NME are reporting that Jason Newsted will rejoin Metallica when the band is inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on 4th April.

Newsted left the band in 2001 but had spent 14 years with the band since the death of their original bassist, Cliff Burton. According to the report, the band don’t want politics to mar the ceremony as they did with the Blondie induction in 2006.

"Jason Newsted will be there, and he will be playing with us at one point," guitarist Kirk Hammett said. "We went as a band when Black Sabbath was being inducted, and at that time Blondie was also being inducted that night. And there was so many politics and so much drama that, you know, we collectively said to each other, ‘We don’t want any of that,’ because it kind of, it puts a really bad, sour note on the whole celebration itself."

Having spent so long with the band, it’s great that Newsted can come back and be part of the celebration. After all, he was part of the biggest band in the world as their fame crested and peaked. I think he deserves it, and I’ll be looking out for footage of that performance when it hits the web!

The Hall of Fame induction takes place on 4th April in Cleveland, and the band are to receive their induction from Flea of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

Kirk Hammett and James Hetfield give the inside scoop on some classic Metallica tunes in a brilliant interview with Guitar World.

I don’t know about you, but I love hearing the stories behind classic music, and this doesn’t disappoint – guitar-heads will love the chatter about hot-rodded Marshall amps, and any self-respecting Metallica fan will want to hear Hetfield talking about how they converted Dave Mustaine’s Mechanix into their classic Four Horsemen.

Kirk Hammett admits to having been ‘inspired’ by a lick from Ice-T’s Power album for Enter Sandman:

You know how the guitar solo plays out, and then there’s a lead guitar break that leads into a breakdown? I think the time has come to tell where I actually got that lick. It’s from ‘Magic Man’ by Heart, but I didn’t get it from Heart’s version; I got it from a cut off Ice-T’s Power album, where he used it as a sample. I was listening to Power a lot while we were recording Metallica, so I kept on hearing that lick. I thought, I have to snake this! I did change it around a little bit, though.

Check out the Guitar World interview for what is undeniably an essential Metallica article.

There are two things in my mind as I approach my Death Magnetic review. One is that such a record cannot be compared to a classic (Master Of Puppets) that has been part of our lives for over twenty years.

The second thing is guilt. Yes, guilt. After the critical roasting they got for St Anger, Metallica went back to their roots. Is it even remotely right for us fans to insist on ‘more of the same’ from a band? Surely artistic growth alone suggests that Metallica should have been allowed to shape their musical style instead of returning to the sound that launched them?

Something about this “sounds like a cross between Puppets and Justice For All” move reeks of desperation to please the fans, rather than a majestic opus the band are 100% proud of. Sure, as I write this, Metallica have been more or less restored to their position as rock overlords.

And rightly so, I must say. A few years ago, I would have led the charge of Metallica haters after the Napster debacle. I have to admit – the only album I bought after Load was S&M, as close as the band have ever come to releasing a greatest hits album.

But the hype for this album has hit all the right spots for me – getting me excited about a new Metallica album for the first time since… Well, since the Black Album. And Death Magnetic delivers on the promise.

The opening track, The Was Just Your Life kicks things off with a moody minor arpeggio before bursting into a majestic riff, and suddenly you’re back in thrashville, being led through this massive thundering anthem. Yes, anthem. Great riffing, brutal bass drum work from Lars, and Hetfield doing a very close approximation of spitting his lyrics out with the fervour he used to before he discovered ‘singing’.

I don’t intend to go through each and every song, but Death Magnetic is an impressive platter, worthy of every single bit of hype that it garnered over the summer. I don’t know if it’s the influence of bassist Robert Trujilo, but many of the songs have a real groove to them.

But if I recall correctly, the best way to road test a Metallica album is to listen to it when you’re angry. I took Death Magnetic out for a walk when I was in a strop, and within 10 minutes I was walking with that Hetfield stride – legs cowboy width apart.

