When I first heard that Metallica had written an ode to Hemingway’s 1940 novel “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, I was ecstatic. Finally, the story of demolition expert Robert Jordan’s harrowing mission to destroy a bridge during the Segovia Offensive of the Spanish Civil War would be regaled to me through song! However, when I actually sat down and listened to it, I was sorely disappointed. Here’s why I don’t feel it did the novel any justice.
Throughout the entirety of the song’s five minutes, I waited for some sort of exposition regarding Jordan’s role as an irregular soldier representing the Republic after having been employed as a Spanish professor at the University of Montana, or any character development whatsoever as to how he found himself in Spain fighting against its fascist government. Hell, for the first two minutes, I was waiting for words in general, as the song’s paltry lyrics don’t even start until then! What kind of novel adaptation presents itself like this?
You must be thinking, “What of Jordan’s tryst with María, the young Spanish woman mourning the deaths of her parents at the hands of the Falangists? Or the tragic loss of the rebel Anselmo as he succumbs to a shrapnel hit after he and Jordan detonate an improvised grenade blast at the bridge towards the end of the novel? Surely, James and Lars had the good sense to touch upon these pivotal scenes”. Well, I apologize on their behalf, dear reader, as the scruffy 80s headbangers didn’t even come close to addressing these, and instead focus the whole of their lyrical exploration on the general futility of war. While I obviously appreciate such insight, I was hoping for a more direct and thorough homage to one of the greatest novels of the 20th Century.
So, do I recommend listening to Metallica’s 1984 musical observation of this literary masterpiece? Of course, and I certainly do not condone treating it with the undue condemnation and censorship the novel itself received upon release. I simply don’t recommend it in lieu of cracking the book open and losing yourself in Hemingway’s inspiring and majestic story, as this song, if nothing else, serves as a reminder that such an experience cannot be replicated by even the best that thrash metal has to offer.
