Virginia Tech's women’s basketball team has a No. 1 seed in this year’s NCAA tournament, which means that they get to play their games at home. The NCAA has been trying to make the tournament games more of a neutral environment, so they’ve banned Virgian Tech's team from playing their song - 'Enter Sandman' by Metallica, the USA Today reports. Well, that didn't stop fans from singing the song.

Metalica have bought Furnace Record Pressing, a vinyl pressing plant based in Alexandria, Virginia, in order to keep up with demand for their back catalog on vinyl, in addition to meeting their needs for their forthcoming album, '72 Seasons', coming put in April. The band first started working with Furnace, one of the largest vinyl pressing companies in the U.S., in 2008, Loudwire reports. The company has helped keep Metallica’s catalog in print along with expansive box set reissues of 'Metallica', 'Master of Puppets', 'Ride the Lightning', 'Kill 'Em All', '...And Justice for All', and others. The plant will continue to press non-Metallica projects.

Metallica have announced their new album, titled '72 Seasons', which will come out on April 14th, and will be their first in seven years, Blabbermouth reports. Its first single, 'Lux Æterna' is a light trash song with a focus on melodic vocals. Band's frontman James Hetfield explained the album’s idea - “72 seasons. The first 18 years of our lives that form our true or false selves. The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents... Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry”. Metallica have also unveiled dates for a massive 2023-2024 world tour that will see the band play two dates (with unique sets) in each city, and feature such opening bands as Pantera, Mammoth WVH, Five Finger Death Punch, Ice Nine Kills, and Architects.

Metallica has announced the opening of The Metallica Black Box which will offer an unprecedented and ongoing deep dive into every era of Metallica from the early 1980s garage days up to its present status as hard rock stars. The project debited with The Black Album Exhibition, the Black Box, Loudwire reports.

Metallica have offered their band wisdom via MasterClass, as the first band to give a class on the streaming platform. In the course, they teach strategies for growing and staying together as a band, how to collaborate creatively, and develop and maintain a relationship with an audience, among other topics. The importance of communication is key - the band members point out.

Metallica’s landmark 1991 self-titled fifth LP has returned to the Top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart for the first time in 29 years, Consequence reports. The album reached position 9 with 37,000 units earned for the week. The album’s increased sales were fueled by various reissues marking its 30th anniversary. 'Metallica' remains the top-selling album in the U.S. since MRC Data began electronically tracking music sales in 1991, with 17.3 million copies sold. Drake extends his No1 stay on the chart as the set earns 236,000 equivalent album units, Billboard reports

“Thirty years of the Black Album, it’s a pretty big year. We’re overachievers and we’re perfectionists. We think outside the box and we try to be the first at things. There’s no nostalgia driving this band; we used to be very fearful of it” - Metallica's James Hetfield says in a Guardian interview ahead of 52-track covers album, 'The Metallica Blacklist'. Hetfield insists “We’re still explorers. A project like the Blacklist is proof of that. Someone once told me: ‘The rear-view mirror is smaller than the windshield for a reason’".

Jazz saxophonist Kamasi Washington has released his cover version of Metallica's 'My Friend Of Misery', Blabbermouth reports. This version sounds nothing like metal - Kamasi Washington has turned 'My Friend Of Misery' into an astral jazz song, insisting on virtuosity, common to the original. This cover is one of more than 50 songs which are included on Metallica's massive new covers compilation called 'The Metallica Blacklist', which features artists' takes on 'Black Album' songs.

Phoebe Bridgers has shared her cover of Metallica’s 'Nothing Else Matters', about to be released on the covers album 'The Metallica Blacklist'. Bridgers said - "I feel like my version almost sounds baroque. Literally, James [Hetfield] does all sorts of weird octave jumps and stuff that I can’t do, and I almost have a Billie Eilish approach of right by the microphone, performing it the opposite of them, which was really fun to lean into”.

St. Vincent has redone Metallica's 'Sad But True', adding a ton of sexy and cool, making for a surprisingly good cover. Jason Isbell goes a step further with the same song - himself and the 400 Unit reimagined 'The Black Album' classic as a thrilling country rock barn stomper. Both songs appear on Metallica’s upcoming collection, 'The Metallica Blacklist', a companion album celebrating the 30th anniversary of 'The Black Album'. Set for release digitally on September 10th and physically on October 1st, 'The Metallica Blacklist' also boasts contributions from Depeche Mode’s Dave Gahan, J Balvin, Phoebe Bridgers, My Morning Jacket, Weezer, Mac DeMarco, Cage the Elephant, Kamasi Washington, Portugal. the Man, IDLES, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Moses Sumney.