I was a little bit surprised when I got this week's list of new releases from AMG to see Metallica's eagerly anticipated Death Magnetic mysteriously absent. How could the hands down biggest new release of the week — and possibly of the entire year — be missing I thought to myself?

Then it hit me. It's that damned Friday thing they insisted on. The record industry has made it a practice for years now of releasing new music to the record stores on Tuesdays (which is why this column appears every week on that day, for example). But Metallica has always liked to do things just a bit differently, and decided to shake things up by putting out Death Magnetic this Friday instead.

Anyway, no matter. We certainly weren't gonna ignore an album of this magnitude, and by next week it would no longer be new. So we made an executive decision and added it to this week's list. Everybody follow that so far? Good.

I haven't heard Death Magnetic yet. But the early word from practically everybody is that the Rick Rubin-produced album represents the return to form that Metallica's old-school fans have waited for going at least as far back as the glory days of And Justice For All. Think more Master Of Puppets and less St. Anger, or so the story goes.

Our own Jordan Richardson practically fell all over himself as he sang its praises in a review. By the way, congrats on hitting BC article #200 Jordan!

Elsewhere on the landscape this week, there are a bunch of albums which actually came out today (which would be Tuesday). Hip-hop veteran LL Cool J releases his 13th album for Def Jam, the appropriately titled Exit 13. In addition to hip-hop, there is also the trip-hop of Tricky's Knowle West Boy.

Jessica Simpson goes country (or at least makes the attempt) on Do You Know. Patty Loveless brings fans her "traditional country soul" on Sleepless Nights. And lefty folk icon Joan Baez has her Day After Tomorrow, ready just in time for the fall elections.

Regular NAR contributor Josh Hathaway is up this week to talk about the new one from the Bittersweets. But first, Mark Saleski has a better looking alternative to all of this week's Metallica mania.

Saleski's Choice: Dar Williams - Promised Land
Folk singer Dar Williams has an entry on my "Had To Sit In The Car After Arriving At Work To Get The Scoop On That Song!" list. Back in 1993, about 30 seconds before pulling into the parking lot, "When I Was A Boy" came on WERS, Emerson College radio. I was mesmerized. So I sat there through the end of the set (several songs) until the DJ thankfully revealed the artist's name.