Metallica singer stopped at airport for 'Taliban' beard

Metallica frontman James Hetfield was stopped by security officials at Luton Airport for allegedly having a "Taliban-like" beard.

The band were on its way to perform at Live Earth on Saturday (July 7).

Hetfield was briefly questioned by airport officials until they realised who he was. No explanation was given for why he was stopped, but his bandmates speculated that it was due to his beard.

Meanwhile, Metallica’s new album is due out in early 2008, with bassist Robertt Trujillo telling Blabbermouth: “There’s a lot of everything, man. There’s speed on this.

"There’s a couple of tracks where you’re gonna go ‘Wow!’ and I know you’re gonna like it because it has the flavour of the old. But it has this kind of groove and power behind it that I think is us today.”