METALLICA is scheduled to enter the studio in September to begin work on its next full-length album, tentatively due in 2013. The CD will once again be helmed by producer Rick Rubin, who worked on 2008's "Death Magnetic".

METALLICA's drummer, Lars Ulrich, took part in a conference call with reporters on Tuesday (July 24) to promote the band's headlining appearance at the 2012 edition of Outside Lands festival, and he revealed that will be no shortage of material when studio album number 10 does get underway. He explained, "Every time [METALLICA frontman] James Hetfield picks up a guitar, there are some brilliant riffs that come out of it, and I try to make sure that they are all recorded and try to do my best to keep up with them and try to put some drums in behind them. So there are, obviously, tons of ideas sitting around waiting to be had at in terms of turning ideas of James' into songs. Pretty much when we're done with the [3D] movie [project] and with Outside Lands, which should all be wrapped up by early September, we're gonna basically just concentrate on new music and try to get another METALLICA record [done] will be the priority. I mean, it's an amazing thing, 31 years into a career, to be able to be as busy as we are and for people to give a shit."

Hetfield himself told The Pulse Of Radio that he's always working on music. "I can't turn off the creative part of me, which is — what a great gift," he said. "There's stuff coming out all the time, whether it's in the tuning room, in my hotel room, sitting at home with the acoustic, wherever. The stuff is coming out, and it gets recorded or written down or something, some way, and it'll come out at some point. Whether it's on this album, the next album, who knows."

"Death Magnetic" was METALLICA's last under its contract with Warner Music Group — where the band has been making records since 1984.

Hetfield told The Pulse Of Radio about the end of the band's contract with Warner, "It's kind of a good feeling to feel that you're free from any piece of paper that binds you to something. But over our career, we've learned a lot about record companies, the goods and evils of the business and this and that, and we're not very focused on that right now. It is what it is, and when it becomes time for us to either renegotiate or shop around or do things ourselves or something like that, we don't know. There's nothing but options, which is great."

METALLICA's 3D movie begins filming later this summer and will mix concert footage with a storyline.

The band is financing the project itself and has hired "Predators" director Nimród Antal to get behind the camera. Antal will film METALLICA's August 24 concert in Vancouver, Canada for use in the movie.

The show will feature a brand new 140-foot-by-50-foot stage that will include what a post at the band's web site called "colossal components and striking visual elements spanning METALLICA's entire 30-year career."

Photo below courtesy of Metallica.com