Metallica plays the Apollo Theater in Harlem

Pearl Gabel/Pearl Gabel/ New York Daily News

Metallica performs at a Sirius XM concert at the Apollo Theater in Harlem on Saturday.

Does speed metal have soul?

Obviously, not in any conventional sense. But Metallica’s decision to play the Apollo Theater Saturday had to beg the question. While scores of rock and pop artists have performed at this vaunted venue over the years, none has taken as little influence from African-American music as this seminal San Francisco-based metal band. (First runnerup: Morrissey).

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Don’t think the band doesn’t know it.

“I can’t believe they let us play this place,” singer James Hetfield commented toward the night’s start. “This place has so much history. And now we’re going to mess it up — kidding.”

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Certainly, few acts playing the Apollo have a drawing power as disproportionate to the hall’s 1,500-person capacity (Closest contender: Paul McCartney). The last gig Metallica played in our area took place at Yankee Stadium, which holds 33 times the number of fans.

Of course, all this gave Metallica’s Harlem show a can’t-miss PR angle, aided by the show’s simultaneous exposure over SiriusXM Satellite Radio. It all served to hype the band’s new 3-D concert movie, “Through the Never,” opening Friday.

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The discrepancy between the size of the Apollo and the volume and punch of the band gave the performance another twist. It offered a rare way to experience material that’s otherwise overfamiliar to many.

Saturday’s set list began with its usual flourish, a recording of Ennio Morricone’s bombast classic “Ecstasy of Gold.” The song’s gladiatorial splendor offered the perfect setup for original pieces like “Hit the Lights,” the first cut from the band’s debut album, 1983’s “Kill ’em All.” The set also included somewhat more nuanced pieces, like “Sad But True,” “The Memory Remains” and “One.”

Hearing pieces this sonically gigantic in a place this compact lent them a startling new concentration. The density of sound waves coursing through the air in songs like “Sanitorium” and “Harvester of Sorrows” threatened to reduce this historic space to rubble.

Lars Ulrich’s cannon-volley of drums in “Master of Puppets” might have accomplished that alone. Kirk Hammett’s guitar provided a gloriously hard overlay, stitching needling leads over Hetfield’s pummeling riffs and Robert Trujillo’s elastic slaps on the bass.

Hetfield’s Teutonic barks — more drill sergeant than singer — offered a striking contrast to the gospel and R&B-inflected tones which have classically graced the place. Yet, if anything, the intensity and grandeur of this show proved that every form of music has its own kind of soul.