Amy Lee of Evanescence shared the incredible experience she had with her son while the band opened for Metallica last year in Loudwire’s June digital cover story.

“They were so great, they were so gracious,” Lee said of Metallica, who took Evanescence on the road last November as an opening act during the Australian and New Zealand legs of their M72 world tour. “You never know how it’s going to be coming into somebody else’s world. It’s their show and you have full-on respect. It’s Metallica, we’ll back off. But also, like, can we have some good production? What exactly can we get away with and how nice will you be about it?”

As it turns out, metal’s biggest band was quite nice about everything.

“And they ended up being so cool,” Lee enthused. “They let me put our grand piano out on the Snake Pit and I could go for the couple of moments that I spend at the piano, just surrounded by the crowd.”

READ MORE: Amy Lee: Building a Sanctuary Through the Power of Music (Interview)

How Did Evanescence’s Tour With Metallica Impact Amy Lee’s Son?

Lee also discussed the value of sharing the experience with her son and the joy of bringing him into her world. “I got to bring my son, who’s 11 now — just at the perfect age to fall in love with metal,” she said. “Him getting to experience that in the stadium, rain gently starts falling during ‘Nothing Else Matters,’ I’m just watching his mind go like, ‘I’m in.’ It was such a good thing for my heart and took me back to being that age and falling in love with music.”

Evanescence will release their sixth album, Sanctuary, on Friday, marking their first full-length since 2021’s The Bitter Truth. They previewed the album with lead single “Who Will You Follow” in April.

“This album is over three years in the making and we are so damn proud of every second of it,” the band said on social media at the time of the announcement. “Hope you love it and can’t wait for you to hear it! HERE WE GO!!!”

See where we put Evanescence on our list of the 40 Best Rock Albums of the 2000s: