I went to see the Metallica movie in 3D on a Monday night in October. I was the only person in the theater and I liked it that way – no one saw me air drumming each time Lars was on stage. I watched the story of the roadie sent on a mission as well as the concert footage. I get the grand picture the band was going for.

That said, the soundtrack to the movie is worth your time if for no other reason than to realize that while Load and Reload are not considered their best releases, certain tracks from each album (“The Memory Remains” from Load and “Fuel” from Reload) get a positive reaction. In fact, judging from the crowd singing at the end of “The Memory Remains,” I’d say no one in the crowd seems to know that they’re supposed to hate every song from these two albums. In fact, near the song’s conclusion during the ‘na na na’ riff, each band member drops out at a different spot. All you hear is the band members soaking in the appreciation of their fans. If this sort of adoration was displayed during, say, “Master Of Puppets,” there would really be no need to mention it, but on a track from a weak release, the fans go nuts.

This soundtrack is for those fans who react with passion when Metallica plays any song. After all, why put out a soundtrack otherwise? Who does that anymore? The glory days of soundtracks to movies like Top Gun, Footloose, and Grease are long gone, are they not? When those movies came out, the accompanying soundtrack album was as big of a deal as the movie.

The fact that Metallica decided to release a soundtrack to their movie isn’t a ploy to separate fans from their money. Instead, it satisfies the desire to be able to take home the versions of the songs the band plays on the big screen. As I watched the movie in 3D, I was happy that I could go home, pull up this soundtrack, and relive the movie.

Overall, the music is tight. I have always been mesmerized by “Enter Sandman,” one of their simplest songs. Likewise, drummer Lars Ulrich nails the syncopation at the beginning of “And Justice for All” and locks in with the guitar riff from James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett on the title cut from what I consider to be their best album.

There are plenty of great Metallica songs present on this album. “Creeping Death” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” are both metal classics. Listening to the ways in which these two songs have been modified from the original is a treat for a Metallica fan. The snare fills from Lars Ulrich are a bit different and, certainly, bassist Robert Trujillo has mastered the notes and rhythms of these songs. When they kick into the instrumental “Orion” to end the release, you hear more of Trujillo, which is noteworthy because it simply proves his talent.

In the movie, the roadie’s mission is to retrieve a leather bag in the back of a truck that is out of gas. The contents of the leather bag are never revealed, but I have a theory. Since the bag is leather and since the band needs the bag, my theory is that the bag represents No Life Til Leather, the name of the band’s original demo tape. Unfortunately, as of this writing, the buzz around the Internet is that Metallica spent $30 million to make Through The Never and the total box office intake has been $3 million, so the movie is considered a box office bomb, but I don’t really care. I’m here to say that, as a Metallica fan, I loved the movie. If you go, sit still during the credits. Watching the band play “Orion” is excellent.

Rating: A

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