Metallica And Lou Reed Explain Inspiration Behind Collaborative Album 'Lulu'

Metallica and Lou Reed have spoke about the inspiration behind their new joint album 'Lulu'.

The album, which will be released on October 31 in the UK and in the US in November 1, is said to be inspired by German writer Frank Wededkind's plays.

On their joint website they posed an update on the album: ''Lulu' was inspired by German expressionist writer Frank Wededkind's plays 'Earth Spirit' and 'Pandora's Box', which tell a story of a young abused dancer's life and relationships. Since their publication in the early 1900s, the plays have been the inspiration for a silent film, an opera, and countless other creative endeavors.''

''Originally the lyrics and musical landscape were sketched out by Lou for a theatrical production in Berlin, but after coming together with the Metallica boys for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame concerts in New York in 2009 all guilty parties knew they wanted to make more music together. Lou was inspired enough by that performance to recently ask the band to join him in taking his theatrical 'Lulu' piece to the next level and so starting in early May of this year we were all camped out recording at HQ studios in Northern California, bringing us to today and ten complete songs.''

Three tracks from the forthcoming album have been named 'Mistress Dread', 'Pumping Blood' and 'Junior Dad'