METALLICA Has Close To 20 New Songs Written, Says LARS ULRICH

METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich tells RollingStone.com that the band has written close to 20 new songs for its new album, and will likely enter the pre-production recording phase in the near future.

"We are fucking in it," Ulrich says. "We've got lots of songs, and we're honing them and tweaking them. It's pretty close."

He continues: "In our world, there's been a distinct difference between the creative phase and the recording phase. With this project, we're trying to bridge the two a little more organically and not have there be such a great divide between the processes. We want to see if we can bring some of the creative curiosity, the impulsive stuff that happens when you're first playing a song into the studio.

"You want to tweak it and get it good, but you also want to record it in a way where it doesn't feel labored over and overthought. We're trying to figure out where that line is."

Ulrich adds: "The creative elements are getting close to being done," the drummer says. "Just remember, this is still 'METALLICA time.' When I say we're close to being done, it means the next month or so. There's a lot of stuff going on as life continues with family and personal events.... But we are certainly down there [writing] pretty much every day."

METALLICA's new studio album, its tenth, will follow up 2008's "Death Magnetic".

METALLICA bassist Robert Trujillo recently said about the long pre-production for the record, "Writing a METALLICA song is a journey and a process, and it takes time. But that's what's special about it. METALLICA likes to nurture a song."

METALLICA has spent a lot of time outside the studio in 2014, with activities that included a string of European all-request shows last summer, being guests of honor at a film festival, and playing a week-long residency on "The Late Show With Craig Ferguson".