Metallica have sold over 125 million albums worldwide, 67 million of those in the US alone, and although the San Francisco band haven't released a new album since 2016's Hardwired... to Self-Destruct, in recent years the group has been re-issuing multi-disc deluxe box sets of their esteemed back catalogue.
Now, to keep up with demand, the group have acquired a majority stake in Furnace Record Pressing, a record pressing plant in Alexandria, Virginia, to ensure that their fans have "continued access to high quality records in the future."
Since 2016, the quartet have released expansive box sets of Master Of Puppets, ...And Justice For All and Metallica (aka 'The Black Album'), and in 2022, the group pressed more than 902,500 pieces of vinyl for more than 620,000 packages, according to their management company, Q Prime.
Furnace has pressed vinyl records for the band for a decade, and purchasing the plant makes business sense for the band, who own the rights to all their own albums.
"We couldn't be more happy to take our partnership with Furnace... to the next level," says Lars Ulrich. "Their indie spirit, the passion they have for their craft … culturally we're kindred souls."
"Furnace has been great to Metallica and more importantly to our fans," frontman James Hetfield added. "This deepened relationship between Metallica and Furnace ensures that fans of vinyl everywhere, particularly our Fifth Members, will have continued access to high-quality records in the future."
"They have the same indie spirit we have," Marc Reiter, who helps run Blackened Recordings, Metallica's own record label, tells Billboard, "and they like doing things the right way, which is also the Metallica way."
