Last week, when we sent our cameras to the set of Metallica's forthcoming video for their track "The Day That Never Comes," we were greeted by a band that seemed genuinely happy — not the same contentious group we saw in 2004's "Some Kind of Monster."

And the difference, it seems, is bassist Robert Trujillo.

Not only does Trujillo sometimes play referee between frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich, he also pitches in with his own ideas, coming through in the clutch when the band gets stuck during the songwriting and recording process. Hetfield praised Rob's skills when we asked him what it was like working with the band's newest member on Death Magnetic, which hits stores September 12.

"If someone had said 10, 15 years ago that this dude was going to be in my band, I would have said no way," Hetfield said. "In the studio — and no offense towards Jason — but Rob has already contributed more to this record than [Jason Newsted] did in 14 years. A lot of it did have to do with our fear of losing some kind of control, no doubt about that. But Rob has slipped in somehow easier."

Perhaps the real difference for Metallica isn't Trujillo's presence but the former bassist's absence. Check out the full story here.

By Todd Brown

Yesterday afternoon I drove an hour north of Los Angeles into the desert to the set of Metallica's "The Day That Never Comes" video shoot. The location is designed to look like someplace in the Middle East, and when we arrived, the crew was filming a scene wherein U.S. Marines were apparently negotiating a situation involving a Middle Eastern man, his burka-clad wife and a broken-down Yugo.

This was day one of a two-day epic video shoot that, according to James Hetfield, has to do with humanity and forgiveness. From what I witnessed, it looks more like a short film than a video, and it's certainly timely given the current global situation. However, both James and Lars were adamant that they are not making a political statement about the war but instead trying to bring together people of different political views and religions, and focus on humanity. Regardless, the video has action, soldiers, explosions, wounded men and a helicopter. Read more...