HETFIELD: METALLICA Will 'Hopefully' Start Work On New Studio Album Next Spring

October 8, 2013

METALLICA frontman James Hetfield recently spoke to Gary Graff of Oakland Press about the progress of the songwriting sessions for the band's follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic".

"Hopefully [we will return to the studio] soon," Hetfield said. "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."

He added: "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."

Hetfield also weighed in on the box-office performance of "Metallica Through the Never", which has grossed $2.724 million so far, having moved to standard theaters last weekend after opening September 27 on IMAX screens.

"I didn't really have any huge expectations," Hetfield explained. "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."

Financed by the METALLICA members themselves at a budget of $18 million, "Metallica Through The Never" is the first new release via Picturehouse, the full-service independent film marketing and distribution company started in 2005, which reopened its doors with founder Bob Berney at the helm. The film's surreal narrative winds its way through the concert footage, in which a roadie played by Dane DeHaan finds himself in an increasingly hostile urban environment while on a mission for the band.

The soundtrack, which features a number of METALLICA classics performed live in the movie, was released on September 24. The two-disc CD came out on METALLICA's own label, Blackened Recordings, also in digital and vinyl formats.

Find more on Metallica
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • reddit
  • email

Comments Disclaimer And Information

BLABBERMOUTH.NET uses the Facebook Comments plugin to let people comment on content on the site using their Facebook account. The comments reside on Facebook servers and are not stored on BLABBERMOUTH.NET. To comment on a BLABBERMOUTH.NET story or review, you must be logged in to an active personal account on Facebook. Once you're logged in, you will be able to comment. User comments or postings do not reflect the viewpoint of BLABBERMOUTH.NET and BLABBERMOUTH.NET does not endorse, or guarantee the accuracy of, any user comment. To report spam or any abusive, obscene, defamatory, racist, homophobic or threatening comments, or anything that may violate any applicable laws, use the "Report to Facebook" and "Mark as spam" links that appear next to the comments themselves. To do so, click the downward arrow on the top-right corner of the Facebook comment (the arrow is invisible until you roll over it) and select the appropriate action. You can also send an e-mail to blabbermouthinbox(@)gmail.com with pertinent details. BLABBERMOUTH.NET reserves the right to "hide" comments that may be considered offensive, illegal or inappropriate and to "ban" users that violate the site's Terms Of Service. Hidden comments will still appear to the user and to the user's Facebook friends. If a new comment is published from a "banned" user or contains a blacklisted word, this comment will automatically have limited visibility (the "banned" user's comments will only be visible to the user and the user's Facebook friends).