The line between hot stuff and not-quite-right was mighty high when Metallica left these four hymns to the big oblivion, cut for 2008's Death Magnetic, on the outtakes shelf. "Hate Train" is old-school chop-and-charge with the dry, corrosive fidelity of Kill 'Em All. The midsection in "Just a Bullet Away" recalls the expanding dynamics of 1991's Metallica. Maybe there was too much history here to feel new. But this is heavy gold as rejects go. The vicious triumph of "Hell and Back" and "Rebel of Babylon," driven by blurred-wrist rhythm guitar, should go into live rotation and stay there.

Listen to "Just a Bullet Away":

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“Ambling Alp”

The "Ambling Alp" was the nickname of the six-and-a-half-foot-tall Primo Carnera. Though the song is named after the Italian-born 1930s heavyweight champion, Yeasayer are actually paying tribute to boxing legend Joe Louis with this first-person psychedelic dance-rock tune. “I was always interested in writing a song that had boxing mythology in it,” Yeasayer’s Chris Keating said. “It’s pretty fascinating: There were so many amazing characters, and it was so closely entwined with 20th century history.” Yeaseyer also invokes German champ Max Schmeling and hints at the historical significance placed on the historic bouts between the Nazi-era boxer and the African-American Louis.