This New Band Has Earned METALLICA’s JAMES HETFIELD Praise: “They Surprised Me and Made Me Smile””That voice is awesome. And it sounds very familiar.”

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

Hetfield spoke candidly about his struggles with algorithmic music recommendations, admitting, “As far as new music goes… Let’s see. I flipped through Sirius XM satellite radio a bunch. I meаn, 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 on satellite radio recently caught his attention. Hetfield recounted, “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 a few people. I was listening to it, and 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. Reflecting on this, he said, “It was fricking John Bush, our singer that we never got,” he laughed.

Category 7 boasts a powerhouse lineup, featuring 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. He was so, so, so tied to Armored Saint and then the Anthrax thing. Yeah, it’s exciting.”