METALLICA's as-yet-untitled new album is tentatively due in June. Newsted, meanwhile, has joined Canada's VOIVOD, which will release a self-titled album in March. To promote the CD, VOIVOD will begin a tour of approximately 30 U.S. cities on April 10. Then the band will head to Europe, where they'll play summer festivals. They may even wind up doing Denmark's Roskilde Festival, which is being headlined by METALLICA.

"That would sure be cool if that could happen," Newsted told MTV.com. "I think it would be fantastic to play some shows together. Those guys are actually into what we're doing. A sampler of our album is playing as the hold music on one of the message machines over there at their headquarters. I thought that was really cool."