossing off the harmonized intro like it was 1984 and new-ish bassist Robert Trujillo returning the song to its finger-plucked glory. “The Memory Remains” is the lone slow-grinder from the post-Black Album crisis, and gets a big sing-along. James launches into motivational speech about being here to show us respect, and how together we will make great things happen ’cuz “what don’t kill ya makes you stronger” — cue “Broken, Beat & Scarred.”

By the time “Cyanide” hits, the try-hard Death Magnetic songs are getting a little tired. (They will go on to play six of the album’s 10 tracks.) Consequently, “Sad But True” is one of the best parts of the show so far, which leads us into the war noises and pyro of “One” (where it seems that the coffin-shaped lighting rigs double as stove hoods). Metallica’s technical high water mark, replete with multicoloured flames, still retains its many classic moments — the double kick apocalypse and Hammet’s mad-tapper solo.

After more new songs, the double shot of “Master of Puppets” and the sloppy speed-metal joint “Fight Fire With Fire.” The latter is the third Ride the Lightning tune, and yet we only hear one each from Puppets and …And Justice For All — which is a reminder of just how many classic songs Metallica have written, and yet don’t get to play every night. It’s a good problem to have, and one that would make for a few good All Tomorrow’s Parties “Don’t Look Back” shows.

The encore of “Stone Cold Crazy” and “Whiplash” is as ripping as one would expect, but it’s followed by a crowd appreciation debacle during “Seek and Destroy” wherein a hundred or so black Metallica beach balls are dropped from the rafters and 75 per cent land on stage rather than in the audience. The band spends most of the song kicking balls into the crowd, which is an easy feat because they’ve been playing the song for about 27 years. Or maybe this is another exercise in kicking all the bad feelings out of the band’s collective psyche.

Email us at: LETTERS@EYEWEEKLY.COM or send your questions to EYEWEEKLY.COM
625 Church St, 6th Floor, Toronto M4Y 2G1