[10] Select music from the jam sessions may be used on the album, as Lars Ulrich stated, "I definitely look forward to sifting through some of that stuff when we get back to the studio in January.

"[11] On that note, by October 2004, the band had already compiled nearly 50 hours of pre-set jamming, with hundreds of riffs, chord progressions and bass lines.

[15] On April 6, he revealed that the band had composed "six to seven" songs (except for vocals) from their findings off the riff tapes recording during pre-sets of the Madly in Anger with the World Tour.

Hetfield also praised producer Rick Rubin for his production style in giving the band their own freedom and keeping the pressure at a minimum, despite the sessions becoming sometimes briefly unfocused.

He also expanded on Rubin's style of production, saying,[20] Rick's big thing is to kind of have all these songs completely embedded in our bodies and basically next Monday, on D-Day, just go in and execute them.

"[21] This was confirmed on July 24, 2008, on Mission: Metallica, as a video surfaced showing the crew moving into Sound City Studios of Nirvana fame.

[22] On June 4, Robert Trujillo revealed that only select portions of the two new songs debuted in Berlin and Tokyo respectively would be featured on the album.

[25] Ulrich confirmed on May 15, 2008, that Metallica recorded eleven songs for Death Magnetic, although only ten would appear on the album due to the constraints of the physical medium.

The day after each concert, MetClub members were sent an e-mail with a code for a free download of a rough mix of the song played at the show.

Kirk Hammett played a role in inspiring the album title by bringing a photograph of deceased Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley to the studio where Metallica was recording.

Also the concept that we're all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about—no one wants to bring it up; it's the big white elephant in the living room.

On September 2, a French record store began selling copies of Death Magnetic, nearly two weeks ahead of its scheduled worldwide release date,[37] which resulted in the album being made prematurely available on peer-to-peer clients.

[38] This prompted the band's UK distributor, Vertigo Records, to officially release the album two days ahead of schedule, on September 12.

[47] On the day of the release FMQB radio broadcast The World Premiere of Death Magnetic, which was heard on more than 175 stations across the US and Canada.

While Turner and his partner Bruce Duckworth played with the two elements from the title, they emerged with the cover that combined a white coffin, a grave, and a magnetic field, depicted by a model made and photographed by Andy Grimshaw.

Turner added the image was "simple and literal but at the same time open to all sorts of interpretations", saying that Hetfield considered the coffin shaped as "a door, to another experience, or consciousness".

Duckworth stated that the cover fit their intention of something that would also be recognizable in a digital format, "small icons that go on your phone or iPod".

The original Metallica logo was brought back to demonstrate how the band was trying to restore their old identity, while the cover was primarily white to contrast how the color is hardly used in the metal genre.

[51] Death Magnetic was issued on vinyl in a special box set, and also had a deluxe edition shaped like a coffin,[49] bundled along with an additional disc full of demos, a making-of DVD, an exclusive T-shirt, guitar picks, a flag and a fold-out poster.

"[53][54] Due to technical restrictions, the Wii version of Guitar Hero: World Tour only could hold the three shortest songs of the eleven: "Broken, Beat & Scarred", "Cyanide" and "My Apocalypse".

[58] The North American leg finished in February 2009 and was followed by European concerts, interrupted only by a surprise gig at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas, to promote the video game Guitar Hero: Metallica.

[59][60] The tour returned to both continents while also extending to Latin America, Israel, Japan and Oceania in 2010, ending on November 21 in Melbourne, Australia.

[62] Metallica also released in November 2009 two video albums out of World Magnetic Tour performances that year, Orgullo, Pasión, y Gloria: Tres Noches en la Ciudad de México featuring three Mexico City concerts in June, and Français Pour une Nuit with a concert in the French town of Nîmes in July.

In a 2007 interview with Rolling Stone, ex-Guns N' Roses drummer Matt Sorum described his impressions of the unfinished songs:[74] Lars is a good friend of mine.

Thrash Hits was one of the first websites, along with The Quietus, to comment on Death Magnetic, claiming "it is a vast improvement on 2003 album St Anger".

"[79] While Metallica was on the first leg of their 2008 tour in Europe, a third party at their management Q Prime demanded that media impressions and blogs commenting on the album be taken down from their website for reasons that were not explained to the band.

[75] The Observer stated "it's a joy to have these gnarled veterans back to reinforce the sheer visceral thrill of timeless heavy metal".

[81] On September 15, 2008, after a reviewer for Swedish daily Sydsvenskan admitted that he preferred a shortened mix of Death Magnetic to the official release,[82] a scheduled interview was duly canceled by Universal Music Sweden.

[85] A Rolling Stone article states that Rubin was "overseeing mixes in Los Angeles while the band is in Europe, headlining shows" and only communicated with him by conference calls.

Metallica and Rubin initially declined to comment, while the band's co-manager Cliff Burnstein stated that complainers were in a minority and that response to the album had otherwise been "overwhelmingly positive".