# Metallica: Some Kind of Monster
*Metallica: Some Kind of Monster* is a 2004 American documentary film, directed by Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky, that follows the heavy metal band [Metallica](https://www.edgepedia.org/metallica) through three years of internal crisis while recording their album *St. Anger*. The film covers bassist [Jason Newsted](https://www.edgepedia.org/jason-newsted)'s departure in January 2001, singer and guitarist [James Hetfield](https://www.edgepedia.org/james-hetfield)'s entry into rehab, the band's group therapy with performance-enhancement coach Phil Towle, and the search for a new bassist, ending with the album's release and the band's first world tour in four years.[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) • [2](https://time.com/archive/6738955/music-some-kind-of-movie/)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Release | 2004; theatrical release began rolling out worldwide in July[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) • [3](https://www.metallica.com/history) |
| Runtime | 140 minutes[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) |
| Directors | Joe Berlinger and Bruce Sinofsky; cinematography by Bob Richman[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) |
| Subject | The making of *St. Anger* (2003), Metallica's first studio album of original songs in roughly five years[4](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/metallica-some-kind-of-monster/) |
| Therapy | The band hired Phil Towle, a therapist and performance coach, at $40,000 a month[5](https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2004-07-14/metallica-on-the-couch) |
| Critical reception | 88% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer from 121 reviews; won Best Documentary at the Independent Spirit Awards[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/metallica_some_kind_of_monster) • [7](https://www.filmaffinity.com/uk/film972862.html) |
| Production cost | The band initially wrote a check for a million dollars and ultimately paid the filmmakers $4.3 million[8](https://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/summer2004/features/heavy_metal.php) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
San Francisco, 2001. Metallica, two decades into a career that made them the most commercially successful heavy metal band in history, files into an improvised studio at the Presidio to make a new album from scratch: no riffs, no songs, no titles, nothing.[23](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004) Before the first note lands, bassist Jason Newsted tells the band in a tense sit-down that he is leaving, and producer [Bob Rock](https://www.edgepedia.org/bob-rock) ends up playing bass on the record.[23](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004) The band's answer to its dysfunction is Phil Towle, a performance-enhancement coach who moves in to mediate between frontman James Hetfield and drummer [Lars Ulrich](https://www.edgepedia.org/lars-ulrich), the two founders whose partnership has run on unspoken rules since 1981 and is now visibly failing. The cameras, originally hired for a promotional shoot that the directors expected to last a few weeks, keep turning.[24](https://www.documentary.org/feature/metallica-against-all-odds-diary-monster-maker)
Then the band's anchor walks out. Hetfield, the lyricist and the group's controlling center, announces he cannot work like this, and leaves for more than six months of rehab to battle alcoholism, the demon behind the old fan nickname "Alcoholica."[25](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/magazine/band-on-the-couch.html) A band worth hundreds of millions stalls while its two founders discover how much of their identity is bound to a partnership they spend every session complaining about. Ulrich rages, negotiates with the label, and fills the vacuum; Hammett waits, calm to the point of invisibility.
**Ulrich, pacing the floor at the band's HQ studios in San Rafael, turns on Hetfield, fresh out of rehab, and screams the word "fuck" at him over and over, mantralike, nose to nose, while Hetfield sits and takes it without flinching.** The scene arrives roughly an hour into the film and plays as the eruption of two decades of tension.[26](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/metallica-monsters-brawl) Ulrich paces, winds himself up, and finally lets loose, ending the tirade with one last full-throated scream before walking off; Hetfield never raises his voice, never moves, and the stillness is what makes it unbearable. Co-director Joe Berlinger later called the moment "pure gold" for capturing raw human emotion.[22](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-some-kind-monster-documentary-story) What the fight is actually about is the new Hetfield: he returns with rules, chief among them that he works only four hours a day, because the other twenty belong to repairing a marriage shattered by drinking.[25](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/magazine/band-on-the-couch.html) Ulrich reads the limits as betrayal; Hetfield reads them as survival. The band, forced to run on honesty instead of a hired mediator, slowly finds that boundaries can be a form of loyalty.
