One shouldn't naively think that Metallica didn't know what S&M means. Still, the combination of one of the most famous symphony orchestras of the second part of XX century with the heaviest heavy metal quartet in the modern era- doesn't seem to the ear to be a meeting between a sadist and a masochist. More than that- the double album of the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra and Metallica (abbreviated "S&M") raises the standards of symphony-rock, which earlier seemed theoretically impossible. The experiments of Deep Purple seem childish next to this, after all (they were always childish, but until now there was nothing to compare them to). The basis for this success is the talent of director and arranger Michael Kamen- he was the initiator of the project. According to Kamen, listening to the songs of Metallica, he always imagined an orchestra sounding in the back. His success is also owed to his previous experience in working with rock-musicians. It can be said that that this is his main specialization, because he conducted large symphony orchestras in the recordings of many albums, including the legendary "Wall" by Pink Floyd in 1979. In 1991 he also worked with Metallica on the recording of the song "Nothing Else Matters."