Photo: Miller/Getty

The icy home of the Phoenix Coyotes got a blast of hot metal as Metallica kicked off their tour Tuesday night at Glendale, AZ’s Jobing.com Arena. True to form, the metal godfathers arrived on stage to the sounds of “The Ecstasy of Gold” from The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, followed by the buzzsaw that is “That Was Just Your Life.” Though the songs are new, the Death Magnetic tracks fit seamlessly into the rest of the band’s catalog, and the months of road testing made those tunes feel both well-worn and razor sharp.

• Photo Gallery: Metallica Shred Through Death Magnetic, Dance With Coffins at Tour Kickoff in Arizona

Much to the pleasure of the black-clad, devil horn-thrusting crowd, the quartet performed extended versions of deep cut classics like “Master of Puppets,” “Fight Fire with Fire” and “The Four Horsemen,” tunes that on previous tours were reserved for medleys. (more…)

An odd complaint has cropped up around the release of Metallica’s much-anticipated chart-topping album Death Magnetic: fans think it’s too loud. A number of online message boards have been bombarded by fans who think the group kept sound levels so high that the quality was compromised. Though the band and management stand by Death Magnetic, that hasn’t stopped fans from signing petitions and sharing the less-loud mixes made available for Guitar Hero. Click below for more on the latest battle in the “loudness wars,” including the criticisms levied by the mastering engineer on Death Magnetic.

• Fans Complain Metallica Disc Is Too Loud

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Though he admits that he was joining “the coolest band on the planet,” Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo’s entrance into the band was about as intimidating as could be. “It was intense. I had to learn the catalog of music, 22 years of music. And I had to learn the St. Anger album,” explains Trujillo. “‘We’ve never played this material as a band, but you’ve gotta learn it. And your first gig is going to be at San Quentin State Penitentiary.’” Click below for more from Trujillo, including what songs he played at his Metallica audition and which member of the band was his champion.

• Q&A: Metallica’s Robert Trujillo

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One of the more tragic aspects of the Metallica documentary Some Kind of Monster was watching guitarist Kirk Hammett quietly panic while he watches the band he had given over two decades to fall apart. “I was ready to start working on a solo album,” Hammett admits to Rolling Stone’s David Fricke. “But it’s extremely important for me to be in this band. If it all fell apart tomorrow, I’d be extremely proud of our accomplishments. Having said that, we’re always going to be in Metallica, even if the band breaks up. We’re always going to be linked to the concept of what Metallica is.” Click below for more from Hammett, including the moment when he realized he was a rock star and who made him star struck back on one of Metallica’s early tours.

• Interview: Metallica’s Kirk Hammett

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• Video: Behind the Metallica Cover Shoot

• Louder, Faster, Stronger: How Metallica Made Their Hardest Album Yet

• Is Death Magnetic Better on Guitar Hero or CD?

Rarely has there been a rock star as maligned for a single incident as Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich. In 2000, he became the poster child for bands lashing out at the online world when the band sued Napster following the leak of “I Disappear” via the peer-to-peer service. Ulrich stands by what he did, but wants fans to know he did it for the right reasons. “Nine out of 10 people go, ‘What was that about? It was about money.’ Fuck you — it wasn’t about money. It was about control,” explains Ulrich. “I’ll give away all my shit for free. But I’ll decide when and where and how.” Click below for more from Ulrich’s conversation with Rolling Stone’s David Fricke, including why he lives his life more openly and how tours have changed since 1983.

• Q&A: Metallica’s Lars Ulrich

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Despite being one of the biggest bands on the planet, James Hetfield and Metallica learned a lesson in humility when they opened for the Rolling Stones in 2005. “The fact that we were in a trailer, not even in the backstage area, was somewhat humbling,” Hetfield says. “I remember going to catering. We were going on early. We needed to eat before everyone else. I opened up the shepherd’s pie, and someone said, ‘Hey, don’t touch that. Ron Wood always puts the first spoon in the shepherd’s pie.’ So I took the biggest spoonful I could and filled my plate.” Click below for more from Hetfield’s online-exclusive interview, including his time in rehab, Jason Newsted’s exit and the birth of Death Magnetic.

• Q&A: Metallica’s James Hetfield

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With last Friday’s release of Death Magnetic, Metallica fans knew that the band’s new album would be playable that day for Guitar Hero 3. What fans didn’t know was that the video game version of the album would actually sound better than the CD counterpart. That’s what mastering engineer Ian Shepherd discovered when, on a tip from a Metallica forum, he compared the compression rates between the CD and the GH versions. Shepherd discovered that the CD is boosted as much as compressively possible, making it 10 decibels louder than the GH version while completely bleaching out the dynamic range.

The subject of compression and the loudness wars was discussed in much more detail in our “The Death Of High Fidelity” piece, but Death Magnetic seems to be the biggest violator, with fans both demanding the band re-mix the album and threatening to perfectly-execute GH’s in-house version and send that to fans clamoring for a proper mix. Even Ted Jensen, who is credited with mastering DM in the liner notes, admitted on a message board, “Believe me I’m not proud to be associated with this one, and we can only hope that some good will come from this in some form of backlash against volume above all else.” (more…)

Death Magnetic is finally here, and so is the Metallica cover of Rolling Stone. Pick up the new issue today to find out what it took to make their heaviest record in decades, plus how they continue to deal with ego clashes and the fallout of Some Kind of Monster’s group therapy sessions. Check out the feature below, and also take a look at the online-exclusive interviews with each of the bandmembers.

