Metallica's James Hetfield guest appears on new Heart album

Heart have confirmed that Metallica frontman James Hetfield appears on their new album ‘Beautiful Broken’.

Set for release on 8th July, Ann and Nancy Wilson’s sixteenth studio record boasts three new tracks alongside seven “cherry picks” from their distinguished back catalogue that have been rerecorded and reimagined.  

Hetfield guest appears on a new version of the album title track ‘Beautiful Broken’, which first appeared as a bonus track on 2012’s ‘Fanatic.’

"It blows the previous version out of the water," says Nancy. "James just took the song on, and what he added was perfect with a bite and a rock accent."

The album was recorded at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles and produced by Nancy alongside Heart bassist Dan Rothchild with legendary arranger Paul Buckmaster adding strings.

Speaking of the reimagined tracks, which include ‘City's Burning’, ‘Down On Me’ and ‘Sweet Darlin', Rothchild said: "On these classics, some of which had suffered from eighties-era over-editing-production-curse, we stripped the paint off and found the beauty underneath."

Nancy added: "I felt these songs were poetic pieces that were lost in translation with the sounds of the eighties, which was harder and more digital. We wanted to drape them in velvet, and make them shine.

"There is really a seventies feel to this record both in the sound, and the way we got to the emotional core of each song. We picked songs that we always wanted to re-do, plus we've added three new tracks. On both new and old, we have the band playing together the way we used to. This is classic Heart."

Speaking about the new interpretation of 'Sweet Darlin', Nancy says: "To me the original sounded somehow incomplete. This version, with Buckmaster's strings, finishes the song properly, but it also showcases how Ann's voice has remained strong over the decades"

New songs include ‘I Jump’ and ‘Two’, which was penned by R&B singer Ne-Yo for a TV show Nancy’s husband Geoff was working on.

The full track-listing is as follows: 

Beautiful Broken (ft. James Hetfield)
Two
Sweet Darlin'
I Jump
Johnny Moon
Heaven
City’s Burning
Down on Me
One Word
Language of Love 

You can check watch the ‘Beautiful Broken’ teaser video here:

Heart play UK shows in Manchester, Glasgow, Birmingham and London’s Royal Albert Hall this summer. The last remaining Royal Albert Hall tickets are on sale from Planet Rock Tickets now.

The band are also the latest stars to feature on Planet Rock Plays It In Full! Ahead of their tour we’re asking you to vote for your favourite album by Heart that you would most like us to play from start to finish.

Cast your vote right here by Monday morning (20th June) and that very night at 11pm we’ll play the one with the most votes in its glorious, unadulterated entirety with NO interruptions, NO jingles and NO presenter.