  We analyse high-field current fluctuations in metallic systems by direct
mapping of the Fermi-liquid correlations to the semiclassical nonequilibrium
state. We give three applications. First, for bulk conductors, we show that
there is a unique nonequilibrium analogue to the fluctuation-dissipation
theorem for thermal noise. With it, we calculate suppression of the excess
hot-electron term by Pauli exclusion. Second, in the degenerate regime, we
argue that shot noise and thermal noise are incommensurate. They cannot be
connected by a smooth, universal interpolation formula. This follows from their
contrasting responses to Coulomb screening. We propose an experiment to test
this mismatch. Third, we carry out an exact model calculation of high-field
shot noise in narrow mesoscopic wires. We show that a distinctive mode of
suppression arises from the structure of the semiclassical Boltzmann equation
in two and three dimensions. In one dimension such a mode does not exist.
