Drummer, Matt Sorum of Velvet Revolver, is good friends with Lars Ulrich and is one of the first to get an inside listen to Metallica‘s new album. Here is what Matt had to say about what he’s heard so far:

Lars [Ulrich] is a good friend of mine. He played me the demos from San Francisco, and I turned and looked at him and I said, ‘Master that shit and put it out.’ It’s ridiculous. The demos were sick. Eight-minute songs, all these tempo changes, crazy fast. It’s like, ‘Dude, don’t get slower when you get older, but don’t get faster!? How are you gonna play this live?’ And then me and Lars were out partying all night, and he had to go in the studio the next day and do this stupid like nine- or ten-minute song, and I was laughing at him ? because he played me the demo of it, and it was [sings really fast drum part], so fast. I called him, and said, ‘Dude, how are you feeling?’ He was like, ‘Dude, I’m hurting.’ They’re cutting everything to tape, no fuckin’ ProTools ? live, no clicks. Bitchin’. I dig it. I’m really excited for them.

Velvet Revolver and Alice In Chains will be on tour this summer in the US and Canada. Sparta will also be on tour with them as their opening act. Velvet Revolver‘s frontman, Scott Weiland had the following to say about touring with Alice In Chains, “They’re good friends of ours, and obviously they have amazing songs, people have been saying the shows were amazing, and they were drawing some pretty big crowds, so we figured it would be kind of a cool gig. It would be fun to watch them play every night and listen to those songs.”

Velvet Revolver also mentioned that the audience will be hearing a whole new Velvet Revolver, with them finishing up their upcoming album, Libertad. You should expect to hear a lot of new stuff.

Alice In Chains recently re-formed to for a tour last fall 2006. Since then this will be their second tour in a long time. No other details have been released on the status of Alice In Chains outside of this upcoming tour.

No tour dates or locations have been scheduled yet, but we should hopefully hear very soon. You can read more about the story here.

So here’s a collection of new music available to you to stream. So open those ears up and listen away:

Sullivan – The Process, off their upcoming album Cover Your Eyes

Maroon 5 – It Won’t Be Soon Before Long, listen to their upcoming album in it’s entirety

A Perfect Murder – Within, off their upcoming album War Of Aggression

Wolfmother – Please To Meet You, a new song off of the new Spiderman 3 soundtrack

Linkin Park on AOL Sessions, part deuce, yeah, that means its the second session, go watch!

Bad Religion – Honest Goodbye, a new song of their upcoming album Maps Of Hell

We Are The Fury – Venus, yeah their new upcoming album is available to listen in it’s entirety

Velvet Revolver – Libertad Samples, heres a few samplings to their upcoming album

Horse The Band – Murder, off their upcoming album A Natural Death

The Fold – Secrets Keep You Sick, stream their entire upcoming album, here, now

That’s all I have for now…that should occupy the next couple hours for you! Ciao.

Velvet Revolver plan to release their second album Libertad on July 3rd. The first single expected to be released is She Builds Quick Machines. They will be off to do a short mini tour to promote their album this May. Here are the dates:

3 – Los Angeles, CA – Avalon Hollywood
5 – San Francisco, CA – The Warfield
7 – Seattle, WA – Showbox Showroom
10 – Chicago, IL – The Riviera
12 – Royal Oak, MI – Royal Oak Music Theatre
13 – Toronto, Ontario – Kool Haus
15 – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
16 – Boston, MA – Avalon
18 – Sayerville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
19 – Columbus, OH – Rock on the Range
20 – Camden, NJ – Tweeter Center
22 – New York City, NY – Nokia Theatre