Listen to James Hetfield’s surprise take on a Christmas classic
If you weren’t feeling festive enough, Metallica’s James Hetfield has unveiled his very own spoken-word version of the classic holiday story, ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.
The musician dropped his version of the 1823 poem on Metallica’s SiriusXM channel Maximum Metallica. With the take, Hetfield added the message, “Grab your cocoa and settle in by the fire before your long winter’s nap for a reading of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas by Papa Het.”
Accompanying the new reading, an animated video that depicts a warm fire adorned with four stockings was posted online.
The esteemed singer-songwriter gives us the Christmas reading we never knew we needed, rattling through classic lines like “Twas the night before Christmas and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse.”
Metallica last played in the UK as part of the Black Sabbath farewell show, Back To The Beginning, that took place in Birmingham in July.
The band will return to the UK in 2026 for a double-header of shows at London’s Olympic Stadium on July 3rd and 5th; they have revealed they will not repeat a single song over the two shows.
The upcoming stadium tour is part of their M72 World Tour in support of their most recent album, 2023’s 72 Seasons. It first flew through Europe for a set of dates in 2023, including two headline performances at Download Festival in the UK. Now, they will return to the continent for 16 shows next summer.
In other festive news, Kylie Minogue landed her first official Christmas number one on the UK charts with her happy holiday song, ‘XMAS’. The track was released on December 13th as an Amazon Music Exclusive.
Additionally, this Christmas period, Pink Floyd have topped the UK album chart for the second time in 2025 with the 50th anniversary edition of Wish You Were Here taking the coveted Christmas number one spot.
Listen to James Hetfield read the feel-good poem below.
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