New Metallica Album.com

“We have this phrase in Metallica land, which is ‘no-brainer,’” drummer Lars Ulrich told Spinner backstage of why the band returned to the stage after a near four-year absence at a benefit for the Silver Lake Conservatory, a music school for kids, spearheaded by Red Hot Chili Pepper’s Flea. “It’s for Flea and it’s for inner-city, underprivileged kids who need access to instruments and to be around musical education,” he expounded. (more…)

“That was the first show of the tour,” announced Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett, who, along with his bandmates, shredded through a nearly two-hour set with such hits as “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” “Fuel,” “Master of Puppets,” “…And Justice for All,” “Enter Sandman,” and “Seek and Destroy,” at Los Angeles’ 2,300-capacity Wiltern Theatre. (more…)

Metallica got extra loud in their first live set in a year on Wednesday, headlining a benefit concert in Los Angeles for Flea’s music school for kids, the Silverlake Conservatory. That meant no ballads and no new songs from the band’s upcoming Rick Rubin-produced album. Instead, for nearly two hours at the Wiltern Theater, Metallica erupted with big sludgy riffs and epic speed metal going all the way back to the early Eighties.

“Now that’s a beautiful sound right there,” singer James Hetfield told the crowd, responding to the cheers from 2,000 fans who had paid $300 (or $500 for VIP seats) for a rare chance to see the band in a smaller venue. “It’s great to be playing live again.” (more…)

Metallica has set up a web site at MissionMetallica.com to promote the band’s upcoming ninth studio album. The site will go live in May and says it will offer fans a chance to “experience the new album before it’s done.” A postcard about the site was also included with the recently released vinyl reissues of the band’s Kill ‘Em All and Ride the Lightning albums. Metallica has been recording its yet-to-be-titled new album with producer Rick Rubin. The disc is tentatively scheduled for release in September, with a single coming around the same time. (more…)

Author and journalist Joel McIver spoke with James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo of METALLICA before their spectacular Wembley Stadium show on Sunday night (July 8). McIver has released the following excerpts from the conversation to BLABBERMOUTH.NET:Q: A lot of long-time METALLICA fans are asking one simple question. Is your new album going to be old-school thrash metal?

Trujillo: “There’s a lot of everything, man. There’s speed on this. There’s a couple of tracks where you’re gonna go ‘Wow!’ and I know you’re gonna like it because it has the flavor of the old. But it has this kind of groove and power behind it that I think is us today. And then there’s stuff that I think is pretty progressive. Sometimes, when you’re in the thick of it, when we’re all creating it together, it’s hard to get the feel of an outside perspective. But then you get someone like Scott Ian from ANTHRAX, who is in the lounge waiting for us to go to dinner or something, and he’s like ‘Rob, man! That riff fuckin’ ruled, bro! What song is that? Is that on the album?’ and stuff like that — and you go, I think we’re doing the right thing. I gotta say, the attitude and the conviction of the old school is there, the speed is there and the power, there’s an element of groove there that’s really strong.” (more…)

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.

-weeklyexaminer.com

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

Metal Hammer magazine recently conducted an exclusive interview with METALLICA’s drummer Lars Ulrich about the progress of their recording sessions for the group’s new album, as well as few other subjects. A few excerpts from the chat follow:

Metal Hammer: You’ve already recorded the drum, guitar and bass tracks for the new album, with the rest to be added some time in August.

Lars: “The backing tracks are done, yeah. But Rick [Rubin, producer] likes to keep things organic and work in a way that can be described as ‘of the moment.’ If we continue in August we should be done by October.”

Metal Hammer: Rubin isn’t known for being too giving with his time. What role has he played in the sessions?

Lars: “He’s been there every single day so far. He’s all about the big picture. He doesn’t analyze things like drum tempos or tell James [Hetfield] to play something in F sharp. He’s more about the feel: is everyone playing together? Rick’s a vibe guy.”

Metal Hammer: And is it okay for Rick to tell you something you’ve done sucks? (more…)

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich told a Los Angeles radio station on Monday (May 5th) that the band’s new web site, MissionMetallica.com, will showcase the kind of “making-of-the-album” features usually found these days on a DVD accompanying a CD release. Ulrich explained, “We thought, instead of doing the usual DVDs and all that, why don’t we just do it on the Internet and people can kind of tune in every day, watch clips, contests, get updates for what’s going on with the record and kind of watch the last couple of months of song titles, album titles, final mixes…So it’s kind of a little bit of a countdown type of thing. It should be fun.” (more…)

“The most elucidative dissertation on Metallica ever written. And a kick-ass read to boot!!!”
Scott Ian, guitarist for Anthrax

Hit the lights and jump in the fire, you’re about to enter the School of Rock! Today’s lecture will be a crash course in brain surgery. This hard and fast lesson is taught by instructors who graduated from the old school–they actually paid $5.98 for The $5.98 EP. But back before these philosophy professors cut their hair, they were lieutenants in the Metal Militia.

