Metallica don’t just melt your face with riffs — they’ve been dropping some proper cinematic carnage for decades. Whether it’s nuclear nightmares, black-and-white brutality, or straight-up live chaos, their music videos have defined eras and blown minds. So grab your air guitar, crank the volume, and let’s dive headfirst into the 12 Best Metallica Music Videos of All Time, as chosen by the riff-obsessed goblins at The Riff Report. 🎸😈

12. Until It Sleeps (1996)

📺 The “What in the Holy Hell Did I Just Watch?” Award

This one’s artsy, abstract and totally batshit — think Renaissance paintings meets horror fever dream. Lars painted gold, James crawling through flesh… it’s basically Metallica’s weirdest acid trip. Not for the faint of heart or hungover.

🎨 Directed by Samuel Bayer (of Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” fame). A surreal scream into the void.

11. The Memory Remains (1997)

🌀 The Spinning Platform of Doom

It’s a rotating set, a cranky old music box of madness, and Marianne Faithfull cackling into the abyss. The video spins as much as the riffs, and by the end, you feel like you’ve been tossed in a tumble dryer with a bottle of Jack.

🔄 One of the most visually creative videos they’ve done. And that laugh? Haunting.

10. Lux Æterna (2022)

⚡ Modern Retro Mayhem

Back to basics and proud of it. It’s just Metallica, lights, and raw thrashing energy — filmed like it’s 1983 on steroids. Pure “New Wave of British Heavy Metal” vibes shot through a 4K lens.

🧨 No plot. No nonsense. Just RIFFS, butt!

9. King Nothing (1996)

👑 Greed, Snow and Madness

The crown-wearing king wandering through a frozen wasteland? Symbolism, baby. As he tosses away one crown after another, the message hits: chasing power will leave you cold and alone.

🥶 One of their most underrated visuals — stark, desolate, and loaded with meaning.

8. Wherever I May Roam (1992)

🌍 The Road Dog Diary

Less concept, more tour documentary on beast mode. From snake pit chaos to James polishing his guitar with a whiskey-soaked cloth, it captures the real Metallica lifestyle: touring, sweat, and destroying every city they hit.

🚌 Roadies. Fire. Hair. Hotels. A chaotic love letter to touring.

7. No Leaf Clover (S&M) (1999)

🎻 Metallica Meets Orchestra – And It Works?!

It’s symphonic metal madness — Metallica dressed in black, flanked by the San Francisco Symphony, with conductor Michael Kamen looking like a wizard. The visuals cut between band, orchestra and an ominous fireball-filled sky.

🌩️ It shouldn’t work. It absolutely does. Symphonic and cinematic.

6. Turn the Page (1998)

🚨 NSFW. Unfiltered. Raw.

A brutal and emotional short film about a single mother working as a sex worker to support her daughter. Harrowing and powerful. Shot like an indie film with heart-wrenching grit.

🎭 Not an easy watch — but one of their most human and hard-hitting videos ever.

5. Enter Sandman (1991)

💀 The Nightmare Begins Here

The creepy kid, the writhing bed, the truck, the drowning, the sandman himself — it’s a literal fever dream. The video that launched Metallica into the MTV stratosphere and haunted our childhoods.

🛌 The reason half of us never slept again in the ’90s. Iconic.

4. Fuel (1998)

🔥 “Gimme Fire!” Literally.

Fast cars. Explosions. Fire. More fire. Even more fire. Did we mention fire? This is what happens when a V8 engine and a flamethrower have a baby. The video is basically petrolhead thrash fury.

🔥 It smells like motor oil and testosterone. And we love it.

3. Moth Into Flame (2016)

🦋 Modern Metallica Hits Back

Lights, flickers, chaos — it’s a visual metaphor for fame consuming you. Plus, the moth swarm sequence is properly eerie. A return to thoughtful visuals and a tight performance vibe that screams old school with new teeth.

💡 Fame’s a fire. And Metallica’s here with a bug zapper.

2. The Unforgiven (1991)

🕯️ Gothic and Bleak as Hell

A boy locked in a room by oppressive stone-faced figures. He grows old carving a tunnel. It’s bleak, moody, and devastatingly powerful. It’s not just a video — it’s a metal fairy tale of sorrow and rebellion.

🔒 A mini-movie that defined the angsty goth-metal aesthetic.

🥇 1. One (1989)

🎖️ The GOAT. Full Stop.

Black-and-white war scenes. A soldier trapped in his own body. Audio samples from Johnny Got His Gun. This is where music video met war movie, and it changed everything. Bleak, political, powerful.

🪖 “Darkness… imprisoning me…” has never hit harder. Still the most emotionally devastating metal video ever made.

Honourable Mentions:

  • I Disappear (Mission: Impossible soundtrack chaos)
  • The Day That Never Comes (Another war epic with twists)
  • All Nightmare Long (Zombie apocalypse + Soviet secret weapon?!)

🎬 Final Thoughts:

Metallica didn’t just conquer the metal scene — they turned music videos into mini blockbusters. From soldiers of war to flaming muscle cars to surreal nightmares, these lads have always known how to put on a bloody show. Whether you’re in it for the flames, the riffs, or the feels, there’s a Metallica video that’s burrowed into your soul.

So whack on your battle vest, pour a cold one, and binge these bangers like it’s 1999, mun. 🖤

Let us know your favourites — or if we crimed against metal by missing your fave — over on @theriffreportuk or https://theriffreport.co.uk/ 🎤

Diolch and rock on, butt! 🤘🏴