Watch First Part Of SPOTIFY's Documentary On METALLICA's Early Years

METALLICA is the subject of a four-part series on Spotify called "Landmark - Metallica: The Early Years". The documentary is the first of its kind for the streaming service and it debuted on Wednesday (August 18),with all four parts premiering at the same time. Each features exclusive interviews with frontman James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and drummer Lars Ulrich, plus rare archival footage, interviews with musical peers, animation and a companion playlist.

Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio a while back that Ulrich is the band's chief historian. "He cannot forget things, where I'm pretty much the opposite; I remember hardly anything about what's going on. [Laughs] But Lars is a great historian on METALLICA and we joke about him being the biggest METALLICA fan on the planet, and that he is. You know, he'll be the guy that has the museum or all of that METALLI-memorabilia. He's Encyclopedia Metallica."

The four segments are titled "Metal Militia", "Metal Up Your Ass", "Sophistication And Brutality" and "Armageddon's Here".

Part one, which can be seen below, is devoted to Hetfield and Ulrich's first encounter. Part two brings Hammett into the band and covers the making of their debut album. Part three is devoted to late bassist Cliff Burton, while chapter four follows the group's early rise to success.

Parts two, three and four of "Landmark - Metallica: The Early Years" can be viewed on Spotify.

The new METALLICA album, its first since 2008, is tentatively due out later this year.

"Landmark" is an original video series about monumental moments in music history. Each multi-part installment is comprised of short videos that can be watched as individual, self-contained chapters or viewed all at once in a half-hour viewing experience.

"Metallica: Back To The Front", the long-awaited book on the making of METALLICA's classic 1986 album "Master Of Puppets", will see publication on September 13.

METALLICA is also working on a remastered deluxe reissue of "Master Of Puppets", although a release date has yet to be determined.