Metallica team with Skullcandy, launch Death Magnetic headphones

Skullcandy's first series of cooler-than-thou headphones were inspired by extreme sports. It's kind of fitting then, that its first venture into music artist partnership should be with extreme rockers Metallica. As an ode to Death Magnetic's album launch last week, Skullcandy are proud to present Metallica Hesh and Metallica Lowrider headphones.

The Hesh pack in a 50mm driver, snake skin leather earpads (faux, we presume), in-line volume control and "sound-boosting parabolic ear-cups". Lowriders feature a 40mm driver and 90 degree swivelling, DJ-style speakers. The headband folds up for easy portability, too.

With Metallica's 'Loudness War' still picking up momentum, perhaps Skullcandy's sales pitch should be: "What better way to hear Death Magnetic's audio clipping than with the official Death Magnetic headphones!"

If you've been hiding under a rock for the past week and you don't own a copy of Death Magnetic yet, you can get a free album download with every limited edition Hesh ($69.95) and Lowrider ($49.95) purchase. Rock on.

The hesh

The hesh

The design on the Hesh model (Image from Pocket-Lint).

Tom Porter worked on MusicRadar from its mid-2007 launch date to 2011, covering a range of music and music making topics, across features, gear news, reviews, interviews and more. A regular NAMM-goer back in the day, Tom now resides permanently in Los Angeles, where he's doing rather well at the Internet Movie Database (IMDB).