Metallica have enjoyed going back and seeing the Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning reissues released with a wealth of bonus material this year, but another of their reissue efforts, No Life 'Til Leather, has not arrived as initially expected. Speaking with Metal Forces, drummer Lars Ulrich revealed that the band ran into some difficulties in issuing the box set as they would have liked.

“There were some unexpected difficulties on the legal side that prevented the No Life ’Til Leather box set and our vision for how we were going to kick this whole reissue series off," explains Ulrich. "We spent some time doing that dance, but then James (Hetfield) and I decided that it wasn’t worth it getting bogged down in all the unpleasantries, because this was supposed to be a celebration and not end up being a tug of war, so we thought, you know what, f--k it, we’ll just move on to Kill ’Em All."

Fans did get a limited edition cassette of the 1982 demo tape No Life Til Leather as part of the band's Record Store day activities in 2015. The original source material was tracked down and remastered and the artwork was created from Ulrich's personal copy and displayed his handwriting. However, the expanded box set edition, which was to include CD and vinyl, did not arrive in summer 2015 as initially expected.

When pressed about the legal obstacles, Ulrich held back on going into specific details. But he did add, "I am the eternal optimist and I am the eternal glass is well f--king half full, so who knows? I think some of those parties have circled back around now that they’ve seen that this is real and so we’ll have to see. It would be great to share No Life ’Til Leather in a year or two with our fans and with the people that care. We haven’t shut the door on it."

One thing that fans can look for from Metallica is the continued celebration of the 20th anniversary of their Load album. The band's Met Club has just announced that their etched glass series will continue with the limited edition Load etched glass that features the album's cover art etched on black glass and hand painted. A handful of lucky Fifth Members will also receive an alternate clear glass version featuring the same artwork.

The Load glass is limited to 500 individually numbered pieces and will sell for $39.99. Look for the item going on sale in the Met Store at 1PM PT this Thursday (June 16).

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