HETFIELD: TRUJILLO Has Written More On New METALLICA Album Than NEWSTED Had In 14 Years

A five-minute interview with METALLICA guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield conducted yesterday (Wednesday, July 16) by VG TV at the opening show of the second leg of the band's European summer tour in Bergen, Norway can be viewed below. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

On the title of METALLICA's new album, "Death Magnetic":

James Hetfield: "'Death Magnetic', at least the title, to me, it's… It had something to do with… It started out as kind of a tribute to people that have fallen in our business, like Layne Staley [ALICE IN CHAINS] and a lot of the people that have died, basically — rock and roll martyrs of sorts. And then it kind of grew from there. Thinking about death… some people are drawn towards it, and just like a magnet, some people are drawn towards it, [and] other people are afraid of it and push away. And the concept that we're all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about — no one wants to bring it up; it's the big white elephant in the living room. But we all have to deal with it at some point. So that's kind of the subject matter."

On bassist Robert Trujillo's contributions to the new record and the band's overall sound:

James Hetfield: "I don't really have to say it, but I will — he's an amazing bass player; very competent. He can play pretty much anything we throw at him. Not only that, but obviously [Robert] playing with his fingers brings a fuller sound. He — and no disrespect to Jason [Newsted, Rob's predecessor in METALLICA] — but Rob has already written more on this album than Jason had in his whole 14 years. A lot of that had to do with us not being willing, and I totally understand that, but just his material seemed to gel better. It feels as though we've known him forever, basically, is what it feels like. And there's still times when I see him in pictures with us, and I go, 'Oh, yeah! He's in our band. Dude, we kick ass even more now.' It's a good feeling."

METALLICA has announced that every song on its upcoming album, "Death Magnetic", will be available to download for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock on the same date that the record arrives in stores, reports The Pulse of Radio. A post at the band's official web site stated, "It's a first in both music and gaming...The same day that 'Death Magnetic' hits the streets, you'll be able to download every song from the album for Guitar Hero III! We are so psyched that we'll be the first out of the gate with this simultaneous release...Who knows?! Maybe a few years from now this will be the norm when your favorite band's new record comes out."

The post added that "Death Magnetic" will also be available for the new World Tour edition of Guitar Hero, which is due out this fall.

Rumors of an all-METALLICA edition of Guitar Hero have been making the rounds recently, but the game's publishers have not confirmed this.

"Death Magnetic" is due out in September and was produced by METALLICA and Rick Rubin.

A deluxe box set edition of the album will be available in the U.S. The coffin box package will contain one CD featuring the album, another containing demos, a behind-the-scenes DVD, an exclusive T-shirt, a METALLICA flag, a collection of guitar picks, codes for a special live download and a poster.

The coffin box will only be available through Metallica.com, MetClub.com, and MissionMetallica.com.

Several other editions of "Death Magnetic" will also be offered for sale through the Mission: Metallica site, including an all-digital version and a high-end edition featuring five vinyl LPs and a lithograph.

METALLICA's next U.S. date is the one-day Ozzfest on August 9 in Dallas, with a full North American tour slated to begin in October.