When Death Magnetic arrived through my door, it came at the same time as CDs by Extreme and Black Stone Cherry. Without a shadow of a doubt, Metallica’s is the album of choice. And if I could go back on my earlier assertion that we shouldn’t compare this album to their earlier works – Death Magnetic is a stunning tour de force. It’s definitely going to be regarded as one of their best in a long, long time.

After being unintentionally outed by retailer Music Dispatch, Metallica have officially announced the track listing for Death Magnetic, due out in September.

But if an over-enthusiastic retailer is what it takes to get the low-down on the highly anticipated Death Magnetic, then shouldn’t we all just be grateful?

The song titles are suitably foreboding, and could easily hark back to the golden era of thrash that we’ve all been hoping for. Titles after the jump…

1. That Was Just Your Life
2. The End of the Line
3. Broken, Beat & Scarred
4. The Day That Never Comes
5. All Nightmare Long
6. Cyanide
7. The Unforgiven III
8. The Judas Kiss
9. Suicide & Redemption
10. My Apocalypse

You’ll have noticed the inclusion of The Unforgiven III, a continuation of a theme which was begun with the Black Album.

In keeping with the name, Death Magnetic, the song titles seem to indicate a dark concept album which seems to start with two songs about the end of life, then ending with themes of redemption and apocalypse. We wonder if there’s any flow to the album – no-one’s mentioned it being a concept album!

Anyway, the excitement continues, but what Metallica gossip will keep us going until Death Magnetic hits the stores on 22 September?

Metallica continue to drip-feed information about their Death Magnetic album, signifying that they’re working non-stop to get fans excited about this release. And it’s working.

Today they released the album artwork (above) which features a coffin and notably the classic Metallica logo rather than the modern version that graced the Load albums. We just wish we had schoolbags again to etch that logo into an old canvas bag…ahhh.

In other news, metal fans, the band are blazing a trail by ensuring the entire album will be available for Guitar Hero III: Legends Of Rock at the time of its release. This is quite a pioneering move for the band, and gives weight to the game makers recent claim that Guitar Hero could viably rival iTunes!

It wouldn’t be our preferred way of listening to music, but there you go…

Death Magnetic is scheduled for release on 22nd September (not so far away now, eh) and was produced by Metallica and Rick Rubin. The new era of thrash is almost upon us, friends. Let’s start sewing metal patches on our denim jackets like in the glory days…

More interesting news from the Metallica front – the band are going to release a special edition box set of their forthcoming Death Magnetic album packaged in a coffin.

According to the Metallica website, in addition to the full CD, the box set will include:

everything next level cool relating to “Death Magnetic!” Seriously, there will be a CD with the demos of the songs, a DVD of even more “making of the album” footage not seen on Mission: Metallica, a t-shirt only available in this box, a flag, guitar picks, and a fold out poster along with a collector’s credit card embossed with a code to redeem a free download of a special European show happening in September

Kind of has you hankering for the days of the special edition picture disc, doesn’t it? We remember living for this kind of stuff back in the day – the best Metal bands always made sure there was something for the die-hard fanbase.

Can you feel the fervour building up around the new Metallica album? The band has just announced the title of its ninth studio album, Death Magnetic.

As you can see from the picture, the album cover is expected to be stark white with the album title and the ‘M’ from the Metallica logo forming a pattern around it. Does anyone else remember scrawling these letters on schoolbags and books?

Death Magnetic is already one hotly-anticipated album, following the universally-panned St Anger in 2003. But as I said above, the fever is mounting and having been a Metallica fan for the last two decades (man, that’s hard to say), I’m hoping for nothing less than a complete return to form from the band. With a small side order of world domination.

And it could happen, too. Many reports suggest that this album takes us back to And Justice For All-era Metallica with longer song formats, epic riff-fests and the return of the missing guitar solos.

It sounds like Metallica are all set to turn things around on Death Magnetic, but with great hype comes great responsibility – they’re going to have to deliver a phenomenal album to satisfy the fans. And this time, I think they can.

I’m slightly disappointed by the cover art (if it’s representative of the final design) – classic Metallica comes with awesome illustrations. Think the gravestones on Master Of Puppets, or the electric chair on Ride The Lightning. The new generation (indeed, the old guard too) need an iconic design to link with the album. What do you think?

