Front man James Hetfield in Brioni (Photo: Metallica/Brioni)

Metallica have always been unpredictable as far as metal gods go, from cutting their long hair back in the '90s to working with a therapist in the Some Kind of Monster documentary. The Bay Area thrash pioneers' latest surprise move is joining the ad campaign for Italian men's luxury line Brioni. In the black t-shirt wearing and tatted-up world of metal, such an unorthodox move is, well, actually pretty metal.

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The band. (Photo: Metallica/Brioni)

Business of Fashion reports that the band's role in the high-end label's campaign was the work of Brioni creative director Justin O'Shea, who directed the Queen-inspired shoot to promote a Paris Fashion Week show with photographer Zackery Michael. BoF gushes that O'Shea created something "likely to create ripples throughout the luxury industry for completely ditching the previous Brioni identity, with it's elegant red scripted logo and minimalist art direction."

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Metallica rocking James Bond-style looks. (Photo: Metallica/Brioni)

Call us crazy, but the collision between metal icons and high fashion in this setting works much better than anyone might anticipate. However, BoF's statement that this "unlikely pairing of heavy metal and classic Italian tailoring, along with the ad’s art direction" may be polarizing has some truth to it—among rock and roll fans as well as devotee's to Brioni's classic rep and timeless look.

Lars Ulrich. (Photo: Metallica/Brioni)

The great thing about metal is the guys in Metallica are probably okay with their Brioni collab pissing some people off. That's sort of how this works. In the photo above we feel like Lars Ulrich is just saying, "fine, whatever, just don't try to download my music or get these suits for free."

h/t Metallica.com, Business of Fashion