Anybody make it to Metallica last night?

You'd think after they sat down and watched Some Kind of Monster that finally they'd get the hint......retirement. Unfortunately they've become one of those ultra-huge rock juggernauts like U2, Rolling Stones, etc where the cash cow overrides any musical credibility they ever had. I tend to think of them as two bands now: pre-Black album/post-Black album.
 
Just checked Metallica.com for the first time in ages and ran across these pics:

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I see Marshall heads all over the place ... since when do they play Marshall again?

They've always had Marshalls on hand, Kirk especially. He had a JMP-1 in his rack for years, and he's been known to use a few old non-master volume Superleads from time to time.

That's the new Marshall JVM in the foreground, sitting on top of a Mesa Stiletto Deuce. Kirk's been using the Stiletto a lot recently- I own one, and I think it's a great amp; I'm curious to hear it recorded.

The initial reviews of the JVM that I've heard have all been positive- from actual players, not guitar mags- saying essentially "it's the best thing Marshall's made in twenty years". Apparently it's a gain monster on channels three and four, and I've heard some pretty serious metal clips from it. I even posted one here shortly after it came out.

The other Marshall off in the distance looks like a JCM 2000 DSL to me. I know Kirk had one of those kicking around for a while. He used it during the St. Anger sessions.

I don't have high hopes for the new Metallica record as far as songwriting is concerned, but I'm looking forward to hearing it just for the tones and production.