Unless, of course, they’re angling for the exact opposite of 1991’s Metallica/Black Album. Could this become known as the White Album?

» Hey, if you liked this, you’ll love our Completely Fictitious History Of Metallica

What the crap? According to Blabbermouth, Dave Grohl has penned an open letter to Metallica, urging them not to release their new album until it’s ready.

I have to say – I don’t understand it. I keep thinking “What’s Dave’s motivation for writing an open letter to Metallica?” I mean, baiting Metallica is huge. And Foo Fighters don’t have anything new coming out at the moment, do they?

Here’s the text of the ‘open letter’:

Dear METALLICA,

Hey, it’s Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I’m the guy that’s been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album ‘Kill ‘Em All’ from a mailorder catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can’t remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I’ve been listening to your albums ever since (even ‘St Anger’!).

I can’t wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I’ll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I’m sure you’ll come out and blow everybody’s fuckin’ minds, because you’re fuckin’ METALLICA!

Good luck. And don’t release it until it’s kick-ass.

Yours, Dave Grohl.

P.S. Are you finished recording the drums yet?

Here’s the thing: I can’t find this published on any official website. I’m wondering why? Also, the text basically implies that Metallica have been letting quality control on their recent work slide a little (even St Anger).

Is Grohl looking to start a war of words with the hairy ones? I can’t imagine who’d win that battle. Metallica lost a lot of ground since the new millennium, but I’m not sure if the very mainstream Foo Fighters have the credibility among the rock establishment.

What do you think?

Welcome, gentle Metalhead, to a whistlestop tour of Metallica’s long and winding career. The band who brought Thrash to the world. Four guys who delivered some of the most iconic metal albums of the 1980’s (and early 90’s).

Think of this as the ‘Behind The Music’ with a difference – this is the untold story of Metallica. Because it’s the untrue story of Metallica.

Find out how Metallica formed, how Dave Mustaine got literally ‘ejected’ from the band and find out the real story behind the Metallica v Napster court case.

Garage Days

It’s 1981, and friendless tennis geek Lars Ulrich hit upon a plan to recruit some mates – he was going to start a band. Initially he was inspired by a British musical movement and decided to start a skiffle group with himself on lead washboard. However, upon meeting be-mulletted son-of-a-truck-driver James Hetfield, Lars decided to seek out a heavier sound.

And thanks to a faulty gramophone playing Black Sabbath at too quick a speed, the thrash genre was born. It wasn’t a stroke of genius, Ulrich just didn’t realise the record player was screwed.

It was in these early days Metallica decided to differentiate themselves from the herd. This isn’t as easy as you think in an industry where everybody wears black. Here’s where Hetfield showed his visionary leadership – he decided that he should have the most iconic stance in rock. Did you think that stage pose came about naturally? James underwent an intensive programme of horse-riding and getting kicked in the nuts in order to perfect his rawk stance. And I think you’ll agree that it paid off.

Mustaine Gets The Boot

No-one quite knows where Dave Mustaine came from, but conspiracy theorists speculate that he’s either an advanced form of phlegm or an early, less likable prototype of Axl Rose. Either way, he managed to wow his way into Metallica with a solid gold Flying V. Hetfield and Ulrich weren’t all that impressed with his playing, but they figured they could pawn the guitar to cover the cost of studio time.

However wasted he was on his addiction du jour, Mustaine could shred like a man possessed. With his wavy strawberry blonde hair and menacing sneer, no-one would have guessed he was a corrosive personality within the band. Fortunately, they weren’t famous yet, so no-one cared.

Ultimately, the other members of Metallica would get so pissed off with him that they kicked him out of a moving car on the way home from a gig one night. OK, it was only over a fart, but it was a fart too far…

When Mustaine got up and dusted himself off, he promptly formed his own four-piece thrash act with a spiky ‘M’ type logo and himself as frontman. A class act, and despite his success with Megadeth, we still remember him today as the loser who got kicked out of Metallica.

