They may be the greatest metal band of all time, but Metallica have been plagued by a load of artistic misfires and band-member squabbles. In this extensive biography by British rock journalist Mick Wall, no lowlight goes unnoticed: Original guitarist Dave Mustaine gets canned, frontman James Hetfield ships off to rehab, and the band puts out undercooked albums like 2008’s Death Magnetic, which Wall calls “Metallica-by-numbers.” But Wall, who interviewed the group many times over its 30-year career, is still a fan, giving plenty of time to triumphs like Metallica’s 1986 classic, Master of Puppets. His narrative is straightforward and fast-paced ”“ it’s fun to see the band transform almost overnight from scruffy, Mötorhead-loving teenagers to hard-partying gods of thunder. The intraband soap operas can be pretty entertaining too: Hetfield accuses Mustaine of dealing drugs while in Metallica and admits that drummer Lars -Ulrich’s self-righteous crusade against Napster sometimes made him “cringe.” Enter Night also makes a case for a remarkable possibility: Ulrich ”“ a drummer of “limited scope,” according to Wall ”“ came very close to getting the boot himself in the mid-Eighties due to a supposed lack of chops.
