After Aerosmith, the next monsters of rock to get a whole Guitar Hero title made after them are Metallica. The trash/speed metal shred masters are what it’s all about in the latest Guitar hero, which will be based on their music, and will in stores for sale during the first half of next year for the Xbox 360, Wii, Playstation 3 and Playstation 2. Price and rating information is so far still unavailable, but judging from past Guitar Hero games, we can expect to pony up between $40 and $50 to play 3D-Kirk and we’ll most likely see a rating of T for ages 13-and-up.

Metallica’s lead guitarist Kirk Hammett remarks that the move is only natural considering the band’s prominent guitar-oriented style.

Guitar Hero: Metallica differs from GH: Aerosmith which was released in June in that although there is a historical element that includes memorable shows from the band’s past, it’s not obsessive about the timeline, says the band’s drummer Lars Ulrich: "We kind of wanted it to be a little bit more about who we are now than a who-we-were-in-1986 type of thing."

The game’s opening set of two Metallica songs, including a 3D version of the band in-game is followed by players creating their own group of young bloods and making a band. Ulrich says that the story line revolves around the band taking the players’ fledgling band under their wing and touring with them.

The game, whose 45+ songs will come from either Metallica itself, as well as from bands that influenced it over the years.

"That is another cool facet of Guitar Hero," Hammett says. "Younger kids are exposed to all this great rock and heavy metal they'd never be exposed to otherwise."