Metallica
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Metallica

Metallica formed in Los Angeles in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield started playing together. They were listening to the New Wave of...

album210 lyric pages photo_library71 photos groups13 listeners here now Editor's note live
person Curated by Ethan Walker LyroVerse team
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Editor's note

Metallica's thrash metal sound defined a generation.

From the raw speed of 'Kill 'Em All' to the massive reach of the Black Album.

For the full picture, listen to the relentless thrash of 'Master Of Puppets' and the more melodic reach of 'Fade To Black'.

Metallica took the New Wave of British Heavy Metal's energy and cranked it into something faster and heavier, creating thrash metal with 'Kill 'Em All' in 1983. Songs like 'Master Of Puppets' showed they could blend that aggression with real melody, and later, 'Enter Sandman' from their 1991 Black Album brought that intensity to a stadium level. They've kept pushing that sound for decades, from 'Load' to 'Death Magnetic'.

They started in Los Angeles in 1981 with Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield, soon adding Kirk Hammett and Cliff Burton. After Burton's death in 1986, Jason Newsted joined, and the band's 1991 Black Album with 'Nothing Else Matters' marked a shift toward a broader sound. Since 2003, Robert Trujillo has been on bass, and they've continued releasing albums like 'Death Magnetic' in 2008.

edit_note Ethan Walker · LyroVerse team · Apr 19
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Metallica formed in Los Angeles in 1981 when drummer Lars Ulrich and guitarist James Hetfield started playing together. They were listening to the New Wave of British Heavy Metal at the time, and that raw energy shaped their early sound. Kirk Hammett joined on lead guitar, and Cliff Burton played bass.

Their first album, 'Kill 'Em All' from 1983, had a relentless pace that defined thrash metal. Songs like 'Fade To Black' and 'Master Of Puppets' showed they could write with both aggression and melody. In 1986, Burton died in a bus accident, and Jason Newsted took over on bass.

The band's 1991 self-titled album, often called the Black Album, included 'Enter Sandman' and 'Nothing Else Matters.' Those songs reached a much wider audience than their earlier work.

They kept making albums like 'Load' in 1996 and 'Death Magnetic' in 2008. The lineup has been Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett, and bassist Robert Trujillo since 2003.

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Where should I start with Metallica on LyroVerse?

The Start here section opens with (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, All Nightmare Long, and All Within My Hands so you can move through the artist's stronger lyric pages first.

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LyroVerse currently has 210 visible lyric pages for Metallica.

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Does LyroVerse have an editor's note for Metallica?

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