Metallica Contributing to Dio and Deep Purple Tribute Albums

The loss of vocalist Ronnie James Dio to stomach cancer in 2010 still stings the hearts of metal fans, including that of the mighty Metallica. The band plans to be involved in the upcoming Dio ribute album, which will also feature Anthrax, Rob Halford and more. It turns out that Metallica even contacted Dio’s widow directly in order to get the ball rolling on their participation.

“We reached out to Wendy Dio about wanting to be a part of the Dio tribute that’s getting put together,” frontman James Hetfield told Metal Hammer. “We’re very honored to be a part of that, and to be a part of a celebration of Ronnie’s life and his great contribution, man.”

Drummer Lars Ulrich also chimed in, declaring, “We’re definitely looking to do the record Wendy’s putting together for Ronnie.”

A Dio tribute is not all that Metallica are involved in on the memorial front. Ulrich revealed, “We were asked if we’d contribute to the anniversary of [classic Deep Purple album] ‘Machine Head,’ too – we can’t turn that down. We’re circling the Dio and Purple catalogs and hopefully we’ll come up with something that is worthy of these wonderful men.”

Something tells us that won’t be any sort of a problem.

‘Tallica doing Dio and Deep Purple? Bring it on!