Around the therapy, the business of being Metallica grinds on. In one of the film's most quoted detours, Ulrich luxuriates at a New York auction house while his [Jean-Michel Basquiat](https://www.edgepedia.org/jean-michel-basquiat) painting sells for $5.5 million, a scene of wealth so casual it plays as self-parody.[27](https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/) The band auditions bassists and settles on [Robert Trujillo](https://www.edgepedia.org/robert-trujillo), whose giddy delight at joining produces the film's happiest moment, though the money conversation that accompanies the hire stings on camera.[28](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html) When the label Elektra wavers about the film itself, Metallica buys the film rights from Elektra for $4.3 million to keep full control.[27](https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/)
The wreckage finally produces an album, [St. Anger](https://www.edgepedia.org/st-anger), released worldwide in June 2003 as the band's fourth American number one, and the film closes with Metallica playing live again, measurably healthy.[27](https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/) The last order of business is Towle. Hetfield and Ulrich, agreeing on something at last, fire him, with Hetfield declaring, "We don't want to have our hand held through life," while Towle, visibly hurt, protests that the job is not finished.[23](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004) • [28](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html)
### Characters
James Hetfield (himself) is the band's singer, guitarist, and lyricist, a control-oriented man whose alcoholism and need for boundaries nearly end the band. His return from rehab under a four-hour workday becomes the film's central negotiation, and his flat, fearful honesty about what he needs gives the documentary its spine.
Lars Ulrich (himself) is the drummer, talker, and dealmaker, the member most comfortable performing openness for the cameras and the one most undone when the partnership wobbles. His confrontation with Hetfield is the film's centerpiece, and by day 715 of filming he sounds nearly converted to the therapeutic process, telling the room, "You can make something that's aggressive and fucked up with positive energy."[28](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html)
[Kirk Hammett](https://www.edgepedia.org/kirk-hammett) (himself) is the lead guitarist, whose relative calm reads as either equilibrium or invisibility depending on the scene.
Phil Towle (himself) is the performance coach the band hires at $40,000 a month, a man earnest enough that the film declines to mock him, and whose quiet firing closes the story.[23](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004)
Robert Trujillo (himself) is the bassist hired to replace Newsted, whose audition and hiring supply the film's warmest stretch.[28](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html)
### Interpretations and controversies
Critics have read the film as, perversely and brilliantly, being about itself: a self-reflexive documentary in which the cameras' presence becomes part of the therapy, keeping the band honest enough not to bullshit each other.[28](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html) • [29](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/on-the-rock-roller-coaster-metallica-some-kind-of-monster-78800/) A 2021 Guardian retrospective framed it as a real-life Spinal Tap and a cautionary tale, while judging the album it documents, St. Anger, "laughably bad," a tension the film itself never confronts.[30](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/25/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-classic-documentary-is-a-cautionary-real-life-spinal-tap-tale) The band's decision to release the footage at all drew notice: the directors said Metallica never gave a single vanity note or instruction to cut anything.[27](https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/)
### Sequels, prequels, and universe
None. The film stands alone, though it documents the making of the St. Anger album and its accompanying tour, and directors Berlinger and Sinofsky were already known for the [Paradise Lost](https://www.edgepedia.org/paradise-lost) documentaries that helped free the [West Memphis Three](https://www.edgepedia.org/west-memphis-three).
