Metallica has made a studio version of its new song, “The Lords Of Summer,” available at iTunes. Dubbed the “First Pass” version, the recording is basically a demo of the song that the band made before playing it live on its recent “Metallica By Request” tours of South America and Europe. The studio version was also scheduled to air on ESPN over the weekend.

• The “By Request” tour featured the band playing 17 songs requested online by fans in each city, with the final slot in the set list taken by “The Lords Of Summer.”
• Drummer Lars Ulrich told RollingStone.com that the song is “fairly representative of where our creative headspace is at right now. It’s one of those things that’s like, ‘Here, we’re writing and we’re creating.'”
• Ulrich also cautioned that the track could be changed or even dropped from contention for the band’s 10th studio album, which is tentatively due out next year.
• The drummer recently told Metal Zone about the status of the band’s next record, “I’m pretty convinced that 90 percent of the record is actually written, it’s just gotta be kind of assembled between all those riffs. It’s just a matter of connecting this to this and sort of shaping it into a song.”
• Metallica headlines England’s Glastonbury Festival next Saturday (June 28th), making them the first metal act in the event’s 44-year history to top the bill.