In an interview with Alive & Streaming, Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser talked about the time he was auditioned for Metallica to take the band’s frontman James Hetfield‘s place for a short period of time.

As you might remember, Metallica’s iconic vocalist James Hetfield was involved in a number of onstage accidents back in the 1990s. During the ‘Guns N’ Roses/Metallica Stadium Tour‘ in 1992, Hetfield was the victim of an accident during the song ‘Fade to Black’, in which a pyrotechnic charge reacted.

The reaction struck his left side, burning his hand, arm, eyebrows, face and hair. Although, he was suffered from second and third-degree burns, James was back on stage 17 days later.

In a recent conversation with Alive & Streaming, Sepultura guitarist Andreas Kisser talked about his audition to fill in for James Hetfield during the period of his recovery.

Initially, Kisser mentioned how much he loved Metallica’s music and stated he and Sacred Reich’s Phil Rind defended the band when some people criticized their latest performances:

“What a privilege, man. Phil Rind from Sacred Reich, very good friends from Jason Newsted. And me and Phil Rind, of course, were good friends – Sacred Reich and Sepultura were touring together during ‘Arise’ – and we love Metallica.

Me and Phil, we always loved Metallica. I remember we were the only ones, maybe, that were defending the ‘Black Album’ when it came out… The more ‘thrashy’ people went, ‘Ah, Metallica sold out.’ Whatever. And me and Phil were always defending Metallica.”

Furthermore, Andreas described his unforgettable experience of being auditioned for Metallica by stating:

“Phil Rind knew that I could play a lot of Metallica, but to play with Metallica is something else. It was, like, the pressure… And it’s so different, of course.

Jason Newsted, of course, called me. ‘Hey, we are in Denver, Colorado. We have the setup here at the arena. And we are trying out everyone – Metallica cover bands and friends and everything,’ which I thought was fantastic.

Metallica is huge because they are huge in every respect – their attitude. They really looked for every type of possibility. Even myself, a guitar player from Brazil. I took the plane by myself with my Charvel guitar. I went to Colorado. There was a limousine waiting for me with my name, and then I went straight to the arena to the practice room.

Kisser continued:

“The first one I saw was Kirk Hammett: ‘Hey, you came from Brazil. Are you all right, man?’ And then I was listening to some guys playing, and I was next. I came in, and I played so calm.

It was so weird. Because they really let me feel at home. And I played ‘Enter Sandman,’ I think, was the first one. And it was perfect. Even the crew people said, ‘Wow! We were listening from outside. We felt that the band was doing the practice.’

And then I stayed for the final, for the next day. It was me and John Marshall only, which I felt was a big victory for me, even though I didn’t get the job. But the songs from the ‘Black Album’ were still very new for me. ‘The Unforgiven,’ a lot of details that I didn’t know how to perform and stuff. And John Marshall was ready – an American, and they’re all friends and stuff.

But they actually had a meeting after the rehearsals. So it was really close – it was really, really close that I didn’t get the possibility to tour with them and Guns N’ Roses. And Faith No More was opening; the tour was amazing. But it was one of the best experiences of my life. And still, nowadays, we’re friends. It’s fantastic.”

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