Metallica Release “Lords of Summer (First Pass Version)” to iTunes

You’ve heard the live version. You’ve heard the demo. Now Metallica have released a “first pass version” of their new song, “Lords of Summer,” via iTunes. It’s not at all different from what you’ve heard, just better produced. Still, if you’re into it, you can get it here.

Although Lars Ulrich has called the track “fairly representative” of the material being written for ‘Tallica’s new album, the band apparently has yet to decided if “Summer” will appear on that album or not. Which seems odd — given how unenthusiastic they seem about making a new album, you’d think they’d use the first eight or ten songs they wrote and just call it day. It’s not like anyone will give a shit anyway. If they can survive St. Anger and Lulu, they can clearly put out whatever they want and still sell out every major venue on Earth. They might as well just release a forty minute recording of James Hetfield sitting on the can, struggling with constipation, and get out on the road already.

ANYWAY, if it does appear on the album, I hope it’s as a “second pass version” which is half as long. There’s absolutely no reason for this song to run eight minutes and twenty seconds. Fuck — there’s barely justification for it to run twenty seconds.