Metallica at the Forum

James Hetfield might be the frontman for one of rock’s most formidable entities, but when it comes to stage patter he's a bit of a corn dog. "I have an announcement to make," said the faux-hawked singer and rhythm guitarist Wednesday, commencing the first of his band's two night's at the Forum. "Metallica is alive and well and ready to kick some. . . . " Finishing his thought with a mild expletive, Hetfield sounded more like a bridegroom who'd grabbed the microphone at a wedding reception than like a knight of the Heavy Metal round table. But it didn't matter. At a Metallica concert, actions speak louder than words.

The California band, which razed and reconstructed the edifice of heavy metal in the 1980s only to grow sluggish and surly in the decade following, has returned this year with a strong new album, “Death Magnetic,” and a stated desire to recommit -- to its audience, its trademark "heavy" sound and itself.

This tour, and particularly the shows at L.A.'s iconic arena for hard rock, furthered the band's renewal in several ways. In two hours that relied on no filler beyond Hetfield's amiable admonitions, the four members of Metallica played at top volume with focused ease and strength, right on top of the crowd but in unbreakable communion with one another. The performance made a musical case for the band's new songs by juxtaposing them with favorites from throughout the group's nearly 30-year career, unleashing the powerful exchange of energies that defines Metallica's purpose and its appeal.

That transference took place among the band's four players as they locked into one another's grooves without even having to exchange glances. Then they turned the energy outward until it overtook the fans, who, at Hetfield's urging, lost all inhibitions and yowled at the top of their lungs. Mosh pits formed on the floor; some fans were held aloft in the old ritual of crowd-surfing.

This was no Mitch Miller-style family singalong but an outpouring of emotional intensity that Hetfield encouraged, even as the set's structure exerted careful control. "Hey, did you sing?" the vocalist demanded after "Broken, Beat and Scarred," one of the more ferocious tracks on "Death Magnetic." "That's why you're here. You're the fifth member of Metallica, you know that."