Late last night Metallica posted a message to their website in an effort to quell the controversy that began a week ago when their management asked bloggers to pull all previews of the new Metallica album from their blogs. On its face it seems like Metallica were caught unaware and that a rogue member of their management, Q Prime, called for the reviews to be redacted.

We're not buying it.

The statement, which can be read in full here, looks like the handiwork of Metallica's petulant posterboy Lars Ulrich, right down to its passive-aggressive, 'who me?' tone. As anyone who's seen the Metallica documentary 'Some Kind of Monster' would know, the band became unsure of themselves and their new material quite some time ago, and would likely do anything they could to quash any doubt that their new album would be anything short of a return to form. That, or their management would seek to protect their fragile egos with a stunt like this.

Perhaps more importantly, why would any blog oblige them? Sure, a magazine like "Kerrang!" might be desperate for readership and the promise of a Metallica cover story (which may explain their cloying remarks about Metallica's new material), but a controversial story like this is blogosphere gold, particularly for a new site like The Quietus. If no non-disclosure agreement was signed, why cave in to Metallica's management? Moreover, why bother republishing the review? Critics owe Metallica no favors. Metallica may be the best-selling metal band of all time, but it doesn't make them the Internet's master of puppets.

That Metallica would deign to wade into the blogosphere like this and think that they can emerge unscathed shows that they're still fighting the Internet, and it's a losing battle.

Related:

• Metallica Kill Previews of New Material

Message Edited by blindedbythehype on 06-12-2008 10:10 AM