Metallica to release The Six Feet Down Under EP

Metallica are celebrating their upcoming Australian and New Zealand tour with the release of The Six Feet Down Under EP, a limited-edition, eight-song set that includes live tracks recorded from the band's previous visits to that part of the world. The EP, which contains songs from as far back as 1989, was announced on Metallica.com.

"We're getting psyched up for our return to Australia and New Zealand next week," the group said in a statement on their site. "It's been six long years since we've visited and we're ready to throw down! The nice people at Universal Music were so darn excited that they actually suggested that we release something special to commemorate this last run of World Magnetic tour dates, so...ta-da...we present the Six Feet Down Under limited edition EP! Coming to Trans-Tasman record stores and right here at the Metallica.com Store on September 20.

"Here's the story," the statement continued, "the collective brain trust came up with what we thought might be a kinda fun idea...how about some live recordings from each time we have been lucky enough to visit the area? It was all well and good until we realized that we did not start making multi-track recordings of every show until 2004...oops! But you guys, the fans, came to our rescue with some pretty decent bootleg options and we trimmed those down to two songs from each tour in 1989, 1993, 1998, and 2004.

"In digging a little deeper, it occurred to us that we had tracks that had never before been released as live b-sides (we're not counting the bonus songs on i-Tunes, okay?) and that that added to the adventure of pulling it all together. Be gentle with us...a few of these songs are, well, we'll say 'rough,' which may be an understatement!! They do, however, capture the live moments and hopefully you'll have as much fun listening as we did playing on those nights."

Here's the full tracklisting for The Six Feet Down Under EP

1. Eye Of The Beholder - Recorded live on 4 May 1989 at Festival Hall in Melbourne
2. ...And Justice For All - Recorded live on 4 May 1989 at Festival Hall in Melbourne
3. Through The Never - Recorded live on 8 April 1993 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
4. The Unforgiven - Recorded live on 4 April 1993 at the National Tennis Centre in Melbourne
5. Low Man's Lyric (Acoustic) - Recorded live on 11 April 1998 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
6. Devil's Dance - Recorded live on 12 April 1998 at the Entertainment Centre in Perth
7. Frantic - Recorded live on 21 January 2004 at the Entertainment Centre in Sydney
8. Fight Fire With Fire - Recorded live on 19 January 2004 at the Entertainment Centre in Brisbane

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.