Metallica’s James Hetfield delivers spoken word rendition of “One” for Apocalyptica collaboration

James Hetfield puts a different spin on Metallica‘s “One” in a new version of the song recorded with Apocalyptica.

The track finds Hetfield delivering the anti-war song’s lyrics in spoken word rather than singing them, bringing a haunting atmosphere to Apocalyptica’s cello-led rendition. It also features ‘Tallica bassist Robert Trujillo.

“For us, it is absolutely incredible that James and also Rob joined forces with us,” Apocalyptica says. “We used everything at our disposal to make it as bombastic as possible with James Hetfield narrating the story with those poetic lyrics! We wanted it to be powerful, touching and breathtaking.”

You can listen to Apocalyptica’s “One” featuring Hetfield now via digital outlets and watch its accompanying video streaming now on YouTube. It’ll also appear on Apocalyptica’s upcoming album, Plays Metallica Vol. 2, due out June 7.

Plays Metallica Vol. 2 is the sequel to Apocalyptica’s 1996 debut album, Plays Metallica by Four Cellos, which introduced their unique brand of cello metal.