Metallica announced the title of their forthcoming album, Death Magnetic this past week. Although Los Angeles’ KROQ morning show hosts Kevin & Bean responded by commenting that Death Magnetic sounds like the name of Iron Man’s arch villan, the album promises to be, shall we say, epic, with several rough mixes of yet-to-be-titled songs passing the seven-minute mark. The album will be released sometime in September.

Metallica will be hitting the major European festivals, as well as Ozzfest in Texas, this summer, beginning mid-July:
7/16 – Bergen, NOR – Bergenhus Castle
7/18 – St. Petersburg, RUS – SKK Hall
7/20 – Riga, LVA – Skonto Stadium
7/22 – Bologna, ITA – Parco Nord
7/23 – Bucharest, ROM – Cotroceni Football Stadium
7/25 – Sofia, BGR – Levski Stadium
7/27 – Istanbul, TUR – Ali Sami Yen Stadium
8/09 – Dallas, TX – Ozzfest
8/14 – Arras, FRA – Grand d’Arras
8/15 – Hasselt, BEL – Pukkelpop Festival
8/17 – Wil/Jonschwil, CHE – Degenaupark
8/20 – Dublin, IRL – Marlay Park
8/22 – Leeds, GBR – Leeds Festival
8/24 – Reading, GBR – Reading Festivalhttp://www.metallica.com/page.asp?id=13367, http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003816877