HAS THE NEW METALLICA ALBUM LEAKED?

A very special thanks to MetalSucks reader Kevin Boyce, who pointed us to this website and this website, both of which are hosting what are allegedly demos for the new Metallica album. A quick preliminary listen leaves us feeling unsure if these are real are not; the music is certainly Metallica-esque – and actually very promising in terms of the album being a return to form for the metal masters – but it’s tough to tell if that’s actually Hetfield singing or not. Adding to our confusion is the fact that neither of the untitled new songs the band debuted during their Escape from the Studio tour in the summer of ’06 are present amongst this crop of tracks; of course, it’s entirely possible that those songs have long since been ditched altogether.

So are they real or not? And if they are real, do they give us hope? Download these songs now and decide for yourself before Metallica’s lawyers get involved. In the meantime, after the jump are clips of the band performing those two new songs.

UPDATE: Apparently Metallica’s management has confirmed that these are fake. Oh well. 

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/hwsbUUEOT9g" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

[kml_flashembed movie="http://youtube.com/v/kl2Kae-lcUc" width="425" height="350" wmode="transparent" /]

-AR