They Surprised Me And Made Me Smile

In a recent episode of The Metallica Report, frontman James Hetfield shared his thoughts on recent music that has caught his attention.

He discussed his struggles with falling into algorithmic music recommendations, admitting: “As far as new music goes… Let’s see. I flipped through Sirius XM satellite radio a bunch. I mean, it’s just so easy to go on to your playlist and listen to the same stuff over and over. And if I’m not listening to the radio of some sort where someone else is in control, I’m not learning new stuff so much. I don’t like getting caught in that rabbit hole: ‘If you like this, you might like this.’ And then sometimes that works. Sometimes it doesn’t. That’s a computer telling me what I might like.”

However, a chance encounter while listening to satellite radio really caught his attention: “But listening to the radio, I guess the newest thing that I was surprised by and really made me smile was Category 7, a band that’s kind of a collaboration of few people. I was listening to it, I’m going, ‘That voice is awesome. And it sounds very familiar.'”

Hetfield was particularly excited to discover that the vocalist of Category 7 was none other than John Bush from Armored Saint, who Metallica had once considered as their singer before Hetfield took on the role permanently. Reflecting on this, James said, “It was fricking John Bush, our singer that we never got,” he laughed.

Category 7 features a powerhouse lineup, including Bush on vocals, guitarists Phil Demmel (Kerry King, ex-Vio-Lence) and Mike Orlando (ex-Adrenaline Mob), bassist Jack Gibson (Exodus), and drummer Jason Bittner (Overkill, Shadows Fall).

James expressed his enthusiasm for the band’s work, noting: “So I heard one song on the radio, and that’s it. And it was great. It was really good. And I’m glad that John has kind of gone out on his own and done his own thing. And he was so, so, so tied to Armored Saint and then the Anthrax thing. Yeah, it’s exciting.”

Category 7‘s debut album is available for pre-order here.