Frontman James Hetfield has pumped the brakes on intensifying rumours of Metallica’s next album coming together. In a recent interview with That’s Entertainment, Hatfield revealed that Metallica is yet to begin writing and is still only in the ideas phase:
“We haven’t even started writing it. We’re going through riffs. We have, like, 800-and-something riffs we’re going through — lots of ideas. We’re really excited about it.
“But doing concerts here and there, trying to get back in the studio and get some stuff done, it’s all really exciting. But it gets done on Metallica time, which is not really scheduled. When it’s done, it’s done. Well, when it’s good, then it will be done.”
Hetfield’s comments backed up previous comments by Lars Ulrich, who recently told South Africa’s Channel24 that the follow-up to 2008s Death Magnetic remains well off in the distance and is unlikely to be released in the next 12 months:
“It would surprise me if the next full-length Metallica record would come out before 2015.”
Hetfield’s and Ulrich’s latest comments contradict an earlier comment made by Lars, when the drummer said Metallica were in the middle of recording their next album. At the time Lars was speaking on the difficulty of following up Death Magnetic.
“Obviously Death Magnetic was very positively received all over the world and I’m thankful for that. We’re now in the middle of making a new record, and so when you make a new record, you have a tendency to revisit the one you made previously, and I’ve heard a little bit of Death Magnetic over the last couple of months and it still sounds fantastic, so it will be a difficult record to follow.”
LIES! Looks like we’ll be waiting a fair while for Metallica’s 10th studio album. On the plus side, Metallica are releasing SOME things to keep fans happy – they recently launched a new pinball game and have a 3D movie, titled Metallica Through The Never, in the pipeline. The film comes out Stateside 9th August. No word yet when the film will hit local cinemas.
Watch: Metallica’s James Hetfield – That’s Entertainment Interview
