Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo will provide vocals for the band for the very first time on brand new track You Must Burn!

Rob Trujillo on stage in 2016

(Image credit: Getty)

Metallica bassist Rob Trujillo has revealed that he will be providing recorded vocals for the metal legends for the very first time on the band’s new album 72 Seasons, twenty years after he first joined the fold.

Speaking to Metallica fanzine So What!, the 58-year-old metal legend says: “When I joined Metallica, I’d never sung in my whole life, so the fact that I can now support a backup vocal is pretty cool. For the first time in my life, I get to sing on a Metallica record and support James [Hetfield, Metallica frontman]. I’m very proud of that.

Robert Trujillo Sings on Metallica Song for 1st Time on New Album
“It’s the first time that James and Greg [Fidelman, 72 Seasons producer] had probably ever really trusted me with that position on a recording of this stature,” he adds. “I was surprised when I got the call from Greg because I was coming up to play a little bass, but then he said, ‘I’m going to have you sing on a couple things, too.’ And I was, like, ‘Really?’ I got a little nervous. At the same time, I was very motivated. Fortunately for me, the part really does suit my comfort zone, so to speak. The vibe and the interesting — I don’t know, I wouldn’t say the ‘quality’ in what I had to offer, but the part lends itself to my personality, to my voice, and it sits and slots in really well with the moment and bass breakdown.”

The song in question, titled You Must Burn!, is yet to be released from the record, meaning Metallica fans may have to wait until the album’s official release date of April 14 to hear Trujillo finally make his official singing debut with the band (though he has provided backing vocals at Metallica shows for years).

Speaking late last year about the concept behind the record, James Hetfield explained: “72 seasons… The concept that we were told ‘who we are’ by our parents. A possible pigeonholing around what kind of personality we are. I think the most interesting part of this is the continued study of those core beliefs and how it affects our perception of the world today. Much of our adult experience is reenactment or reaction to these childhood experiences. Prisoners of childhood or breaking free of those bondages we carry.”

Metallica will support the album with a world tour, including two headline sets at this year’s Download Festival.