Not only are Metallica celebrating 30 years of The Black Album with a 53-song covers album, but their forthcoming expanded edition of the album will include a host of standalone riffs & demos — one of which now arrives courtesy of former bassist Jason Newsted.
"My Friend of Misery (From Jason's Riff Tapes)," which you can hear below, was later fleshed out into a complete song after initially being conceived as an instrumental, which Metallica had included on every release prior to The Black Album. It is also the lone song on the LP for which Newsted gets a co-writing credit.
"The song is all about a mood, which is very cinematic in feel," producer Bob Rock told Music Radar of "My Friend of Misery" in 2011. "Metallica know how to play to their strengths, dishing out raw power, but on this song we went for more of an atmosphere. It's ominous, and it works. It started out with [Jason's] intro, so a big part of working on this track was spent developing a great riff into a song that would take flight and really go places. Which it does — it builds and builds quite nicely."
Newsted's riff will appear on the "Riffs & Demos" CD included in the remastered deluxe box set of Metallica, due out September 10 via the band's own Blackened Recordings.
If that isn't enough "My Friend of Misery" for you, saxophonist Kamasi Washington has now shared his cover of the song today.
Along with The Black Album's reissue, The Metallica Blacklist covers collection will arrive digitally on September 10, with reinterpretations of Black Album songs from St. Vincent, Jason Isbell, PUP, Phoebe Bridgers and many more.
"My Friend of Misery (From Jason's Riff Tapes)," which you can hear below, was later fleshed out into a complete song after initially being conceived as an instrumental, which Metallica had included on every release prior to The Black Album. It is also the lone song on the LP for which Newsted gets a co-writing credit.
"The song is all about a mood, which is very cinematic in feel," producer Bob Rock told Music Radar of "My Friend of Misery" in 2011. "Metallica know how to play to their strengths, dishing out raw power, but on this song we went for more of an atmosphere. It's ominous, and it works. It started out with [Jason's] intro, so a big part of working on this track was spent developing a great riff into a song that would take flight and really go places. Which it does — it builds and builds quite nicely."
Newsted's riff will appear on the "Riffs & Demos" CD included in the remastered deluxe box set of Metallica, due out September 10 via the band's own Blackened Recordings.
If that isn't enough "My Friend of Misery" for you, saxophonist Kamasi Washington has now shared his cover of the song today.
Along with The Black Album's reissue, The Metallica Blacklist covers collection will arrive digitally on September 10, with reinterpretations of Black Album songs from St. Vincent, Jason Isbell, PUP, Phoebe Bridgers and many more.
