METALLICA are truly in a unique, yet self-contradictory position. Due to their vast popularity, the band’s very name has the gravity to render all debates around them meaningless.

This is as much of a guaranteed win for the band, as it is also an existence devoid of challenges and meaning. Metallica have been carrying on outside the realm of expectations and the cultural zeitgeist for a long time. They are now not leaders, nor followers. They are what they are.