METALLICA's ULRICH On New CD: 'The Results Have Been Better Than Good'

According to RollingStone.com, the 1991 multi-platinum LP "The Black Album" was the last METALLICA disc recorded outside their cozy confines in the Bay Area. With that in mind, producer Rick Rubin encouraged the guys to lay down new tracks in L.A. "Rick thought it'd be beneficial for the gang to get out of the comfort zone of our back yards," drummer Lars Ulrich tells RollingStone.com. "We've been tripping up and down to L.A. since April, and the results have been better than good." As of Thanksgiving, the only hurdles left are overdubs and James Hetfield's vocals. "That's it," says Ulrich. "We're very alive and well."

In the latest issue of the METALLICA Club (the group's official fan club) members-only magazine "So What!"METALLICA's James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich offer more insight into the songwriting process for the group's forthcoming album. "We don't want pretty good, we want excellent and [producer] Rick Rubin is getting us to try and achieve that," Hetfield is quoted as saying. "He's [Rick] very good at getting the essence of an artist out and bringing that back to the top again. It's the 'Master of Puppets' mentality again. You need to prove the world that you're good, you need to be hungry again — you need to [put on] a showcase that says, 'Here we are, just like the first time we did it.'"

Added Hammett: "It's about doing the best that you possibly can. I have difficulty wading through all the ideas because I'm biased — I think everything we do has a lot of merit to it. In that regard Rick Rubin is great because he will just say, 'Such and such a part is not good, so come up with something else.' He just leaves the problem up to us and we just solve it between ourselves without too much interference from his side, which is completely different from [longtime METALLICA producer] Bob Rock whose musical thinking would permeate the record. Rick Rubin leaves a lot of the musical problem solving to ourselves, which keeps it more pure."

Lars commented: "A lot of the work we did after the band nearly broke up [during the making of 2003's 'St. Anger'] was not going to be so evident on the record we made at the time, but more evident on the next record, which is the one weré making now. This has been a much more enjoyable experience, much more fun, creatively stimulating and working with Rick is helping a lot."

Ulrich told Examiner.com in October that the band's upcoming album will be "heavier" yet more "melodic" than "St. Anger". Ulrich explained, "Whereas 'St. Anger' was an exercise in over-pummeling the listener, these new songs echo some of our stuff from the '80s — long, epic journeys through different musical landscapes, heavier, but a lot more melodic." When asked whether the new songs will be shorter, in the four-to-five minute range, Ulrich said, "Well, the most of the intros are four to five minutes. I don't know — METALLICA and short songs just don't go that well together."

The new METALLICA album is tentatively due in the spring.