James Hetfield To Star In Western Film Alongside Peter Dinklage

Following his appearance as Officer Bob Hayward in the Netflix Ted Bundy movie Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil And Vile, Metallica vocalist James Hetfield is slated to star in a new film, The Thicket, alongside Peter Dinklage (Game Of Thrones) and Juliette Lewis (Yellowjackets, Natural Born Killers).

The Thicket is due to land on the streaming platform Tubi, also available in Australia. The Thicket is a dark Western thriller based on the 2013 novel of the same name by Joe R. Lansdale.

While Hetfield’s role hasn’t been revealed yet, Dinklage will play a bounty hunter and Lewis a violent gang leader, per Deadline.

As Deadline notes, Dinklage has been attached to the project for a decade. 

Yesterday, Metallica unveiled the seven-minute thrasher, If Darkness Had A Son, the third (and possibly best) single from their upcoming album, 72 Seasons, due for release on 14 April.

“If darkness had a son, here I am,” James Hetfield sings over that commanding riff. Everything about the new number resembles the band in their prime (Master Of Puppets days), with a phenomenal drum sound, an already memorable dirty riff, and a solo that will make fans lose their minds when it’s played on stage.

In mid-January, Metallica released Screaming Suicide, the second single from 72 Seasons. The track is more mid-tempo than the first single, Lux Æterna, but still contains some thrashy riffs. The music video sees the band clouded in mystery with a wicked guitar solo from Kirk Hammett. As far as current-day Metallica singles go, it's a banger. 

"Screaming Suicide addresses the taboo word of suicide," Hetfield offered in a statement. 

"The intention is to communicate about the darkness we feel inside. It's ridiculous to think we should deny that we have these thoughts. At one point or another, I believe most people have thought about it. To face it is to speak the unspoken. If it's a human experience, we should be able to talk about it. You are not alone." It's a poignant, powerful message from the biggest heavy metal band in the world.

The legendary heavy metal band's new album will be 12 songs and 77 minutes long and produced by Greg Fidelman alongside James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The album is Metallica's first since 2016's Hardwired … To Self-Destruct.

Pre-order 72 Seasons here.