He tells Billboard: "Increasingly in our career, absolutes don't play a role. The minute we have a conversation about 'what does the fan want?' we stop ourselves, because it's a lost cause. If you put 20 Metallica fans around this table, they're going to tell you 20 different things.

"We really turn the conversation inward: 'What are we comfortable with? Is this something we feel we can get behind?' It's not about selling out, but whether it's selling our souls. As you lay in bed every night, you ask yourself, 'Do I feel good about the choices I made?'"