Metallica – Louder, Faster, Stronger

It’s a lot bigger than I thought,” Hetfield says in a low, awe-struck voice. He is in St Petersburg’s State Hermitage Museum, the world-famous art collec­tion in the former WinterPalaceof the Russian czars, standing in front of Rembrandt’s “The Return of the Prodigal Son.” Painted by the Dutch master from 1663 to 1665 and based on the New Testament parable, the picture is almost nine feet high and seven feet wide. The figures ”“ the consoling father, bent over his ragged, errant son; the older brother, stiff with jealousy ”“ are literally life-size.

 The rest of Hetfield’s party ”“ his young son and two daughters; his wife, Francesca; Trujilloand his wife, Chlöe ”“ are moving on to the next room. But Hetfield studies the painting intently for 10 minutes. Earlier, in the museum cafeteria, he told his daughter Marcella, 6, sitting on his knee, that he was excited to be in this museum “because my favorite painting is here.” This is the first time he has seen the original.

 Backstage at SKKHall, Hetfield explains that he first saw a reproduction in rehab. “It was one of those workshops: ”˜Here’s the painting. Do you remember the story?’” Hetfield, who was raised in a strict Christian Science family, laughs. “No­body remembered it. But then we got deeper with it. ”˜What do you see? Which one is you ”“ the fa­ther, the son, the jealous brother?’

 “Well, I see myself in all of them ”“ except I didn’t have much forgiveness for myself. I dis­covered that.” Hetfield laughs again, this time with the heartiness of someone who left a huge burden way behind him. “But there is definitely the jealous-son part. I see that in Lars’ and my relationship.”

 Hetfield was in his last year of high school in Los Angeles, living with one of his two older half brothers, when he answered a newspaper ad, placed by Ulrich, looking for musicians to share his passion for underground metal. Hetfield’s par­ents had divorced a couple of years earlier; then Hetfield’s mother, Cynthia, an amateur opera singer, died of cancer when he was 17. (Hetfield also has a sister.) Ulrich, who moved to LA from Denmark in 1980, was an only child in a well-off bohemian family. His father, Torben, now 80, was a professional tennis player and had written about jazz for the Danish newspaper Politiken.

 “It’s weird ”“ I don’t know exactly what broth­ers are supposed to be like,” Hetfield confesses. His half brothers “were a generation away, not close enough to be brothers, not far enough to be parental. For Lars and I, this is the closest we get to having brothers.” But like siblings, “we battle for the steering wheel,” and agreement does not come easy. “Compromise” ”“ Hetfield says the word with distaste ”“ “sounds weak.”

 Life between the two founders “has always been a strain,” says Hammett, who joined Metal­lica in 1983, after Hetfield and Ulrich fired origi­nal guitarist Dave Mustaine. “There was a real bad spat in the first couple of months I was in the band ”“ James pushing Lars, and Lars flying into his cymbals. It wasn’t about anything important ”“ who drank someone else’s booze. I’ll never for­get it, because it erupted so quickly, in seconds. I’m between them ”“ ”˜Guys, mellow out!’ ”“ and Cliff Burton is sitting there with a big smirk on his face, amused as hell, like he’d pulled up a seat at a boxing match.”

 “I think the guy is a genius,” Ulrich says sharp­ly of Hetfield, daring you to contradict him. “I also have to deal with that genius. Looking back on it, James Hetfield, the growly guy, was a char­acter he put up to protect the vulnerable kid who went through so much with his mother and his whole upbringing. When he went through everything that’s in the movie, he found a way to dismantle that character and bring more of himself up front.”