Metallica’s James Hetfield Reveals Tragic Inspiration for ‘Here Comes Revenge’
With eight years between albums, Metallica had built up not only a fair share of riffs to sift through, but also a number of topics they wanted to address on Hardwired ... To Self-Destruct. During a recent chat with Marky Ramone for Virgin Radio (seen above), singer James Hetfield revealed the tragic backstory for the somber and vengeful song "Here Comes Revenge" off the new album.
“‘Revenge‘ itself, it really came from … There’s a fan of ours, and I was just trying to put myself in their shoes," revealed the singer. "There’s a couple that showed up at so many shows, and they got into Metallica because their young daughter was a big fan, and she had gotten killed by a drunk driver."
"It just hit me: ‘How can you guys find something positive in the world to connect you to your daughter again’ — which was Metallica, the music she loved — instead of just snapping and wanting to just become bitter and attack whoever did this?," added Hetfield. "So I’m kinda putting myself in those shoes and how revenge must feel really powerful and great to do, but it doesn’t satisfy that urge. I don’t know.”
The lyrics for the song open, "Little grave I’m grieving / I will mend you /Sweet revenge I’m dreaming / I will end you," with Hetfield doing his best to empathize with the couple's plight.
The video for the song took a different narrative, with director Jessica Cope providing a nod to Evil Dead II with some not so dead creatures ready to exact their revenge on their hunter. You can watch that video below.
Metallica, "Here Comes Revenge"
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