METALLICA has posted the following message on its official web site:

"On Tuesday, February 27th all of the promotional videos will be available on the iTunes Music Store including the 'extras' that were on the DVD. That makes 21 videos in all (every one we have ever made — for better or worse!) as well as the 1989 release '2 of One' (previously only available on VHS), 'The Unforgiven' theatrical version, and the 'Some Kind Of Monster' film trailer. You can download the whole package or pick and choose your tracks . . . your call.

"One more thing . . . and this sucks . . . we're still not happening with iTunes outside of North America due to the inability of our overseas record company to get this one together. We apologize to all of our friends in the rest of the world . . . we are working on getting it sorted.

"You will be able to listen AND watch METALLICA on your iPods . . . click [here]."

METALLICA producer Rick Rubin told MTV.com two weeks ago that he wants the band to make a "defining" album when they enter the studio next month. Rubin admitted he was "really nervous" about working with the group after seeing the candid 2005 documentary about their near-breakup, "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster", but said that the band is now the opposite of how they appeared in the film. Rubin said, "They're really productive, really communicative — it seems like they really like being in the room together. It's a great process. They say they're more excited than they have been in a long time about making music...I asked them not to reinvent themselves so much as to make a defining album, like the purest of what METALLICA is."

Drummer Lars Ulrich told Rolling Stone magazine that Rubin wants to make the band sound like "the METALLICA that made them METALLICA without going backward."

METALLICA hopes to release its ninth studio effort by the end of the year.