It was already six years when "Metallica" last released a studio album. The band has announced recently that they are already "deep in the songwriting part" of the next album. In the meantime, they are plotting several summer tours to take place in Europe starting May 28.

Metallica fans will be stoked when they get to know what's going their way. They will be incorporating some old and new ways fans can interact with the band in the music tours. First off, the band expressed that they want the fans to have complete control over the setlist. "We're calling it 'Metallica by Request.' Ticket holders can go on a website and vote for any song Metallica ever recorded. There's 145 or something. We play the top 17 vote getters. It's really fun," said Lars Ulrich (legend drummer) in a Rolling Stone report.

Lars Ulrich added, "It looks like when we play Helsinki in May we'll be playing a song called 'The Frayed Ends of Sanity' from ...And Justice For All. We're really excited about that. Also, St. Anger was really big in Germany, so we'll get to play some of the songs there. That's going to be really fun. We want to mix it up as much as possible."

The fans will have an easy time voting for their desired setlist, and they'll be able to see the updated list of the songs for every music tour venue. Voting closes about a week before showtime, so the band will still have to learn any songs that they haven't played for a while.

Second on Metallica's list for their tours, is that they're bringing back the legendary "Snake Pit." The Snake Pit is a carved-out section in the middle of the stage where fans can watch the band perform live.

"Whatever gets us as close to the audience as possible is preferred for us," he said. "Whether it's in the round or lower or in whatever configuration it takes. We want to get as close as possible and we've succeeded in getting closer and closer," told Frontman James Hetfield for The Pulse of Radio, in Blabbermouth.net.

Metallica recently debuted a new song called "Lords of Summer" in their recent Colombia tour. The band plans to focus on making the next album after they finish the summer tours in Europe.

CREDIT: MetallicaTV/YouTube