The iconic Metallica “Black” album turns 30 this year.
In celebration of the 30th year anniversary of Metallica’s ground-breaking, Grammy-awarded, multi-platinum album, Metallica recently announced a pair of album releases to commemorate the milestone.
A fully remastered version of the hit album will be released in several formats including a double vinyl album, a 3-CD expanded edition and its digital versions.
There’s also a separate deluxe box set for hardcore Metallica fans will include the double vinyl LP, a picture disc, three live LPs and 14 CDs containing outtakes, demos and interviews, live performances, six DVDs featuring outtakes, behind the scenes, official videos and live shows and special merch that include a 120-page hardcover book, lithographs, guitar picks to lyric sheets and a download card as reported by Guitar World magazine.
Meanwhile, a second release titled “The Metallica Blacklist” will feature a humongous 53-artist tribute album. Said record will feature a diverse selection of music artists that include Miley Cyrus, Elton John, Weezer, St. Vincent, Corey Taylor (of Slipknot), Volbeat, Biffy Clyro, Royal Blood, PUP, IDLES and dozens more who will do their own versions of the classic metal tracks from the Black album.
A visualizer version of “Nothing Else Matters” that features Miley Cyrus on vocals and featuring Elton John on piano and Yo-Yo Ma on cello, Watt on guitars, current Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo and Red Hot Chili Peppers’ Chad Smith on drums was released on Miley Cyrus' YouTube channel recently.
The official statement of the Metallica said, “The Metallica Blacklist offers up new dimensions of the record whose gravitational pull first drew the mainstream to metallica – and provides new insights into the universal and timeless appeal that kept it there: the boundary-smashing influence these 12 songs have had on fans and musicians of all stripes. The album’s 53 (artists) find singer-songwriters, country artists, electronic and Hiphop artists sharing their love of these songs alongside punk rockers, indie darlings, icons of rock, metal, world music and many, many more!”
“The Metallica Blacklist is a fitting and limitless homage, one that features bands who’ve shared stages with Metallica alongside artists who are younger than the original album,” the statement added about the 12-song album that features 53 artists.
Released in 1991, the “Black” album contained the tracks “Enter Sandman,” “The Unforgiven,” “Nothing Else Matters,” and “Sad But True,” to name some that eventually became big hits on MTV and sold millions of copies at the onset of the 90’s. The album made the already formidable heavy metal band household names worldwide.
Profits from “The Metallica Blacklist” will go to charity, divided between Metallica’s All Within My Hands foundation and the charities chosen by the artists who have participated in the project.