METALLICA have checked in with the following announcement:

"Win a ESP Ltd. Viper when you bid at charitybuzz.com and we will customize and sign it for you! Help us support J/P HRO (Haitian Relief Organization) here ."

Following is a description of the guitar, which was donated by Metallica for the auction:

"The guitar is an ESP Ltd. Viper with high gloss red wood grain finish and custom ESP pick-ups signed by all four members of Metallica. Lars Ulrich will customize it with your name, your favorite Metallica song - whatever you want!

Personalization of the guitar may result in delayed delivery. Additional shipping costs may apply based upon the location of the winner. In condition as donated. Cannot be returned or exchanged. Cannot be resold or re-auctioned.

The proceeds for this item benefit J/P HRO."

At press time the latest bid was $2,750.00 US.

As previously reported, Beyond Magnetic, the four-song EP featuring unreleased tracks from the Death Magnetic sessions, will be available worldwide at retail on January 30th and in North America on January 31st. It is now available for pre-order for $5.99 US at Metallica.com here.

The Beyond Magnetic EP features four previously unreleased songs which were recorded during the sessions for the band's 2008 Death Magnetic album and were originally released as a gift to Metallica's Metallica Club members to enjoy immediately after the band played them at the recent 30th anniversary celebrations in San Francisco.

Metallica commented about the release: "During the Death Magnetic album sessions in 2007 and 2008, we originally recorded 14 songs. When it came time to pick the songs for the final album, we decided on 10 songs that you've all come to know over the last three years," said the members of Metallica. "Some of you may have heard bits and pieces of those other songs on 'Mission Metallica' (remember 'Mission Metallica'?!) or heard rumors about them during the recording process, and wondered, 'What ever happened to those other four songs???.' We kept them in the vault and decided to pull them just for this special celebration, so here are the four leftover tracks from the Death Magnetic sessions. They are ROUGH mixes, unfinished to their original degree of mixing from March '08. These four songs were released as gift to our closest fans, the members of our Fan Club, to enjoy. Now they're being made available to you."

Beyond Magnetic tracklisting:

'Hate Train'

'Just A Bullet Away'

'Hell And Back'

'Rebel Of Babylon'

The digital version of Beyond Magnetic entered the Canadian Soundscan charts at #29 and the US Billboard 200 chart at #32.