New Metallica Album: Horns Up

Ever since St. Anger, Metallica has fallen from grace, forced to complete the Herculean task of atoning for the sins of that album and achieving readmission into the upper echelons of rock heaven. Therefore, the new album needs to be epic. The band knows it, producer Rick Rubin knows it, hell, the pimply-faced freshman who only knows Metallica because his older brother used to pump “Enter Sandman” while the little fella studied his Boy Scout Handbook with tissue paper in his ears, yeah, even he knows it needs to be epic. So, Kirk, crack your knuckles. James, gargle some rocks. Lars, listen to Rick. Boys, it’s time for a classic. And, according to a few Brit mags, that’s exactly what it’s going to be.

Metallica had a private listening session with two U.K. magazines, Metal Hammer and Rock Sound earlier this week. The mags had an exclusive chance to hear six tracks from the upcoming, still untitled album. To summarize: think ..And Justice For All meets the The Black Album at a bar and they start bullying St. Anger into setting up a tab so the two can go shot for shot till dawn with Master of Puppets bartending. To quote Rock Sound: “There are plenty of Kirk Hammett traditional guitar solos and a decent drum sound. Hetfield’s voice sounds in fine form too. All of the songs have many different parts to them, giving the impression that the quarter is revisiting the epic vibe of the band’s classic period.”

That warm trickle running down your leg, feels good huh?