Metallica frontman stopped at UK airport for "Taliban" beard

Metallica frontman James Hetfield was stopped by security officials at Britain's Luton airport over the weekend while the band was on its way to perform at Saturday's (July 7th) Live Earth concert in London. According to the Times Online, Hetfield was briefly questioned by airport officials until they learned who he was. No explanation was given for why he was stopped, but his bandmates speculated that his "Taliban-like" beard was the reason for the incident.

Hetfield has been sporting the longish beard on the band's current European tour, which included a headlining appearance at London's Wembley Stadium on Sunday (July 8th), the day after the band appeared there for Live Earth.

According to Blabbermouth, Metallica bassist Robert Trujillo was asked by writer Joel McIver on Sunday whether the band's upcoming album would feature the "old-school thrash metal" with which Metallica first made its name. Trujillo replied, "There's a lot of everything, man. There's speed on this. There's a couple of tracks where you're gonna go 'Wow!' and I know you're gonna like it because it has the flavor of the old. But it has this kind of groove and power behind it that I think is us today."

The new Metallica album is due out in early 2008.
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