U.K.'s XFM spoke with Lars 'El Burro' Ulrich at last weekend's Rock Werchter Festival in Belgium. 'El burro' said that Metallica's new album is slated for release in early 2008 and that the backing tracks for the new album were completed in May and the band would start working on vocals and overdubs in August.

"It doesn't sound like St. Anger to me. It's a little early to put in a soundbite exactly but it doesn't sound anything like St. Anger. It's probably a little more dynamic, and a little more varied, and it has lots of different nutty Metallica stuff on it."

You can read nutty Metallica stuff as excessive snare drum and semen plus blood combinations.

The band will play Live Earth in London. Shortly after their performance at the concerts designed to ruin the environment they are trying to protect, you will be able to download it from iTunes and on LiveMetallica.com. All proceeds from the downloads will benefit various environmental charities, most dealing with the hype created to push Al Gore's movie.