Ulrich said he's definitely noticed an upswing in Metallica's popularity since its songs started appearing in games, particularly with one part of the target audience.

"Dad's a little cooler than he was yesterday," Ulrich said. "I now have a 7-year-old whose favorite band is Mountain, and a 9-year-old who's into Black Sabbath and Danzig" — all veterans of the "GH" series. "It's a great way for kids to be exposed to stuff that transcends generations."

I don't know about you, but for some reason that wistful quote about Lars' kids thinking their dad is lacking in cred gives me an uneasy feeling about a next-generation sequel to Some Kind Of Monster being made in, say, 10 years or so. (Or maybe a reality show. At this point, it's the same difference, right?)

Video-game news: Metallica's 'Guitar Hero' album [AP]

We sort of promised ourselves that unlike all the records we made in the '90s, [which] were just completely stressed-out and just nutty, that we were gonna try and have a little more sane environment — and we've actually, surprising mostly to ourselves, been able to keep to that," Ulrich said. "We've pretty much finished the music now, so all the next level stuff is just starting to go down."

..."These are long songs ... we're talking seven-minute, eight-minute, nine-minute nutty-ass songs," Ulrich revealed. "We don't make them long or short on purpose; you just kind of do what feels natural. We're not really gonna edit them, (so) we're gonna lose another one at some point in the next month or so and probably end up with 10."

Ulrich described the material as "definitely pretty all over the place. There's a lot of variation, a lot of fast, slow, melodic ... kind of hardcore, nutty super-fast speed stuff. It's a little more like how some of the earlier records were a little more dynamic within the songs."

Here's Metallica rocking out with Flea - a double-bass attack that's undoubtedly a tip of the hat to the Ned's Atomic Dustbin reunion.

Make sure to catch Hetfield stick his ass to the audience while throwing horns at the end. If you listen hard, you can almost hear Ulrich scream "dude, your nuts!" Or "you're," it's hard to tell.

Ulrich Promises 'Dynamic' New Metallica Album [Billboard]
Metallica at the Wiltern - Fight Fire With Fire (w/ Flea)

Dear METALLICA,

Hey, it's Dave! Remember me? Yeah, I'm the guy that's been listening to your band faithfully since 1983. I bought your first album 'Kill 'Em All' from a mailorder catalogue called Under The Rainbow, I think. Actually I can't remember. It was 1983 for Christsakes! But that album changed my life and I've been listening to your albums ever since (even 'St Anger'!).

I can't wait to hear the new shit, and no matter what you guys do I'll always be first one at the shop waiting to hear it. I'm sure you'll come out and blow everybody's fuckin' minds, because you're fuckin' METALLICA!

Good luck. And don't release it until it's kick-ass.

Yours, Dave Grohl.

P.S. Are you finished recording the drums yet?

I'm not really sure who he's trying to mess with here, but that P.S. sounds kinda... ominous. Watch out, Lars—you know that Dave Grohl thinks he's THE BEST, THE BEST, THE BEST... right?

DAVE GROHL's "Open Letter" To METALLICA [Blabbermouth]

We have FLACs and MP3s for sale. It was never about downloading per se. We have the Vault where you can download shows from twenty years ago for free, full-on and it's been there for years. You can download recent shows days after they happen for cost. Back in the day there was a much bigger question about "on whose terms?" We said, "Wait a minute, it should be about the artist." Then all hell broke loose and we sat on the sidelines for a while. We've always been fiercely independent and controlling; sometimes to a fault. That's why we exist and why all these people show up.

You know, this is our last record under contract with Warner, so we're looking at how we can embrace everything...We want to be as free a players as possible. We've been observing Radiohead and Trent Reznor and in twenty-seven years or however long it takes for the next record, we'll be looking forward to everything in terms of possibilities with the Internet.

Phrases like "twenty-seven years" and "a chance to re-invent the wheel again" would imply that Metallica still has no idea how to refind that mass-cult pleasing muse. But for a forty-something drummer to admit that the state of metal shows "a resurgence way deeper and more penetrating into the fourteen-year-old mindset?" You have to love the guy.

Oh wait, no you don't.

Lars Ulrich: "We've Always Been Fiercely Independent and Controlling" [Rolling Stone]