Metallica Explain Meaning Behind Death Magnetic Title

Metallica have revealed why their new album is titled 'Death Magnetic', after announcing the tracklisting recently and unveiling the artwork.

Frontman James Hetfield says of the name: "It started out as kind of a tribute to people that have fallen in our business, like Layne Staley [Alice In Chains frontman] and a lot of the people that have died, basically - rock and roll martyrs of sorts. And then it kind of grew from there."

"Thinking about death...just like a magnet, some people are drawn towards it," continued Hetfield, "other people are afraid of it and push away."

"The concept that we're all gonna die sometimes is over-talked about and then a lot of times never talked about - no one wants to bring it up; it's the big white elephant in the living room. But we all have to deal with it at some point."

Metallica release 'Death Magnetic' on September 22nd.