In February 2014, Metallica began recording a new song at their HQ studio in San Rafael, California, with the working title "X-Dust", planning to premiere it at a March 16, 2014, show in Bogotá, Colombia. They finished it in March and premiered it at the show with the official song title "Lords of Summer".[1] The band re-recorded the song in May and June 2015 for their tenth studio album, Hardwired... to Self-Destruct (2016),[1] including it with the deluxe edition of the album. It is over a minute shorter in length than the demo and first pass versions.[2]
Release[]
The band released the song digitally through the iTunes Store on March 19, 2014, in its demo form.[3] They eventually released the song in a more refined state, dubbed the "First Pass Version", digitally in June.[4] Later that year, they gave the song a physical release for Record Store Day Black Friday as a 12-inch single, with a live version of the song recorded in Rome being used as the B-side. The single was limited to 4,000 copies.[5] A remix of the song by The Glitch Mob was released on May 13, 2015, through YouTube.[6]
