Metallica’s James Hetfield continues to pay tribute to the late Motörhead vocalist/bassist Ian “Lemmy” Kilmister. While in 2016, we saw the tribute to the song “Murder One” from Hardwired…To Self-Destruct, the singer took things more personally just eight years later by getting a tattoo on his right middle finger of an iron cross with an ace of spades at the center. A clear homage to the legend, Hetfield expressed how Metallica wouldn’t exist without Motörhead. The design goes beyond black ink as a pinch of Lemmy’s cremation ashes, which were given to Hetfield, are mixed within.

Hetfield stated:

“With the steady hand of friend and tattoo artist @coreymillertattoo, this tattoo. A salute to my friend and inspiration Mr. Lemmy Kilmister. Without him, there would be NO Metallica.Black ink mixed with a pinch of his cremation ashes that were so graciously given to me. So now, he is still able to fly the bird at the world.”

 
 
 
 
 
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