PHOTOS: Metallica Guitarist Kirk Hammett Shows Off Monstrous Art Collection

Photo: AP

If you thought Kirk Hammett’s “Master of Puppets” solos were scary, then the Metallica guitarist’s monster-filled art collection should really give you nightmares.

The heavy metal icon has lent 135 pieces of classic horror and science-fiction movie memorabilia to the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Mass., for an upcoming exhibit called “It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Scifi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection.” The assemblage, featuring everything from movie posters to monster masks to collectible electric guitars, opens Saturday and runs through late November.

“My collection takes me to a place where I need to be,” Hammett said in a statement given to the Associated Press. “Among the monsters, where I’m most comfortable and creative.”

“That’s where the magic has happened for me all these years and it’s something I’ve come to trust,” he continued. “From the moment I first encountered these characters, I could see that these guys had just as much difficulty in coping as I did.”

Kirk and his Metallica bandmates have visited the Stern Show several times over the years, most recently in Sept. 2016 ahead of their album “Hardwired… to Self-Destruct.” While the heavy metal icons didn’t discuss monster art specifically, they had much to say on artistry in general. “You don’t retire as an artist. You just keep doing what you do,” Metallica frontman James Hetfield told Howard.

The band also performed live with fellow horror movie enthusiast Richard Christy in studio to watch. See James, Kirk, Lars Ulrich, and Robert Trujillo melt faces with their masterful in-studio rendition of “Master of Puppets” (below) and click here for the band’s full Stern Show sit-down.

“It’s Alive! Classic Horror and Scifi Art from the Kirk Hammett Collection” runs Saturday through Nov. 26. Click here for more information and check out a few more pieces from Kirk’s collection (below).