Metallica dropped a new single last week — "Lux Æterna," the lead-off to their upcoming full-length album 72 Seasons, due out next year. Along with the album, the band also plans to tour Europe, the US, and Mexico throughout the spring and summer of 2023.
What the band did not announce, however, was the launch of a new Metallica-themed cryptocurrency. Granted, it would not be that surprising if the famously miserly Napster smashers had decided to create a crypto or an NFT or some other way to bilk eager fans. But at this point, they have done no such thing.
Unfortunately, this did not stop at least one fan from paying $25,500 in Bitcoin to a random scammer claiming to sell the official Metallica cryptocurrency. From 1350kman in Manhattan:
A Manhattan man is out thousands of dollars in an online scam involving a fake Metallica YouTube channel.
The Riley County Police Department says a report was filed Wednesday afternoon in the 3800 block of Marlatt Ave. for theft by deception. A 51-year-old man reported to police he was scammed by the fake account into transferring approximately $25,500 of Bitcoin to an unknown suspect.
To their credit, Metallica did put out a statement clearly disavowing this scam:
None of this, however, explains what the fuck is up with the drum sounds on recent Metallica records. It's almost as if drummer/band co-founder Lars Ulrich was so consumed by his hatred of Napster that he forgot what a normal human drum kit is supposed to sound like. That excuse made more sense back in 2003 when the band released St. Anger, with a snare drum that sounded more like a metal trash can lid. It was so bad that fans started making mashups, swapping out the hits from classic Metallica songs like "Master of Puppets" and replacing them with the St. Anger snare. Seriously, it's awful:
To Ulrich's credit, he seems to have some sense of humor about that particular fiasco. And indeed, here we are 20 years later, and the snare on "Lux Æterna" (above) sounds great! … it's just the kick drum that sounds like someone popped a Pringles can.
Maybe Metallica should consider investing in a different sort of NFT — needs a fucking tuner. (Otherwise, the song is pretty good though.)
Manhattan man scammed by fake Metallica Youtube account [KMAN]