But first, click above for a behind the scenes look at James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Kirk Hammett and Robert Trujillo at their Rolling Stone cover shoot at their home base, where Ulrich admits, “It’s a good summer to be Metallica.”

• Louder, Faster, Stronger: How Metallica Conquered Bad Habits, Group Therapy and Ego Clashes to Make Their Heaviest Record Ever

• Photo Gallery: Three Decades of Metallica

• James Hetfield: “There’s More Dedication From the Four of Us Than Ever Before”

• Lars Ulrich: “If We Don’t Get Along, Everything Else Is Irrelevant”

• Kirk Hammett: “I Was Ready To Start Working On a Solo Album”

• Robert Trujillo: “It’s Like You’re Caught Inside a Massive Set of Waves”

Fresh off a launch party/concert for Death Magnetic in Berlin, Metallica checked into London’s BBC Theatre last night to record a one-hour live radio broadcast that saw the band test five new tracks and rifle through a handful of old favorites. “Do you like?” Metallica frontman James Hetfield asked of 300-plus fan club members after the band ripped through “That Was Just Your Life” and “End of the Line,” two cuts from the new album.

The Metallica faithful were well acquainted with Death Magnetic and obliged Hetfield when asked to “Sing along, if you know the words” on the first two singles “Cyanide” and “The Day That Never Comes.” After 45 minutes of nonstop speed metal, Metallica produced a thundering conclusion (and perhaps the first-ever mosh pit at the BBC) with classics “Master of Puppets” and “Blackened.” Metallica stuck around for a few moments after the show as Hetfield high-fived fans while Lars Ulrich tossed drumsticks into the crowd. (more…)

Metallica’s Death Magnetic is on pace to sell about 500,000 copies in the U.S. despite its release late in the week last Friday. Globally, the album is already dominating charts, with one report saying Death Magnetic sold more albums in Norway in one day than U2’s last album sold in a week. Here in the states, Death Magnetic’s sales numbers were perhaps aided on Friday by emo clothing store Hot Topic, who were selling the album for only $5 on its release day. The half-million copies sold falls within the range of the first week sales for previous Metallica albums. (more…)

Photo: Getty

Next Thursday,
Dave Grohl and
Taylor Hawkins will host a radio program marking the world premiere of another band’s album, as the Foo duo will help
Metallica debut Death Magnetic on radio stations across the country. According to a post on the Metallica’s website, “On Thursday, September 4, we’re going to hang out, play tracks from Death Magnetic and chat with Dave and Taylor.” The hour-long program will be broadcast live from Metallica’s HQ to radio stations across the country, as well as stream on both the Metallica and Mission: Metallica websites. (more…)

Photo: Vasquez/Getty

After premiering a new song from Death Magnetic called “Cyanide” during their Ozzfest set, today Metallica.com posted a trashcan-fidelity stream of “The Day That Never Comes,” the official first single from the album. The eight-minute song opens with a half-tempo groove before upping the pace near the five-minute mark, and is punctuated by lead guitar that is more about quick stabs than full-on soloing. Call it “The Unforgiven” meets “Bleeding Me” with a dash of “Am I Evil?” thrown in for the faster section, and don’t think too hard when James Hetfield reminds us that “love is a four-letter word.”

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Photo: Vasquez/Getty
Metallica will usher in the arrival of their Death Magnetic with a pair of massive discounted European shows. On September 12th, the day the album is released globally, the band will become the first artists to perform in Berlin, Germany’s brand-new O2 Arena. Tickets for that show are being priced at 10 euros, or $14. Then three days later on September 15th, Metallica will play another O2 Arena, this time in London. Those tickets are only five euros. If the allure of seeing Metallica live for less than the price of an actual CD isn’t enough, all proceeds from the two concerts will benefit local charities. (more…)

In addition to debuting the new song “Cyanide” at Ozzfest this weekend (see above), Metallica revealed they’ve completed mixing Death Magnetic and announced the first leg of their North American tour, which starts October 21st in Glendale, Arizona. The tour will circle the West and Midwest of the U.S. and Canada during the latter portion of 2008 before moving eastward in January 2009, with the leg culminating with a January 31st show in Newark, New Jersey. Check out all the dates after the jump. (more…)

Metallica finally revealed the last piece of the Death Magnetic puzzle, announcing their new Rick Rubin-produced album will be available worldwide on September 12th. While most albums are released in Europe on Monday and the States on Tuesday, Metallica are keeping with the unorthodox nature of this album’s release, giving the world Death Magnetic on a Friday. We assume that Friday will also see the release of the playable Death Magnetic for Guitar Hero III.

Meanwhile, the band spoke to MTV News about the album’s first video, for the track “The Day That Never Comes.” (more…)