Metallica Changes Its Mind (Again), Allows Online Reviews

No wonder Metallica needed a shrink. Its head is a mess.

First, the band outed downloaders, then it courted them with online exclusives. As recently as a few days ago, Metallica killed online reviews (which it also courted) of its upcoming, as-yet-untitled, full-length record. And Thursday, the band flip-flopped and posted links to the reviews on Metallica.com.

So, who's to blame? Someone else, as usual. That's just how therapy goes sometimes.

According to a post on Metallica.com, the band's management outfit, Q Prime, is the culprit responsible for the take-down of early, mostly positive reviews from The Quietus and other sites:

Once we re-surfaced on Tuesday after a few weeks on tour in Europe, we were informed that someone at Q Prime (our managers) had made the error of asking a few publications to take down reviews of the rough mixes from the new record that were posted on their sites. Our response was "WHY?!!! Why take down mostly positive reviews of the new material and prevent people from getting psyched about the next record...that makes no sense to us!" So after a few rounds of managerial ear spank and sentencing everyone at Q Prime to 20 push-ups each, we figured why not take matters into our own hands and just post the links here on our site.

this audio or video is no longer availableIt's good to see that Metallica still can take matters into its own hands, albeit too late to stop yet another flame war. No word from the band on whether anyone at Q Prime took the fall for this latest misstep from a group that's used to making a few of them. After all, management is supposed to manage, and Q Prime didn't seem to do as good a job of that as it did courting feedback and then killing it. Even the band explained that anyone with a modicum of knowledge about Metallica.com could have figured out what to do with the early reviews.

You see, we have maintained an "in the press" section here on Metallica.com for many years now, posting links to reviews of shows, album and DVD releases, and various other tidbits we've come across while surfing around. Some good, some not so good, but we put 'em all up...sort of the same way we treat our message boards on this site...welcoming all feedback.

They said it, and you heard it. Let the feedback begin.

Photo courtesy Metallica

See also:

• Metallica Kills Early Reviews of Upcoming Album
• Fans Rip Metallica a New One
• Metallica Repents, Sort Of
• Metallica Considering Radiohead-Style Release
• Activision Confirms Guitar Hero: Metallica