METALLICA Fans Are 'Digging The Vibe' Of The New Songs, Says ROBERT TRUJILLO

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo was recently interviewed by Mistress Carrie of the Worcester/Boston, Massachusetts radio station WAAF. You can now listen to the chat below.

Speaking about the response to songs that have already been released from METALLICA's upcoming album, "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", Robert said: "I think whenever you're releasing something new and testing it out in the universe, in the world, you would hope that people embrace what you've done creatively. So we always feel good when people like what we do, and if they don't, we get over it; we have to. But it seems like already, with the three songs that have been released, there's been really, really good, positive feedback and they're digging the vibe, so it makes us happy."

In other news, METALLICA frontman James Hetfield was asked in a new interview with TeamRock what he thinks late bassist Cliff Burton might have thought about the drastic changes in its look and sound that METALLICA made through the 1990s and early 2000s with albums like "Load", "Reload" and "St. Anger". Hetfield replied: "Well, I certainly would have thought there would have been some resistance, for sure. I think the 'Black Album' was a great album and I appreciate the fact that we did have the balls to do that… I would certainly think that the 'Load' and 'Reload' [era], I would have had an ally that was very against it all — the reinvention or the U2 version of METALLICA."

Asked if Hetfield was personally comfortable with the more "alternative" image and music METALLICA made on those albums, the singer/guitarist replied: "No, no, not at all. There’s some great, great songs on there but my opinion is that all of the imagery and stuff like that was not necessary. And the amount of songs that were written was… it diluted the potency of the poison of METALLICA. And I think Cliff would have agreed with that."

Following the "Load"/"Reload" albums and tour, METALLICA went into a tailspin that resulted in the exit of bassist Jason Newsted, Hetfield spending the better part of a year in rehab and the band nearly splitting up.

About the album that emerged from that period, 2003's "St. Anger", Hetfield said, "It's more of a statement than an album… Sonically, it sounds fragmented, which is exactly where we were at the point. But in that fragmentation, it brought us together. So it was a very necessary piece of the puzzle to get us where we are today."

Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio a while back about one aspect of "St. Anger" that always bothered him. "Well, my hindsight is somewhat similar to what it was in the studio, which is I feel the songs were a little too long, and I wish they weren't that long," he said. "But, you know, live, when we play them, we can always shorten them."

METALLICA returned to a heavier style more reminiscent of its early albums on 2008's "Death Magnetic", while its new disc, "Hardwired... To Self-Destruct", arrives next week.