Lars Sues The Fans

Metallica’s lowest point came in the new millennium. Leaving a late night business meeting, Lars was attacked and bitten by a rabid lawyer. Though the bite had no effect on his ability to do a mean paradiddle, Ulrich became withdrawn and the band didn’t see him for a fortnight. When he eventually resurfaced, Lars was busily campaigning for the death sentence for all Napster users.

He eventually settled for the banning of 350,000 Napster users before he was diagnosed with lawyer-poisoning and treated in a special rehab facility. Although he hasn’t taken any more legal action against file sharers, many fans believe that Metallica have been pursuing a new strategy of releasing music so bad that no-one wants to share the files.

Rehab, Therapy and St Anger Management

The new millennium was not kind to the members of Metallica. Jason Newstead, erstwhile bassist for the band since Cliff Burton’s death at the hands of Dave Mustaine (don’t believe the bus crash cover-up). Sorry, Jason Newstead finally left the band for more fulfilling musical ventures. He subsequently joined less interesting thrash act, Voivod and was never heard of again.

Hetfield, on the other hand went into rehab due to an unhealthy addiction to country music. When Lars discovered a Garth Brooks compilation behind Hetfield’s amp, he and Kirk Hamster staged an intervention and persuaded Hetfield to go into rehab. In order to preserve his hard-man image, the Metallica management leaked a story about him being admitted for drink and ‘other addictions’. Now you know what those addictions were.

This intervention was the catalyst for the band to become all new-agey and get in touch with their feelings. It coincided with them hiring a film crew to document the creation of the St Anger album and a therapist to mediate between them. Before long the studio was filled with the scent of incense and the sound of Buddhist chanting. The band strengthened their bonds but released the critical flop of their career. Fortunately, they’ve been in a freakishly long group hug since 2003 and haven’t noticed yet.

The Bits We Missed

Somewhere in between all these touch points in Metallica’s history, they managed to release some outstanding music. They had a bassist die, a bassist leave but the line-up has remained remarkably solid in the last 20-odd years.

Then there’s the rumors that Metallica captured Mustaine in 1987 and tortured him for badmouthing them – the footage of the soldier on his deathbed in One is actually a confused and disoriented Dave Mustaine. You’ll note that he toned down his remarks about Metallica after that point.

We hope you enjoyed our history of Metallica. If you did, please take a moment to send positive energy to them with the power of your mind. They like that.

Big yawn. Didn’t Metallica play themselves out of musical relevance years ago? I haven’t bought a new Metallica album since Load, and I never properly warmed to that one. Then they took a little sabbatical to sue their fans for copyright infringement. That was clever. Even fans who hadn’t downloaded copies of their albums balked at the thought of being taken to the cleaners by Hetfield and Ulrich.

Do you remember when Metallica were edgy and non-commercial? I do. The metal magazines loved them. While the hair metallers were making lavish videos, Metallica never really released a proper music video. Then suddenly (around the Black Album era) they seemed to become a more marketing savvy beast. In came Bob Rock, shorter song lengths and more ambitious videos. Do you remember the video for The Unforgiven?

Then, of course, there was the big budget video for the Mission Impossible soundtrack featuring the members of the band pretending to be international spies. Yeah, Hetfield’s moustache wouldn’t draw attention, would it?

Back in the 80s, Metallica were one of the leading metal bands, with a catalogue of consistently excellent music – from early classics like Seek And Destroy to unforgettable anthems like For Whom The Bell Tolls and One. Somewhere along the line Metallica have sacrificed the musicianship and integrity they had in their early days. It didn’t happen overnight, but has been a long slow erosion of the band.

I remember eagerly waiting on the release of the Black Album and definitely not being disappointed with what I heard. These days, I wouldn’t be inclined to hold my breath for a new Metallica release. Sorry fellas.

Footnote: I took a fair bit of flack for the title Are Metallica Boring. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that – Metallica being a group of people. Nice to know I’ve got a bunch of concerned English teachers reading this blog… ;)

If you enjoyed this post, remember to check out our completely fictional history of Metallica post.