Metallica, the metal band known for their toxic rivalries, substance misuse and songs entitled Leper Messiah, Harvester of Sorrow and My Friend of Misery, have entered the world of children’s publishing.
The illustrated book The ABCs of Metallica will be published on 26 November, to benefit the band’s charity foundation All Within My Hands. The band wrote it in collaboration with author Howie Abrams, and it is illustrated by Michael “Kaves” McLeer.
The band described the book on their website, saying: “Including rhymes and illustrations, The ABCs of Metallica looks back at the history of the band from, duh, A to Z! Each letter of the alphabet highlights a moment along our journey from Garage Days to Master of Puppets to fun facts about us.”
Their most recent album – the 10th of their 38-year career – was Hardwired … to Self Destruct in 2016, which sold 5m copies worldwide and was nominated for a Grammy. The band recently played two stadium dates in the UK, described in the Guardian as “a two-and-a-half hour metal masterclass … There are brutally heavy rockers about death and desolation along with gently anthemic songs about, well, death and desolation.”
