Watching “Some Kind of Monster,” the hard hitting 2004 film that documents Metallica’s near break-up during the recording of “St. Anger,” you’re led to feel mixed emotions about therapist Phil Towle, who is brought in to life coach the band during the sessions.
While initially helping Metallica towards restoring band harmony, the film shows Towle attempting to increasingly insert himself into the band’s creative process, submitting lyrics for the album and even attempting to join them on the road.
However, in a teaser for upcoming retrospective documentary “This Monster Lives,” Lars Ulrich has stated (via Metal Injection) that Towle “gets a rough break” out of the film and that while he is painted as the villain, Ulrich believes he “prevented the band from breaking up.”
The comments are reiterated by James Hetfield who notes that Towle “became more of a friend, more of a confidante…” as the sessions went on. “He did take us to the place where we wanted to go to. He did walk us into the fire and walked us out the other side. He showed up at the right time.”
Source: Ultimate Guitar