## Origins as a promotional film
The project did not begin as an independent documentary. It originated in 1996 as a promotional film, a clips-driven retrospective of Metallica's first two decades, and was initially financed by [Elektra Records](https://www.edgepedia.org/elektra-records).[8](https://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/summer2004/features/heavy_metal.php) • [9](https://hugoribeiro.com.br/area-restrita/Pillsbury-Damage_Incorporated.pdf) When shooting commenced in 2001, the filmmakers expected a piece about the making of a new album. Instead, Metallica entered what the band's own history describes as its most precarious period: Newsted quit in January 2001, and in mid-2001 Hetfield stepped away to rehabilitate from alcohol abuse and other addictions.[2](https://time.com/archive/6738955/music-some-kind-of-movie/) • [3](https://www.metallica.com/history) • [10](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-st-anger-rehearsals-dvd-retrospective)
According to an interview in *Filmmaker* magazine, when Metallica entered rock and roll counseling while the crew was making a promo piece, Berlinger and Sinofsky knew they had another documentary on their hands. The band wrote out a check for a million dollars and later paid every dime, to the tune of $4.3 million.[8](https://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/summer2004/features/heavy_metal.php) Hetfield was at first resistant to the idea of documenting the therapy, but came around, and the result was a two-year marathon of sessions.[11](https://www.dga.org/craft/dgaq/issues/2001-winter-2020/music-legends)
## What the film covers
**The therapy.** For the first time, the band hired a therapist and performance coach, Phil Towle, at a cost of $40,000 a month, and allowed the cameras into group therapy sessions intended to work through conflicts in the band members' 20-year relationship.[5](https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2004-07-14/metallica-on-the-couch) • [1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) Towle became a prominent on-screen presence, relaying messages he attributed to deceased founding bassist [Cliff Burton](https://www.edgepedia.org/cliff-burton), writing "mission statements" for the band, and eventually offering his own lyrics for the new songs, a level of involvement that became a point of tension between Hetfield and Ulrich.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/22/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-feelgood-movie) • [13](https://www.loudersound.com/the-story-behind-metallica-st-anger)
**The album.** For the first time in its history, Metallica entered the studio with no written material, starting from scratch.[2](https://time.com/archive/6738955/music-some-kind-of-movie/) Producer Bob Rock filled in on bass during recording. The resulting album, *St. Anger*, was released on June 5, 2003, topped charts in 18 countries, and went multi-Platinum, though many fans initially rejected its raw sound until the documentary provided context a year later.[3](https://www.metallica.com/history) • [10](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-st-anger-rehearsals-dvd-retrospective)
**The new bassist.** The film documents the audition process to replace Newsted, including the audition of Pepper Keenan of Corrosion of Conformity, whose jam with the band was filmed. Robert Trujillo, formerly of [Suicidal Tendencies](https://www.edgepedia.org/suicidal-tendencies) and [Ozzy Osbourne](https://www.edgepedia.org/ozzy-osbourne)'s solo band, won the position and was given a million-dollar advance as a "welcome to the family."
[14](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/pepper-keenan-failed-metallica-audition) • [15](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bassists/how-robert-trujillo-almost-ruined-his-metallica-audition)
**Personal confrontations.** The film includes a confrontation between Lars Ulrich and Dave Mustaine, the band's former lead guitarist, and shows Hetfield's post-rehab restrictions, under which the band could work no more than four hours a day and no one could listen to or talk about music in his absence.[16](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-557484.html) • [22](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-some-kind-monster-documentary-story)
## Editing and release
Editor David Zieff, whose background included sketch comedy television and work with Berlinger and Sinofsky on the 1998 documentary *Where It's At: The Rolling Stone State of the Union*, worked on the film exclusively from start to finish. He described joining footage of a friendly jam and an intense fight so that a third story emerged, the band's public face versus its private face.[17](https://cinemontage.org/david-zieff-metallica-doc/) The film premiered on the festival circuit at IDFA 2004 in Amsterdam and received its theatrical release starting in July 2004, distributed by IFC Films.[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) • [3](https://www.metallica.com/history) • [18](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2004/BB-2004-12-04.pdf)
## Reception
The film holds an 88% Tomatometer rating on Rotten Tomatoes from 121 reviews, with a critics consensus calling it a "fascinating behind-the-scenes look at how Metallica survives one of their more turbulent periods."[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/metallica_some_kind_of_monster) It won Best Documentary at the Independent Spirit Awards.[7](https://www.filmaffinity.com/uk/film972862.html) Reviewers frequently compared it to earlier rock documentaries: the IDFA catalog placed it in the vein of *Don't Look Back* and *Gimme Shelter*,[1](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/) while *The Guardian*'s Peter Bradshaw found scenes "priceless enough to be pure Spinal Tap" but criticized the film as notably uncritical of its subjects, noting it "started life as a promo-video for the new album and in its celebratory tone actually doesn't stray far from its origins."[19](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/01/metallica) The *Independent* praised the jaw-dropping level of access and the filmmakers' ability to make viewers care about the band.[16](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-557484.html)
