Metallica's 11th Album: 10 Things Fans NEED To See

On each Metallica record, you can always pick up subtle nuances in the arrangement that not many other bands have. Even on the band's debut Kill Em All, the ominous keyboard intro to "Phantom Lord" was a great way to hook the listener into the stomping gallop that was about to unfold. With the band gaining a love for other kinds of music, it's interesting to think of what diverse instruments could pop up on the next record.

With Death Magnetic, the more balladesque tunes featured classical elements like piano and French Horn while the band's 90's output featured stuff like sitar, hurdy gurdy, and even a shotgun on "The God That Failed." These secondary instruments run the gamut of styles, but there's a certain instrument that might just be the perfect weird addition to their sound: saxophone.

I know how awful that probably sounds for a Metallica release, but many metal bands have had a strong showing of brass instruments, from its inclusion on the last Rivers of Nihil record to the fullblown sax breakdown in the middle of Ghost's "Miasma."

This idea may have been shot down just a few years ago, but the broadening of genres may lead to the band having some more varied instrumentation in their ranks.