Metallica is the “thinking man’s” metal band and the headbanger’s CNN. Snobs and music critics have often dismissed Metallica as mindless noise; we’re here to set the record straight. “In pursuit of truth no matter where it lies,” this book considers questions that philosophers have been pondering for ages, including: Does Metallica’s music provide an Aristotelian catharsis or does it just make kids go postal? Can “Fade to Black” save you from suicide? Are we all in the “Sanitarium”? How can we “Escape” to be free? What can Nietzsche tell us about the God That Failed? What can Descartes and “One” tell us about the relationship between the mind and the body? Did Lars make a sound argument against Napster?

Metallica is more than just a band, and this book is much more than just a ticket to ride down memory lane. This is an in-depth analysis of the soundtrack to your life. So start your CD player, fire up your iPod, or, better yet, break out the old vinyl. We’re going’ for a ride with the four horsemen, and a few philosophers too.  Get it here.

Read more reviews ahead.

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Greece’s Rock Hard magazine conducted an interview with Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo on May 22, 2007. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow (translated from Greek):

Rock Hard Greece: Could you describe the new album’s sound? Lars Ulrich, just before the release of “St. Anger”, had — very accurately — described it as raw, ugly and unpolished. Can you come up some adjectives for the new album?

Trujillo: “I would say that this is album is dynamic, heavy, groovin’ and you’ll probably be excited to know that there will be guitar solos on it! In addition, Lars remembered to tune his snare drum properly this time! For me, this album incorporates part of the dynamic and character of ‘Master of Puppets’, as well as the melodic style that people liked in the ‘black album,’ as far as the melodies are concerned. As for the general music style, much of the current material is groovy, heavy, dynamic and surely interesting. I would say that it’s different than ‘St. Anger’ — in a good way, of course.” (more…)

Interview says that they’ve been “observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor,” and that for its next album fans can expect “everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.”

It was back in 2000 that Metallica discovered a demo of its song “I Disappear,” which was supposed to be released in combination with the Mission: Impossible II soundtrack, was receiving radio airplay. Tracing the source of the leak, the band found that the song was available on Napster, the long defunct P2P network. It also found that the band’s entire catalogue was available as well. It was soon thereafter that it sued Napster for copyright infringement and became on of the most vocal critics of file-sharing. (more…)

Interview by Harald O. first published in Thrash Metal (US)
and Rock Hard (Germany)

The heavy metal world was shaken by the tragic loss of Metallica bassist Cliff Burton when their tour bus skidded on ice while the band was on tour in Scandinavia, and Cliff was thrown out the window and crushed. He had been an important element in Metallica’s success by contributing his virtuoso musicianship, streetwise attitude and totally over-the-top stage presence.

He helped bring the bass guitar out of the closet with his unique lead bass playing, which incorporated harmonics, classical fills, heavy distortion and thick wah­wah effects: “Anaesthesia” and “Orion” are a couple of the best examples of his incredible technique. Thank God that James, Kirk and Lars were open minded enough to let him go off totally on stuff he wanted to play. Unlike most metal mavens, Cliff had come up with his own bass lines rather than just follow along with the rhythm. (more…)

Q: Tell us about the injury you had that prevented you from performing.I had fallen asleep on my arm. It is just that simple. I wish I could tell you that I was sword fighting, or saving a baby from a burning building or something. You know, sometimes you are wearing shoes that are too tight or you are sitting the wrong way and your leg will fall asleep a little bit. That is what happened to my hand. The circulation was cut off to the nerve on the inside of my left bicep. When the nerve lost circulation, it shrunk like a crunched up straw. The nerve didn’t talk to the muscle and the muscle didn’t talk to the hand, and the muscle died. I couldn’t move my hand anymore. It took me four months to get the feeling back and another year of weight training just to get my hands operating properly. I had to do these wrist curls, and I wanted to use the same size weight on both arms because I didn’t want one arm to be bigger than the other. I was using the lighter dumbbell in the gym and they were pink. So I have all these meatheads walking by and I am sitting there, lifting pink dumbbells.

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