"I saw [the warts-and-all METALLICA documentary 'Some Kind of Monster'], and it made me really nervous," Rubin said. "Then we started working, and it's the opposite direction of that. They're really productive, really communicative � it seems like they really like being in the room together. It's a great process.

They say they're more excited than they have been in a long time about making music. We're going to start recording in March. I asked them not to reinvent themselves so much as to make a defining album, like the purest of what METALLICA is. That's the aim, so we'll see what happens." - more on this story