Metallica have come closer than ever to locking in a commencement date for a brand-new album, with frontman James Hetfield revealing that the team will hopefully be hitting the studio early next year – and by the sounds of things they already have their work cut out for them.
Currently doing the press rounds in support of their maiden feature film Through The Never, Hetfield revealed to Oakland Press that the band have enough new riffage to sink a ship, and the legendary frontman is “itchin'” to get cracking on turning them into full tracks:
“I’m itchin’. We have tons of material to sift through. That takes a lot of time, because there’s a lot of great stuff. I know we only need a few songs, but there’s 800 riffs we’re going through. It’s kind of insane. We have sifted through a lot of the stuff and pulled the cream of the crop — it’s just sitting there waiting for us to take it to the next level.”
The band are busying themselves with less-than-conventional projects and, as Hetfield explains, multi-tasking is not their strong suit:
“I know we do need to decompress after this, get this [‘Through The Never’] film thing out of our systems. It’s taken up a lot of time and a lot of effort. We go full-throttle into something and multitasking is not what we’re after. So the next record will hopefully start some time in the spring [Australian autumn].”
As it turns out, successful albums aren’t the only thing Metallica have a knack for. The film has grossed a decent $2.724 million so far and Hetfield adds that he is keeping his expectations realistic, despite the initial success:
“I didn’t really have any huge expectations. I’m just excited to have the baby out of the womb and walking around now, finally, (after) two years at least with the process as it was — and having the idea for decades.
“As far as (box office) numbers coming back, management is certainly a little more focused on numbers and all of that and what it means. I don’t know much about the movie world. As an artist, I just like that the thing is out there. It’s exactly what we wanted, and we’re proud of it.”
The band financed the whole project with their own coin, pumping a solid $18 million into the film. Through The Never is in Australia cinemas now.
(Via Blabbermouth)
