Metallica has been hard working in the studio for over a month now, and hopefully the result will be good. My guess is a late November release.
Bob Rock is still playing the bass in the studio, and there is also a filmcrew there to film this for later use. Will there be another "A year and a half" homevideo, or should we say "Two and a half years"?
As previously reported, the band will do a Ramones cover for a tribute album, but they have not decided which song to cover yet. Metallica will record four Ramones songs and they will probably end up on singles later, just like they did with the four Motorhead songs.
Metallica.com also released some photos which you can see on their site.
Encyclopedia Metallica
http://www.encycmet.com