METALLICA's HAMMETT Says New CD Sounds Like Cross Between 'Justice' And 'Black' Albums

NME TV sat down for a chat with METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett on Sunday, July 8 prior to the band's sold-out concert at Wembley Stadium in London, England. Watch the 10-minute interview at YouTube.

When asked how work is progressing on METALLICA's long-awaited new album, Hammett said, "It's coming along fairly well. We wrote 22 songs with the intention of recording 12 or 14, with the intention of putting maybe nine or ten on the new album, depending on how they all turn out once they're all finally recorded and mixed and done. The music is really heavy — surprise, surprise — very, very progressive; different from anything we've ever done before again. Yes, there are guitar solos. Yes, the production will be slightly better. We're using [producer] Rick Rubin [SLIPKNOT, AUDIOSLAVE, SLAYER, SYSTEM OF A DOWN, RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS]. We're not recording in HQ [the band's rehearsal studio/headquarters in San Rafael, California]; we're recording down in L.A. at a place called Sound City. And we're just about to finish the drums, the drumming aspect of it. And when we get back to the States, that's when Rob [Trujillo, bass], James [Hetfield, guitar/vocals] and I start playing our instruments and building tracks. We're all pretty psyched about it. The material, we feel, is very, very strong. I like that to think that it sits somewhere between '…And Justice For All' and the 'black' album — that little niche right there. And like I said, again, it's very, very different.

"We're actually shooting for an early 2008 release. I would be extremely surprised if it comes out sooner than that. But I would be extremely disappointed if it came out later than that, let's just say."

Sweden's TV4 interviewed METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich on Thursday (July 12) approximately two hours before the band's headlining performance at Stadion in Stockholm. Watch the 12-minute unedited question-and-answer session at this location.

When asked about METALLICA's upcoming CD, Ulrich replied, "It's the first time in almost 20 years that we're working with a producer other than Bob Rock. We're working with Rick Rubin, who's made records with everybody from the CHILI PEPPERS to JOHNNY CASH to SLIPKNOT to whatever… So we're excited to be working with a different producer. It's interesting, it's stimulating. The stuff that I've heard… [Laughs] … which is pretty much all of it, is very heavy, a little more dynamic than the last record, 'St. Anger', and I think that what he's really trying to do is capture an excitement and capture kind of a moment and trying to get us away from spending too much time thinking about what we're doing so he's trying to get us just to play in the studio. It sounds like it has a lot of energy and a lot of kid of good, energetic moments. But James [Hetfield] is gonna start singing in August and [we'll] do some overdubs. We're gonna spend another couple of months in the fall to finish the overdubs and we should hopefully mix the record by November and have it out in the early spring."

A soundboard recording of METALLICA's new track, tentatively dubbed "The Other New Song", recorded during the band's appearance on June 29, 2007 at the Bilbao BBK Live festival in in Bilbao, Spain has been posted at YouTube. METALLICA previously played the same track live on August 15, 2006 at Seoul Olympic Main Stadium in Seoul, South Korea (watch professionally filmed video footage with soundboard audio at this location).

A high-quality video clip of METALLICA performing the "first" new song during their headlining appearance at the Gelredome in Arnhem, Holland on June 8, 2006 as part of their "Escape From The Studio '06" European tour is available at YouTube.