## Legacy
Metallica's own history describes the project as having started as a marketing piece but become "one of the most important, revealing documentations of artistic (and personal) struggle-to-redemption ever committed to film."[3](https://www.metallica.com/history) A 2025 *Guardian* feature called it a candid portrait of a band beset with personal grievances, limitless cash, and, at that moment, no good song ideas, and noted that watching the film helps explain why *St. Anger* sounds the way it does.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/22/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-feelgood-movie) The film has remained in circulation on streaming services, including Netflix, and is frequently cited in discussions of the rockumentary genre as an example of the form's move beyond promotional filmmaking into observational chronicles of creative crisis.[20](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/drummers/11-drum-movies) • [21](https://d-nb.info/1245860984/34)
## References
1. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, IDFA Archive](https://www.idfa.nl/en/film/60d72d18-5b69-474d-82f0-a5291a8abf66/metallica%3A-some-kind-of-monster/)
2. [Music: Some Kind Of Movie, Time](https://time.com/archive/6738955/music-some-kind-of-movie/)
3. [Our History, Metallica.com](https://www.metallica.com/history)
4. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/metallica-some-kind-of-monster/)
5. [Metallica on the Couch, NPR Music](https://www.klcc.org/npr-music/2004-07-14/metallica-on-the-couch)
6. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/metallica_some_kind_of_monster)
7. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, FilmAffinity](https://www.filmaffinity.com/uk/film972862.html)
8. [Heavy Metal Therapy, Filmmaker Magazine, Summer 2004](https://filmmakermagazine.com/archives/issues/summer2004/features/heavy_metal.php)
9. [Damage Incorporated (Pillsbury), academic chapter PDF](https://hugoribeiro.com.br/area-restrita/Pillsbury-Damage_Incorporated.pdf)
10. [The DVD that came with Metallica's St Anger makes metal's most maligned album make sense, Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-st-anger-rehearsals-dvd-retrospective)
11. [Music Legends Resurrected, DGA Quarterly](https://www.dga.org/craft/dgaq/issues/2001-winter-2020/music-legends)
12. ['Never fails to delight': why Metallica: Some Kind of Monster is my feelgood movie, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2025/sep/22/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-feelgood-movie)
13. [The story of the most divisive album in metal, Louder Sound](https://www.loudersound.com/the-story-behind-metallica-st-anger)
14. [Pepper Keenan recalls the moment he knew he'd failed his audition, Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/guitarists/pepper-keenan-failed-metallica-audition)
15. [How Robert Trujillo almost ruined his Metallica audition, Guitar World](https://www.guitarworld.com/artists/bassists/how-robert-trujillo-almost-ruined-his-metallica-audition)
16. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, The Independent](https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-557484.html)
17. [Creating a Monster in the Cutting Room, CineMontage](https://cinemontage.org/david-zieff-metallica-doc/)
18. [Billboard, December 4, 2004 (DVD advertisement)](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-All-Music/Billboard/00s/2004/BB-2004-12-04.pdf)
19. [Metallica: Some Kind of Monster, review by Peter Bradshaw, The Guardian](https://www.theguardian.com/music/2004/oct/01/metallica)
20. [11 great movies, documentaries and shows that drummers should check out, MusicRadar](https://www.musicradar.com/artists/drummers/11-drum-movies)
21. [Rockumentaries: Documenting Music on Film (Huck), d-nb.info](https://d-nb.info/1245860984/34)
22. [“There was conflict”: the inside story of Metallica’s Some Kind Of Monster documentary](https://www.loudersound.com/features/metallica-some-kind-monster-documentary-story)
23. [https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004](https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-2004)
24. [https://www.documentary.org/feature/metallica-against-all-odds-diary-monster-maker](https://www.documentary.org/feature/metallica-against-all-odds-diary-monster-maker)
25. [https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/magazine/band-on-the-couch.html](https://www.nytimes.com/2004/06/20/magazine/band-on-the-couch.html)
26. [https://www.guitarworld.com/features/metallica-monsters-brawl](https://www.guitarworld.com/features/metallica-monsters-brawl)
27. [https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/](https://time.com/archive/6647007/some-kind-of-movie/)
28. [https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html](https://www.popmatters.com/metallica-some-kind-dvd-2496255219.html)
29. [https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/on-the-rock-roller-coaster-metallica-some-kind-of-monster-78800/](https://www.indiewire.com/features/general/on-the-rock-roller-coaster-metallica-some-kind-of-monster-78800/)
30. [https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/25/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-classic-documentary-is-a-cautionary-real-life-spinal-tap-tale](https://www.theguardian.com/culture/2021/jun/25/metallica-some-kind-of-monster-classic-documentary-is-a-cautionary-real-life-spinal-tap-tale)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Films by genre, form, and subject › Documentary and biographical films › Documentary films by subject: arts, music, sports, and place*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 3, 2026; Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license