Metallica Vanquish Their Demons

The latest in pop-culture news, recaps, and reviews, plus close reads, profiles, interviews, and more from Vulture.com. [Brand Logo]( album review [Metallica Vanquish Their Demons]( Their new album conquers the present by conversing with the past. Photo: Randy Holmes/ABC via Getty Images What do we want from [Metallica](? The question has plagued the California quartet for decades. Their ’80s classics combined the reckless speed and impressive technicality of European acts like Saxon and Iron Maiden with a Reagan-era flair for the macabre. It was the perfect storm: Drummer Lars Ulrich, descended from Danish tennis pros, had the tenacity and the means to follow Motörhead on tour and study the deliciously distorted riffs and punk-rock tempos of the British New Wave; singer-guitarist James Hetfield grew up in a religious family in Southern California fixated on faith and fatalism. Together, they learned what made their predecessors and peers tick and systematically set about beating everyone at their own game, crafting faster, darker, and longer songs while rejecting the image-consciousness of the glam-metal acts dominating the charts at the time. But the tragic 1986 tour-bus crash that claimed the life of bassist Cliff Burton and the exacting bleakness of 1988’s [… And Justice for All](, which introduced Jason Newsted as Burton’s replacement, drove Metallica to abdicate the thrash-metal throne, a decision the band’s most recent works, including this week’s new 72 Seasons, have been loudly reconsidering. [read more]( Devour pop culture with us. [Subscribe now]( for unlimited access to Vulture and everything New York. The Latest TV Recaps • Yellowjackets: [Good Game]( • The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel: [Six Months]( • Love Is Blind: [Four Weddings (and a Funeral)]( • Grey’s Anatomy: [Mommy Issues]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( Stories We Think You’ll Like [Timbaland’s Bringing ‘Fun Justin’ Back On Timberlake’s Man in the Woods follow-up.]( By Justin Curto [Renfield Sucks a Funny Premise Dry Nicholas Hoult and Nicolas Cage are fun when playing Renfield and Dracula as a dysfunctional work relationship — shame about the rest of the movie.]( By Alison Willmore [Makoto Shinkai’s Weepiest, Wettest, Most Intricately Animated Movies A ranking of the anime filmmaker’s major works.]( [Let Loose With the RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 15 Finale RuPaul dances, reveals, and supports the ACLU Drag Defense Fund, all in the first seven minutes.]( By Jason P. Frank [God Save Nicki Minaj’s Verse on ‘Princess Diana’ In the hood, this is Netflix’s The Crown.]( By Wolfgang Ruth [‘Hamlet Is Mine, Too’ James Ijames’s Fat Ham doesn’t just break the fourth wall — it bulldozes it.]( [Learn more about RevenueStripe...]( [Today’s Crossword]( 20-Across, Five Letters: The final frontier, according to Captain Kirk. Photo-Illustration: Vulture; Photos: Getty A newsletter of TV and movie recommendations. [Sign up]( to get it every week. [Get the Newsletter]( [logo]( [facebook logo]( [instagram logo]( [twitter logo]( [unsubscribe](link.nymag.com/manage/588/optout-vulture?email={EMAIL}&hash=39357a76f6d08b16239fd2ffa65e9c6f¶m=vulture-daily) | [privacy notice]( | [update preferences]( This email was sent to {EMAIL}. Was this email forwarded to you? [Sign up now]( to get this newsletter in your inbox. [View this email in your browser.]( You received this email because you have a subscription to New York. Reach the right online audience with us For advertising information on email newsletters, please contact AdOps@nymag.com Vox Media, LLC 1201 Connecticut Ave. NW, 12th Floor Washington, DC 20036 Copyright © 2023, All rights reserved