Lee was asked about the rumor in a new interview with Noisey and explained the situation as follows, "There was some discussion with [drummer Lars Ulrich], back in the day, about working with them. This was before Master of Puppets came out, I think?

"There was talk, you know. I was friends with their management, and I met Lars back in England. I remember going to see them here in Toronto when they played at the Masonic Temple.

"That's when the original bass player [Cliff Burton] was still happening. You know, before that tragedy. And, you know, we talked about it, and I liked their band a lot at that time. But it just never came together."

While "Master Of Puppets" stands as one of the seminal albums in heavy metal and thrash history, Lee also explained his view of metal, which might not have been a good fit for Metallica at that point in their career.

He said, "I don't listen to a lot of metal. Even though there's an aspect of our sound that can be quite metal, I sort of attribute it more to early metal, in the way that Zeppelin were metal and in the way that Black Sabbath were metal, and Blue Cheer were metal.

"And that's the sort of tradition of metal that we took on. I like Metallica. I've got great respect for them. But you won't hear too much speed metal or death metal in my house." Read the full feature - here.

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