After dropping some hints, Metallica have officially announced the launch of their very own record label. Dubbed Blackened Recordings, the label will be the home of the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic.

Kirk Hammett is wired and tired. It’s evening in Los Angeles, and in approximately one hour, Metallica will hit the stage of the Wiltern Theater to raise money for the Silverlake Conservatory of Music, a nonprofit music school for low-income students. While Hammett is psyched to be playing for this great cause, there is no denying that, at the moment, he’s draggin’ ass.

Kirk Hammett evidently knows how to throw a book party. The Metallica guitarist invited Bay Area thrashers Death Angel to perform at the release party for his new book, Too Much Horror Business.

I would be a vampire, because they’re stealth, lurk in the shadows, and appear and disappear. There’s also a goth element to vampires that I really like, which doesn’t exist in werewolves, the Frankenstein monster or the mummy. James [Hetfield] would probably enjoy being a Frankenstein monster…but then again maybe not! Rob [Trujillo] would definitely be a werewolf, because he’s already halfway there in appearance.