Metallica Releases 'Death Magnetic' Album Cover

Today, Metallica released the album cover artwork for their forthcoming release, Death Magnetic. The album, which is being produced by Rick Rubin, is due for release on Sept. 22.

Regarding the album's title, frontman James Hetfield said this to the Norwegian web site VGTV.

"It started out as kind of a tribute to people that have fallen in our business, like Layne Staley and a lot of the people that have died, basically — rock and roll martyrs of sorts. And then it kind of grew from there. Thinking about death…just like a magnet, some people are drawn towards it, and other people are afraid of it and push away. And the concept that we're all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about — no one wants to bring it up; it's the big white elephant in the living room. But we all have to deal with it at some point. So that's kind of the subject matter."

In other Metallica news, the title track, "Death Magnetic," will be available for Guitar Hero III on the same day as the album's release, and the entire record will be playable in the forthcoming Guitar Hero World Tour game.

Click the thumbnail above to see a larger version.