With a lot of buzz still going strong after the release of the groups new album “Death Magnetic” (which I actually think is pretty good)…It has been announced that the group is being considered for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Billboard reports… “Metallica, Run-D.M.C. and the Stooges lead the list of nine acts up for induction next year into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Five will be chosen in January for enshrinement during an April 4 ceremony at Cleveland’s Public Hall.”

The 2009 ceremony will be the first one open to the public since 1997 and will be held in Cleveland, Ohio the home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Metallica has made a lot of missteps over the years, specifically “St. Anger” and the snare drum sound that came with it. Regardless, the band is arguably one of the most important metal bands of all time and also one of the most successful. Also, contrary to what most people say about Lars Ulrich’s drumming, he definitely knows his way around a kit and how to perfectly compliment James Hetfield’s rhythm guitar.

Source.

A week ago, Lars Ulrich commented on Metallica’s long-anticipated new album, Death Magnetic, being released early via a French record store and leaking to the internet within hours. This week, he gives a little more in an exclusive interview with the drum magazine, Rhythm, which you can read in its entirety in the October 2008 issue. However, in the meantime, (or for those of us who know we are too lazy to ever pick up a real-life magazine) Music Rader gives us a few interesting tidbits to read. Ulrich speaks about working with producer Rick Rubin and how “his whole thing was: ‘We’re not going into the studio until the songs are written. We’re not recording until you can play these songs with your fuckin’ hands tied behind your backs, upside-down, while you’re sleeping…So the studio is not a place of creativity, it’s a place of execution.”

Wow that’s a novel idea, isn’t it? Wish more bands would stick to that philosophy.

I can’t honestly say I’ve heard the new album yet, but something else I think I will appreciate on the new record is that the drums don’t have too many effects. Ulrich mentions that Rubin “likes stuff to be in your face and to sound as organic and natural as possible” and I agree. I want to be able to sit down with the record and feel like the drummer is sitting across from me…a feeling I get when I listen to my 180g copy of In Utero (thanks to Steve Albini). I just find it surprising that someone who has also worked the Dixie Chicks and Justin Timberlake doesn’t want “big fat samples on them and all that shit.” But hopefully Mr. Rubin knows what he’s doing when it comes to saving careers, even if Pitchfork doesn’t seem to think so. After all, if he can do it for Johnny Cash and Neil Diamond, why not Metallica?

Good luck, boys. I’m waiting till Friday to grab your album.

As has been reported on many sites, Metallica has released the first single from “Death Magnetic” entitled “The Day That Never Comes.” Now the band has made available a new track “My Apocalypse” via Metallica.com.

While a lot of people accused the band of ripping off their earlier material on “The Day That Never Comes” it still is probably better than anything they’ve released since 1991. This new track features more heavy riffing and fast beats as well as some great solos from Kirk Hammett, but for some reason I just can’t get past Hetfield’s vocals. Just not my style at this point, but the song definitely has the feel of classic Metallica.

Lars’ has been using the same Tama kits he usually does from what I’ve seen. He’s either using other snare drums or did something to his signature models. The sound is a lot better than the pongy-ness of the “St. Anger” snare sound.

A lot has been written about Metallica’s upcoming album “Death Magnetic”, now the albums first single has been made available to radio and is also streaming at the band’s MySpace page and website.

“The Day That Never Comes” is pretty much what you would expect from Metallica at this point, meaning it is derivative of their earlier material. This was the point I guess, seeing as though so much press had come out with the band stating that they were attempting to write new material more in line with their early albums.

The end result, at least this particular song, is a straight up rip-off of older material (particularly “One”) and some Black Album/Load-era sounds. Structure-wise there are A LOT of similarities to “One” and Lars Ulrich’s drumming isn’t particularly impressive.

This song is world’s better than any of the bands “St. Anger” material, but most music is. This is only one song on a 10-song album, so we’ll see. Listen to the track here…

Metallica: “The Day That Never Comes”

Stereogum has a great article up about the possibility of a new Phish reunion. Better yet, they have a quite long editorial (rant), about the parallels between Metallica and Phish. You’re probably saying “wait a minute that does not make any sense at all…” and while you’re pretty much right, it’s kinda good.

“for Metallica it was a shredding Hammett, endless riffs, an eschewing of mainstream-rock song structures, and juvenile lyrics about death; for Phish it was a shredding Anastasio, endless arpeggios, an eschewing mainstream-rock song structures, and juvenile lyrics about nonsense.”

While the writer readily admits that the comparison fails on so many levels (and it definitely does), it is still worth a read just because it’s amusing.

Check it out.