Courtesy of Lesser GodsMetallica fans can now get an exclusive preview of the upcoming biography of frontman James Hetfield.
The Clrvynt website is offering a sneak peek at the introduction and first chapter of author Mark Eglinton‘s So Let It Be Written: The Biography of Metallica’s James Hetfield, billed as “the first biography of a living Metallica member.” According to publisher Lesser Gods, the book is an oral history that includes interviews with the other members of Metallica plus fellow metal musicians like Alice in Chains‘ Jerry Cantrell, Pantera‘s Rex Brown, and Anthrax‘s Charlie Benante. It traces Hetfield’s entire life, including his overcoming his parents’ divorce, his mother’s death, and his own battle with alcoholism.
In the preview, Eglinton writes of his first meeting with Hetfield in September 1986: “When I met that distinctly guarded guy that year after a show at the Edinburgh Playhouse in Scotland, I never imagined he would become a rock icon alongside Bono and [Bruce] Springsteen.” He later writes, “James Hetfield is a guitarist of otherworldly ability, a frontman of gargantuan stature and a much-underrated lyricist and songwriter. But he is more than just a great and influential musician. Hetfield is a more sensitive and thoughtful person than his public persona has suggested.”
In the chapter one preview, Eglinton recounts Hetfield’s birth in working-class Downey, California, to mother Cynthia, a light-opera singer, and father James, a truck driver with a small distribution operation. Eglinton says Hetfield, his older sister and two half-brothers “grew up in a loving environment that encouraged creativity” and included regular attendance at the Church of Christian Science.
So Let It Be Written: The Biography of Metallica’s James Hetfield will be published in book form and online April 11 and is available for pre-order now.
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