"Ronnie's music, and what he was, was part of my life," drummer Lars Ulrich tells Rolling Stone. "[Dio's] music is so much a part of what's in Metallica's DNA, the harder, edgier, blues-based hard rock from the Seventies. It was fairly effortless to put this together, because it's something that we were all reared on. I don't recall sitting there in a band meeting or anything deciding what to play. Somebody starts playing 'Stargazer' - which is sort of just like something that's in our arsenal to jam - and then that whole period there, 'Tarot Woman,' 'Kill the King,' 'A Light in the Black ' - that's just really effortless to jump into."

In addiiton to Metallica, "This Is Your Life" features newly-recorded covers of the singer's work with Rainbow, Black Sabbath and Dio by Motorhead, the Scorpions, Rob Halford of Judas Priest, Tenacious D, Anthrax, Halestorm, Corey Taylor and others.

Dio himself is featured on the album's final song, "This Is Your Life." Originally released on 1986's "Angry Machines", the singer is accompanied only by his longtime keyboardist Scott Warren on piano.