Music Blogs

What is the heck is going on with Metallica and the Russian government?

Kirk Hammet, guitarist for the legendary Grammy-winning Bay Area heavy metal act, posted a vlog yesterday from the road explaining the inspiration for the band's next video...and it's, um, quite interesting and raises many questions:

Apparently, while on tour in Russia a few years back, the moptopped six-slinger purchased some mysterious film strips at a flea market (for $5 cheap!) that he's been sitting on ever since. When he finally got around to watching 'em, he discovered what appears to be Soviet scientific documentary footage from the 1930s. Yes, according to Hammet, who points out that he is not a conspiracy theorist, the reel-to-reels document mysterious Russian laboratory experiments that the government may or may not have been trying to cover up.

Now, Hammet is not sure if these flicks are even real or not, but points out that they sure look authentic. Either way, he showed the rest of the band the films (I love the image of Kirk, Lars, James, and Robert gathered around an old, dusty projector eyeballing some grainy old footage) and they decided to use it as inspiration for their next music video. No word yet as to what song this video is for, or when it will debut, or whether it will feature any of the actual found footage or simply a recreation of what Hammet saw, but no matter what it sounds quite fascinating and has piqued fans' interest.

"It's questionable whether or not [the footage] is real," Hammett explains in the vlog. "But I started researching it and [had it translated], and what I found is that maybe this stuff is the real deal, some weird scientific stuff that just kinda made it out of someone's laboratory and has to do with all these weird experiments and all this weird propaganda stuff. I don't really know what to make of it...but I do know that it's cool stuff and whoever made it was serious. This wasn't made as some joke."

There is one clue to this metal mystery, however. Last week, Hammet vlogged about some choice reading material he's been brushing up on while on the band's endless worldwide tour, including http://newkremlinology.blogspot.com, a site that reviews Soviet-era media and alternate history. If one were to do a little digging on this New Kremlinology blog, they would find a cadre of links and images documenting a variety of cover-ups, top secret technology breakthroughs, Soviet propaganda securitization, and conspiracy theories. No specific mention of Hammet's found footage per se, but lots of signs that point to there being some crazy shiz going down over there.

Could Hammet be onto something? Hmmmmm...