Metallica

The DVD equivalent of an unauthorised biography, Aural Amphetamine documents Metallica’s career from their earliest days through to their self-titled effort, commonly known as The Black Album. Compiled from previously released footage, personal photos and interviews with various bands (Laaz Rockit, Diamond Head, Machine Head), Aural Amphetamine is little more than a half-assed, VH1-inspired commentary on Metallica: how people perceive them, personal memories and the like. While moderately interesting, and with the occasional insight, the majority of this feature-length effort is outright boring and of little consequence to those with even a passing acquaintance with Metallica or thrash metal as a whole. Reiterating well-documented bouts with former member/Megadeth mainstay Dave Mustaine, reliving the death of seminal bassist Cliff Burton and The Black Album boom is tedious. As for the "Dawn Of Thrash” in the film’s title, the mere mention of Anthrax, Slayer and Exodus barely merits the term "scratching the surface.” Call it the Coles Notes of Metallica 101.