Metallica have released an EP titled 'Beyond Magnetic' that features roughly-mixed versions of four tracks that were recorded for 2008's 'Death Magnetic' but ultimately didn't end up on the final album. Metallica debuted the songs live last week during four special 30th anniversary concerts at San Francisco's legendary Fillmore Theater.

The quartet performed one of the four tracks -- 'Hate Train,' 'Just A Bullet Away,' Hell And Back' and 'Rebel Of Babylon' -- at each of the four concerts, starting with 'Hate Train' on Monday (Dec. 5) and continuing on with 'Bullet' on Wednesday, 'Hell' on Friday and concluding with 'Babylon' on Saturday.

Following each performance, the band individually issued each track as a gift exclusively to members of the Metallica Club fan club, although inevitably the tunes ended up streaming online for the rest of the world to enjoy. The 'Beyond Magnetic' EP will be sold only through iTunes for one week, after which it will be available via other digital retailers.

Metallica issued this statement regarding the release of the EP:

"During the 'Death Magnetic' album sessions in 2007 and 2008, we originally recorded 14 songs. When it came time to pick the songs for the final album, we decided on 10 songs that you've all come to know over the last three years. Some of you may have heard bits and pieces of those other songs on 'Mission Metallica' (remember 'Mission Metallica'?!) or heard rumors about them during the recording process, and wondered, 'What ever happened to those other four songs???.' We kept them in the vault and decided to pull them just for this special celebration, so here are the four leftover tracks from the Death Magnetic sessions. They are ROUGH mixes, unfinished to their original degree of mixing from March '08. These four songs were released as gift to our closest fans, the members of our Fan Club, to enjoy. Now they're being made available to you."

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