Metallica began recording their eighth album, St. Anger, on April 23, 2001, but they wouldn’t finish it until two years later. The process was so emotionally intense that the band brought in a group therapist to mediate the sessions. After all was said and done, they finally released St. Anger in June 2003.
The album earned mixed reviews for its raw, unpolished messiness. But the entire two-year process of recording facilitated the chaos of the finished product. Still, many listeners didn’t really know how to approach its stripped-back intensity, and some critics openly disliked it. Pitchfork called it “boring,” while Playlouder found it “too dense and daunting to be truly enjoyable.”
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A Rolling Stone review praised the album’s authenticity, calling attention to its distinct lack of commercially viable tracks as a positive move for Metallica. However, in 2023, the magazine disregarded its own lore when it listed St. Anger as No. 43 on “50 Genuinely Horrible Albums by Brilliant Artists”.
The troubles with St. Anger began in January 2001, when bassist Jason Newsted left the band just as Metallica was sorting out plans for the album. He cited “private and personal reasons” for his departure. But the band’s therapist at that time, Phil Towle, later recalled the emotional toll being in the band had on Newsted.
“I don’t think he wanted to leave the band,” Towle said in 2021. “I think he wanted to leave the reality of what existed … He was so instantly a replacement for [bassist] Cliff [Burton], that he became, what the guys would say, a ‘whipping boy. He was the way that they grieved unhealthily.”
Metallica began recording St. Anger on April 23, but hit another snag in July when James Hetfield checked into rehab. While he dealt with his alcoholism alongside other undisclosed issues, recording was put on pause for almost a year. Hetfield rejoined the band in December. But recording didn’t resume until April 2002, with Hetfield only able to work for four hours a day.
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The entire messy, complicated process was documented and released as the 2004 film Metallica: Some Kind of Monster. Footage captured discussions that devolved into arguments, uncomfortable and awkward interactions, and emotionally explosive group therapy sessions with Towle. In 2014, Metallica re-released the documentary on Blu-ray, and Hetfield admitted that he still found it difficult to watch.
“Hearing yourself, watching yourself, seeing the mirror back at what other people see,” he said. He added that filmmakers Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky became “pretty much fly on the wall, so you really kind of forget the cameras are there and you’re being yourself.”
Hetfield continued, “And a lot of times I’m not really comfortable with myself and seeing myself in the situations, but, man, I learned a lot about what I don’t like about me. Which was good—it was a good mirror. And I think everyone involved in that movie pretty much felt the same way about themselves.”
The post 25 Years Ago, Metallica’s Recording Sessions for ‘St. Anger’ Grew so Intense That the Band Hired a Group Therapist appeared first on VICE.
