METALLICA's JAMES HETFIELD On New Album: 'The Direction Is Embracing Our Past In The Now'

May 15, 2008

RollingStone.com conducted an interview with METALLICA frontman James Hetfield on Wedneday (May 14),a few hours before the band's performance at the Wiltern Theater in Los Angeles. A couple of excerpts from the chat follow.

RollingStone.com: Does the new METALLICA album have a title yet?

Hetfield: It's got a title and we're still playing with it to see if we like it. But I guess the album's done. It's still got to be mixed. All the singing, all the recording is pretty much done. And we're pleased with it.

RollingStone.com: What brought you to Rick Rubin?

Hetfield: It was time to get a fresh set of ears. Bob Rock has done amazing stuff with us. It got a little comfortable. Maybe the fire wasn't there as much, in our viewpoint. Bob is a great person, a great friend. I feel extremely safe and comfortable with him, and maybe that wasn't what we needed to feel on this. We needed to argue a bit. We needed to get shaken up a little bit. That's what the mission was.

RollingStone.com: Did you always agree with what Rubin had to say?

Hetfield: Definitely not. But I was very willing to look at it and try it. If he's suggesting it, there's a reason behind it. And most times it was better, sometimes it was not. We like to be open, but there are times when we just know we're right and it's as simple as that. It wasn't head-butting like in the past, but there was some negotiating going on.

RollingStone.com: What was the idea behind making this album?

Hetfield: The direction is embracing our past in the now. We know what we know. It's hard to erase that. But to strip it down again, and get back to why we're doing this? Why did we write songs that way? The template was "Master of Puppets" and the strength of that record. How can we do that now?

RollingStone.com: You still see that album as a high mark for the band?

Hetfield: Oh definitely, no doubt about that. Hopefully this will be another one. We feel this record is really good, especially after "St. Anger". It was very one-dimensional and abusive to the listener. That was the anger coming out. And if you weren't feeling that, it didn't feel so good. But this one is a lot more moody. We a lot of things I think make a diverse and interesting record.

Read the entire interview at RollingStone.com.

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