Around 2003, Black Rock Studio (which is sadly now no more) was working on something fairly unique: a Metallica game that didn't involve plastic instruments.
It instead was a "post-apocalyptic driving/adventure game", in which the band's members were badass, gun-toting characters.
Destined for the PS2, nothing ever came of the title. It was never even formally announced by Black Rock outside of this lame trailer included on copies of the band's album St. Anger, so really all we've got to show for it at this stage is some concept art showing the studio's vision for the game, and the knowledge it would of course feature the music of the band.
But what a vision it is. These pieces were all done by British artist Calum Alexander Watt, who isn't just one of my favourite gaming artists, he's one of my favourite artists in general.
There's a Borderlands-meets-Akira look to the drawings, which look great in their own right; As a fresh take on a way to put famous musicians into a video game, they looked awesome.
Interestingly, some of the pics were tagged as "Damage Inc", showing at least the artist knew which of the many incarnations of Metallicas to look to for inspiration.
Since we'll never get to see this game, the least we can do is look at its art. And if you'd like to see more of Watt's stuff, you should check out his personal site, which has great pictures of robots, mechs, cowboys and more robots.
To see the larger pics in all their glory, either click the "expand" icon on the gallery screen or right click and "open link in new tab".
Fine Art is a celebration of the work of video game artists. If you're in the business and have some concept, environment or character art you'd like to share, drop us a line!
You can contact Luke Plunkett, the author of this post, at plunkett@kotaku.com. You can also find him on Twitter, Facebook, and lurking around our #tips page.