It's been quite the nostalgia trip for Metallica this year. With plenty of album anniversaries, reissues and a comprehensive Master of Puppets historical photo book, the new Spotify Landmark series has added another box to check on the trip down Metallica memory lane with Chapter 1 available in the video above.

The series puts a spotlight on the early years of the thrash legends, from their humble beginnings and happenstance run-ins that landed them on the path to unprecedented stardom in the metal world. In the pre-Internet days, fans and musicians alike had to pour through magazines, looking for pen pals to trade tapes with, serving as the portal to a world of new and underground music.

In the video, James Hetfield reflects on these days while Lars Ulrich took a different route, traversing Europe in the summer of 1981 to find likeminded music fans. After lurking around, he was invited inside to watch Motorhead work on their next album. Packing up this inspiration with the rest of his luggage, he ventured to California to talk with Hetfield, a musician he had met recently.

Hetfield describes Ulrich's audition as poor and declined the possibility of enlisting the drummer in his band. The stickman later landed a spot on a compilation from Metal Blade after talking with label founder and CEO Brian Slagel, which then brought the union of Ulrich and Hetfield.

In the video, the band and others discuss Metallica's disastrous first show where Dave Mustaine broke three strings during a guitar solo. The thrash act later acquired bassist Cliff Burton, which helped shape future songwriting and the band's new home, relocating from Los Angeles to San Francisco. Chapters 2, 3 and 4 can also be viewed through Spotify.

This year, Metallica have celebrated the 30th anniversary of Master of Puppets, commemorating it with the Metallica: Back to the Front exhaustive photo book, the 25th anniversary of their self-titled record otherwise known as the Black Album, as well as releasing deluxe reissues of their first two records, Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning.

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