Metallica Mixing New Album, James Hetfield Guests on New Heart Song—Hear Clip

Metallica announce that they’ve begun mixing their new album, the highly anticipated follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic. While the group has yet to share a preview from the record, we do have a sneak preview of Metallica guitarist James Hetfield’s guest appearance on Heart’s forthcoming album.

Hetfield contributes vocals to the tune “Beautiful Broken,” the title track from Heart’s new album, which comes out July 8. You can hear the teaser below. Hetfield comes in at the 0:17 mark.

Metallica are currently aiming for a 2016 release of their new album, though drummer Lars Ulrich says the date could be moved back even if the album is completed. “If the record doesn’t come out this year, then it won’t be because it’s not done,” he says. “It will be because there’s some sort of cosmic reason that it would be smarter to hold onto it until next year. But the record will be done this summer.”

Writer Dan Nykolayko broke the news that Metallica were mixing the album while interviewing Hetfield and Ulrich about the 20th anniversary of Load. “I managed to corner Lars and James at HQ before they locked themselves in the control room with Greg Fidelman to start mixing the new album,” Nykolayko says.

Ulrich told Metal Forces magazine this past May that the group was wrapping up the album’s recording sessions. “We’re now coming towards the end of the musical creative process and we’re starting to look ahead and the process of how we’re gonna share this record with the universe,” he said. “The month of June is basically when we’re gonna sit down and figure what we’re gonna do with it all; what we’re gonna call it and what’s gonna be on it.”