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Do Metallica fear the internet?

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Metallica's patchy relationship with the internet (after a legal dispute involving Napster and a song from the Mission Impossible II soundtrack) seemed to be ancient history when the appropriately named album preview website Mission Metallica came along. Unfortunately for Metallica, bad management decisions or just a strange publicity ploy have meant all previews of the band's forthcoming album have been censored online.

It started when a group of journalists were invited to listen to six brand-new album tracks, but when these critics posted online reviews as expected; Metallica's management demanded they be taken down immediately.

Luke Turner, editor of The Quietus music blog and one of the sites involved commented: "Metallica held an album listening party for selected music journalists in London this Wednesday past. One of the writers was kind enough to write a piece about the album which, if you were lucky enough to read it before it was taken down, was full of praise about a return to form. At no point was the writer asked to sign a non-disclosure agreement. The Quietus and other websites ran pieces on the album, but were quickly contacted by Metallica's management via a third party and told to remove the articles".

In 2000, Lars Ulrich went to court over the band's leaked Mission Impossible II song I Disappear and requested more than 335,000 Napster users/Metallica fans be banned.