VIDEO: Metallica and Lou Reed talk album project Lulu

Is James Hetfield 'fired up' about Lulu? Yep!
Is James Hetfield 'fired up' about Lulu? Yep! (Image credit: Agencia Estado/Xinhua Press/Corbis)

The pairing of Metallica and Lou Reed is a polarizing one. Based on fans we've heard from, half think their upcoming LP, Lulu, could be a work of art, while the rest say it's bound to be a load...and we're not referring to Metallica's 1996 album of the same name.

In a new video (above), drummer Lars Ulrich expresses surprise that people are, ahem, surprised at the collaboration. In his view, the idea of the metal masters working with the godfather of punk is "obvious."

The band, along with Reed, discuss the making of Lulu in the 13-minute clip. The record will be released worldwide on 31 October and 1 November in the US. You can listen to Lulu in full here.

In other Metallica-related news, bassist Rob Trujillo confirmed that the band has started work on their own album. "We've got a couple of new songs we have been working on the past couple of weeks," he told GulfNews.com.

"We've been in the studio with Rick Rubin, working on a couple of things, and we're going to be recording during the most of next year. We've got a lot of work ahead of us. But the great thing is that we have sort of already jumped off the launch pad and we're swimming... This is the beginning of something very, very cool."

Joe Bosso

Joe is a freelance journalist who has, over the past few decades, interviewed hundreds of guitarists for Guitar WorldGuitar PlayerMusicRadar and Classic Rock. He is also a former editor of Guitar World, contributing writer for Guitar Aficionado and VP of A&R for Island Records. He’s an enthusiastic guitarist, but he’s nowhere near the likes of the people he interviews. Surprisingly, his skills are more suited to the drums. If you need a drummer for your Beatles tribute band, look him up.