METALLICA Confirmed For Belgium's WERCHTER ROCK Festival

February 14, 2007

METALLICA has issued the following update via its official web site:

"Hey... back again with more from Nor Cal. So by now most of you have hopefully heard that we are planning on spending a few weeks this summer touring, visiting some places in Europe that we didn't 'escape' to last year. We are still sorting out the final details, schedules, etc. for our little break from recording the next album, but in the meantime, we figured that you have debated/theorized long enough over last week's 'W' clue... so here goes... yes, it is the Werchter Rock festival in Belgium... we'll be playing there on July 1st. No, we haven't really played there 19 times... only four. All the festival and ticketing information is [here]. Keep your eyes open for more shows... we'll post them as they get confirmed."

METALLICA is scheduled to enter the studio in March to begin recording its new album, tentatively due later this year. Drummer Lars Ulrich, singer-guitarist James Hetfield, guitarist Kirk Hammett and bassist Rob Trujillo began work on the follow up to 2003's "St. Anger" while on tour during the past year backstage before each show. "We did something we'd never done before: We carried a ProTools (recording) system with us," Ulrich told Rolling Stone magazine. "Twenty minutes before stage time, we would go into a room and play, to get the machinery moving. They were jams, riffs, fun and games. And they were recorded."

According to Ulrich, the group's new producer Rick Rubin (SLAYER, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, AUDIOSLAVE, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS) says he wants to make the group sound "like the METALLICA that made them METALLICA without going backward" — and that he's doing it by challenging old habits.

"He's questioning what key we should play in," Ulrich told Rolling Stone. "We've played in E flat since the beginning of the '90s. Nobody questioned it. All of a sudden, Rick is going, 'Maybe the stuff has more energy and Hetfield's voice sounds better in E.' He's forced us to rethink big-picture stuff, something we haven't done in years."

(Thanks: SkrapMetal83)

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