ROCKET REVIEW: METALLICA – ‘Helping Hands… Live & Acoustic At The Masonic (Vinyl)

On February 1, 2019, the mighty METALLICA released the limited-edition vinyl release of “Helping Hands… Live & Acoustic At The Masonic”. It is a double album, perfectly mixed by Greg Fidelman and mastered for vinyl by Reuben Cohen at Bernie Grundman Mastering. Fans are treated to the inaugural “Helping Hands” benefit concert that was held in San Francisco, California on November 3, 2018. Proceeds go to the All Within My Hands Foundation. Helping Hands… Live & Acoustic at The Masonic features rare acoustic renditions of hits spanning the Metallica catalogue (as well as several slamming covers), captured on 140g colored vinyl with proceeds donated to the band’s All Within My Hands Foundation, which continues AWMH’s mission to fight hunger and to assist in creating sustainable communities through workforce education.

I didn’t go into listening to this new release with much confidence in the product, to be honest. I’m not a big acoustic guy. But I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by what I heard. To start it off, the band launches into a slamming rendition of “Disposable Heroes” off their “Master of Puppets” album, one of the all time great Thrash albums. This is followed by a great cover of the DEEP PURPLE song “When A Blind Man Cries”, offering some of the best vocals I’ve ever heard by James Hetfield.

Up next, the band plows into a spirited turn of their classic song “Unforgiven”, followed by a NAZARETH cover, “Please Don’t Judas Me” and Bob Seger’s “Turn The Page”. The momentum does not let up with the next set of rockers, “Bleeding Me”, “Veteran of the Psychic Wars” (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT cover) and “Nothing Else Matters” off the black album. This is followed by “All Within My Hands” off “St. Anger”, “Enter Sandman”, “The Four Horsemen” and concludes with “Hardwired” from their latest album, “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct”.

ROCKET REVIEW: METALLICA

‘Helping Hands… Live & Acoustic At The Masonic (Vinyl)

Disc One / Side A

01. Disposable Heroes
02. When A Blind Man Cries (DEEP PURPLE cover)
03. The Unforgiven

Disc One / Side B

01. Please Don’t Judas Me (NAZARETH cover)
02. Turn the Page (Bob Seger cover)

"This isn't about fans, greed or money. It's about being morally right or wrong." – Lars Ulrich, METALLICA @Metallica @TheMetalDen #PizzagateIsReal pic.twitter.com/MxpC4jHpZW

— Randy Rocket Cody (@rocketmetalden) August 28, 2018

Disc Two / Side C

01. Bleeding Me

02. Veteran of the Psychic Wars (BLUE ÖYSTER CULT cover)
03. Nothing Else Matters

Disc Two / Side D

01. All Within My Hands
02. Enter Sandman
03. The Four Horsemen
04. Hardwired

Band members:

James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Robert Trujillo and Lars Ulrich

Additional musicians: METALLICA was joined by a quartet of backing musicians who provided additional percussion, keyboards, strings and vocal harmony.