METALLICA Will Not Perform Entire 'Black' Album At Australia's SOUNDWAVE

According to Australia's Music Feeds, Soundwave festival promoter AJ Maddah has confirmed that METALLICA will not perform its 1991 self-titled effort in its entirety at this year's event, despite widespread rumors to the contrary.

Maddah confirmed the news via his Twitter account on Friday after a fan quizzed him on rumors that appeared on a METALLICA fan forum, indicating that the Soundwave slots were not going to be Black Album shows.

"Not a rumor. They're not doing Black album," Maddah tweeted.

It was previously reported that METALLICA will play a two-hour set at this year's Soundwave, complete with the "Snakepit" rig.

The last time this rig was used was during METALLICA's 2012 European tour where the LP was played backwards, starting with closing number "The Struggle Within" and ending with "Enter Sandman".

Asked whose idea it was for METALLICA to play the "black" album in reverse on the most recent tour, the band's drummer, Lars Ulrich, told Rolling Stone magazine, "If you like the idea, it was mine. If you don't, it was James' [Hetfield, guitar/vocals]. For better or worse, I'm the setlist guy. This is all subject to change if it doesn't work. But the idea of starting off with the lesser-known songs buried down there and ending up with 'Sad But True' and 'Enter Sandman' seems like a winner. You finish with the money shot, which is the first song."

"Metallica" in 2009 surpassed SHANIA TWAIN's 1997 record, "Come On Over", as the best-selling CD of the SoundScan era. To date, the black album has sold more than 16 million copies in the United States.

Although METALLICA had scored their first radio and video airplay with their previous effort, 1988's "...And Justice For All", the black album was the band's biggest commercial breakthrough, producing five singles and making them into one of the most popular rock bands in the world.

(Thanks: NJthrasher)