Metallica's 'St. Anger' straight to No1!

NEW YORK (Metallica Fans Website) - Metallica's new album, St. Anger, was released on Thursday (June 5), and despite an abbreviated week, it will debut at Number One on the next US album chart. The album more than doubled the total of the next biggest-selling album, Jewel's 0304, which will debut at Number Two. Metallica moved up the release of St. Anger from the previously scheduled June 10 date in an attempt to combat counterfeiters who had produced unauthorized recordings and packaging.

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett said that the fans are getting a hard hitting album that may not be friendly to a lot of people's ears. "It never lets up,� Hammett said. �There are no real pretty parts - well, it depends on what you call pretty. There isn't any obvious radio singles, there isn't any obvious ballads. It's a full-on intense, barrage of, just, pummeling tunes."

Hammett added, "There's just a lot of intensity on the album. It's hard to come up for breath because you're just totally bombarded."

St. Anger is the band's first album of all new original material in five-and-a-half years. The band's last studio effort, Reload, was released in December of 1997, and that also debuted at Number One on the USA album chart.