By I first listened to Metallica thanks to Guitar Hero. It was back in 2008, and I was playing Guitar Hero World Tour when I made it to the final setlist. The songs featured there were all bangers and were blisteringly tough, like System of a Down’s “B.Y.O.B” and “Re-Education (Through Labor)” by Rise Against. Among those tracks was Metallica’s “Trapped Under Ice.” I loved the speed of the song, and while it didn’t make me a diehard fan of Metallica, it put them on my radar.
Since then, I’ve developed a respect for their place in metal. While I may gravitate more towards power metal and Viking metal (I would DIE if Brothers of Metal announced a US tour FYI), I can appreciate everything that Metallica did for the genre. I may not love their music, but I can’t deny that they are undeniably the most popular and beloved metal band in the world. And that’s something that Metallica Saved My Life wants to impart to the viewer.
It isn’t trying to convince you that Metallica is the greatest band of all time. Instead, it focuses on letting the fans of the band explain their love for Metallica and what the band means to them. It may seem on the surface like Metallica propaganda, but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Metallica Saved My Life is an honest documentary from top to bottom, and much like the band, I respect the hell out of it.
Metallica Saved My Life
Director: Jonas Akerlund
Release Date: June 11, 2025 (Tribeca Film Festival)
At the start of Metallica Saved My Life, we’re introduced to the earliest fans of Metallica, all of whom watched the band in their early days playing in garages and small clubs. These fans would eventually go on to play pivotal roles in helping expand the band’s name and notoriety, like helping print flyers for upcoming appearances, copying cassettes for the band to share around, and even organizing/leading fan clubs. From the outset, Metallica Saved My Life makes it clear that fans have always played an essential role in their rise to the top.
It’s all too easy to hear about how musicians can be out of touch with their fan bases and act confrontational towards them. Lord knows I’ve been to enough concerts where the band feels like they’re just doing it for the money and are rarely, if ever, interacting with the audience. But Metallica Saved My Life, from the outset, wants to prove that it isn’t the case with them. The first 15 minutes of any movie are essential in setting the tone, and while it can be a little self-aggrandizing at times and clichéd when the band members refer to themselves as fans of Metallica, it effectively showcases the band as a very human one, accepting of all kinds of people.
From there, the documentary splinters into focusing on several fans of the band and getting their own personal stories. This is where the bulk of Metallica Saved My Life is. Instead of hearing from the band how much they care about their fans, we hear it from the fans why the band matters so much to them. Some of these stories are comical, like how the band gave one fan a trophy for always getting to the rail at all of their tours or how another began to follow them because she thought Lars Ulrich was cute, but the majority of them are much deeper than that.
We hear about how a trans man listened to Metallica to help them find a community when their mom rejected them. We hear how women in Saudi Arabia found solace in Metallica’s music when the then-current regime restricted access to foreign music. We hear how a family began to follow Metallica because it was their deceased daughter’s favorite band and they were their connection to her legacy. There are countless stories like this peppered throughout the documentary, but no matter which one sits with you, at least one will emotionally affect you.
Each segment has a heart and soul that really doesn’t just show how influential Metallica is, but how beloved they are throughout the world. If you’re going into Metallica Saved My Life expecting a history of the band, then go watch Some Kind of Monster. This isn’t the kind of documentary to educate you about who or what the subject is. This is a documentary that’s confident that even if you don’t know who Metallica is, you’ll still come away from it with a greater sense of appreciation for them.
Is it a perfect documentary? No, but its flaws are minor. When the documentary decides to center less on the impact Metallica has on its fans and more about the devotion they have to them, it can be a bit off-putting. It’s one thing to show how a community of Metallica fans developed in Japan and the chapter head goes to a meet-and-greet in Sweden to convince them to visit their homeland, but it’s another thing to watch a horde of fans steamroll each other to get to the rail just so they can be up close and personal to each of the band members. It’s a fine line between admiration and obsession, and while Metallica Saved My Life never fully goes into that territory, it does border occasionally. The documentary can also feel overproduced at times, with text, sound effects, and cuts bombarding viewers incessantly; however, it eventually adopts a calmer approach, recognizing that its more serious moments require a more subdued and controlled tone.
Saying that a band “saved my life” is a bold statement. It implies a certain level of significance. While it may be used casually, the phrase never actually holds the significance it implies. To the subjects interviewed for Metallica Saved My Life, there is no understating how the band saved them. Sometimes it’s socially. Other times it’s mentally. A few times, it’s quite literal. But by the end of the two hours, not only did I develop more respect for the band, but it also made me want to see what a Metallica concert was like. It made me want to try to learn more about this community and see firsthand what makes Metallica so powerful for those who love them.
