Neil Shah at the Wall Street Journal has filed the following report:

The rock group METALLICA has made a living for the past 30 years growling about death in apocalyptic anthems like 'The Four Horsemen' and 'Enter Sandman'. Now, the heavy-metal pioneers are sleeping with one eye open for a different reason: Europe's financial crisis.

Metallica's longtime manager, Cliff Burnstein, is accelerating the band's tour plans to avoid getting sucked into Europe's debt troubles. With the gloom among investors spreading to richer countries such as France, Mr. Burnstein is worried that the euro will tank, making it harder for concert promoters in the 17 countries that use the currency to pay Metallica's fees.

Instead of playing Europe in 2013, as originally envisaged, Metallica will take a "European Summer Vacation" next year, including gigs at Germany's Rock Im Park and Rock Am Ring festivals in early June—where the top-grossing thrash band will play its chart-topping 1991 record known as "The Black Album" in its entirety—before heading to Britain and Austria.

"Look, I'm not an economist, but I have a degree, so it helps," Mr. Burnstein said one afternoon, sitting in the back room of his midtown Manhattan office in jeans and a red Economist magazine T-shirt with "Think Responsibly" printed on it. "You have to ask yourself, what's the best time to be doing what, when and where."

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Metallica recently updated the itinerary for their 2012 Summer European Vacation tour. The following dates are now confirmed:

May

23 - Oslo, Norway - Vallehovin

June

1 - Nurnberg, Germany - Rock Im Park
2 - Nurburgring, Germany - Rock Am Ring
6 - Horsens, Denmark - State Prison Open Air
9 - Donington, England - Download Festival
10 - Nickelsdorf, Austria - Nova Rock

Says the band: "Ticket information can be found on the Tour page at Metallica.com. MetClub members, be sure to login for pre-sale info on the Oslo and Horsens shows. Those of you have been following along know that this year's European vacation features The Black Album in its entirety to celebrate the 20th (ish!!!) anniversary of its release in August of 1991. We just can't stay away from this anniversary stuff!!

We're not done yet... keep watching Metallica.com for the latest news!"