Speaking with So What!, the Metallica fan magazine, frontman James Hetfield addressed the controversy surrounding the lack of bass on the ... And Justice For All album. Following is an excerpt from the conversation.

Hetfield: "We wanted it fucking tight. That's what we wanted. We wanted the snare, we wanted the guitar, we wanted everything up front and in your face and really tight, and we thought we got it. And, you know, we kinda know what we want to sound like. Can we sit behind a desk and make it happen? No. We ask people to do it, and they do it. So (Steve) Thompson (engineer) did his job. He's got nothing to apologize for or point fingers at. No one's to blame for 'something.' It is a piece of art. It happened and it ended up the way it is for a reason, and for reasons we were just talking about. We were burnt. We're traveling, we're playing a gig, our ears were fried. We were not sleeping. He doesn't need to defend himself. He was a part of an awesome album in history, so I think he should be maybe be a little easier on himself."

Go to this location to join the So What! fan magazine and read the complete interview.

According to CTV News, Vancouver Island woman credits Metallica for saving her life, and in the surprise of a lifetime, she got to personally thank the lead vocalist himself.

A couple of weeks ago, Denise Gallant was walking her dog on a logging road south of Duncan when she felt something following them. It turned out to be a cougar. She did everything she could to scare it off, including making herself appear big and shouting. But when that failed and the big cat continued to stalk her, she went through her iTunes and began blasting Metallica's "Don't Tread On Me".

“The first three, four notes of the intro and he was just gone,” Gallant told CTV News last week.

The story caught the attention of media outlets from around the globe and it eventually piqued the interest of the band itself. It started with lead guitarist Kirk Hammett posting an article about Gallant's story on his Facebook page. Then she got a call from the band's liaison before the long weekend, saying somebody would be in touch with her. But she said she never could've anticipated who was going to be on the other line.

Read more at CTV News, and watch the video report below: