METALLICA: SHOWING KIDS HOW IT'S DONE.

Byline: Marie Vasari Staff Writer

There's nothing either subdued or subtle about a Metallica show - high- decibel, testosterone-fueled rock that leaves your ears ringing for days. And Metallica, playing at the Los Angeles Coliseum on Saturday on one of its final Summer Sanitarium tour stops, was exactly the band its fans wanted it to be that night - loud, dark and in-your-face aggressive.

One of the most memorable moments of the show, near the end of an eight-hour, five-band festival, was also its quietest - the gentle, melodic guitar that opens ``Nothing Else Matters,'' James Hetfield's deep vocals steady, quietly intense and personal, and at times harmonizing on his own signature tune. And throughout it, a thousand Bic points of light glowing against a dark, moving mass of mesmerized audience.

That may have been the singular quiet moment of the day, which started with Mudvayne and the Deftones in early afternoon, then Linkin Park's loud, anguished rap-rock and Limp Bizkit's energetic but oft-annoying set. That one song aside, the rest of Metallica's show was a nonstop progression of unabashed volume, speed and spectacle. Huge columns of flame. Fireworks shooting high above the stage. Smoke bombs. Tons of light, colored filters, flashing strobes and liberal video.

Opening with ``Battery,'' Metallica wasted no time launching into the speed-metal guitar solos, with thrashing drums and dark war imagery. With little pause save for an ``Are you ready,'' the band rolled into a version of ``Master of Puppets,'' accented by Hetfield's dark, sinister laugh, that had so much of the crowd screaming out the lyrics that Hetfield's own powerful voice was at times barely audible. He encouraged them to sing along.

For a band known for decades of aggressive masculinity and driving, dark lyrics, Metallica - featuring Hetfield's guitar and vocals, guitarist Kirk Hammett, drummer Lars Ulrich and bassist Robert Trujillo - displayed an almost sentimental side. On one of the final nights of its tour, Hetfield seemed moved by the fans' devotion, lingering on stage for nearly five minutes after the band's final encore to go off with audience members and the rest of the band.

Turning the night into a celebration of that loyalty, Hetfield told the crowd, ``to all our fans out there who have stuck with Metallica through all of our rough times, and all of you who have stuck with Metallica through all of your rough times - now we come together for one awesome time.''

Hetfield thanked each band on the tour by name, with Limp Bizkit drawing a strongly mixed reaction of cheers and boos for singer Fred Durst's obnoxious, egotistic performance - then went on to introduce his own band, ending with a sincere ``Hello, I'm James,'' perhaps a reference to his newfound sobriety.

Metallica's newest member, one-time Ozzy Osbourne bassist Robert Trujillo, raced and soared his way through a dozen raging solos, even teasing the crowd with the opening riffs of Ozzy's ``Crazy Train.''

Dressed all in black, sideburns and leather arm cuffs, Hetfield was all grimace and teeth and slow-burn intensity on ``Welcome Home (Sanitarium)'' and for most of the evening.

But despite the flash and the lights and moodiness, Metallica is and always has been more substance than style. Even in their fastest, flashiest moments, every one of these musicians offers each note as crisp, pounding and distinctly staccato as machine-gun fire. These guys don't just go for the big finish in their songs, they carry it through on every note preceding, and even into the spaces between the notes.

Sticking mostly to old favorites, Metallica did offer a couple of songs of its latest album, starting with ``Frantic.''

When the band launched into ``No Remorse,'' from ``Kill 'Em All'' (``back from 1932; we were 2 1/2 years old - it's amazing,'' joked Hetfield), it managed to pack more notes and drum than you'd think a song could contain, and of course, so fast and loud there's nowhere else to go but toward those inevitable, exhausting solos. Except in Metallica, it always seems everyone's solos are happening simultaneously.

On a second encore, Hetfield emerged alone on a raised platform silhouetted against smoke and amber and green, more shadow than light, to launch into ``One,'' then closed with ``Enter Sandman'' as the crowd went wild.

In a packed Coliseum, fans mostly on their feet through nearly every song, that loyalty was incredibly strong for a band that took an infamous lead role in robbing a generation of free downloads and just recently introduced an album markedly different from past work. Apparently, Metallica's less unforgiven than some would expect.

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(1 -- 2) Above, Metallica's Kirk Hammett gets his licks in during a guitar solo at Saturday's Summer Sanitarium concert. At left, singer James Hetfield belts out another, though he was at times was muffled as the crowd sang along.

Gus Ruelas/Staff Photographer