Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich sat down with Rollingstone.com yesterday (August 18th) to discuss the band’s newly announced album, “Hardwired…To Self-Destruct“. Ulrich revealed that while they will release the album on November 18th, recording and mixing for it are still underway:
“Rob [Trujillo] is still downstairs right now redoing the bass and one of the verses on one of the songs. People go, ‘What do you think of the record?’ And I don’t even know because it’s not even done yet. It’s been kind of a mindfuck this whole week.”
He later added:
“…We have all but one of the songs mixed and done. In the last two or three days, Greg [Fidelman] was going to mix the one called “Spit Out the Bone” – working title “CHI” – and all of a sudden Rob showed up in the control room yesterday to work on it. So what the fuck do I know? It’s pretty much done. We should have that last song mixed this weekend.”
In the eight years since “Death Magnetic” was released, the band have put out a number of reflective projects, including deluxe editions of their earlier albums. One of those albums in particular seems to have had an impact on the new album, with Ulrich offering of their 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All” in particular:
“I can’t say that there was a magical moment where we’re listening to ‘Metal Militia‘ and wrote a song. But we did play ‘Kill ‘Em All‘ in its entirety at the ‘Orion festival‘ in Detroit in 2013. That was the first time I really got into that record. Early on, I was dismissive of that record because ‘Ride The Lightning‘ and ‘Master Of Puppets‘ may be a little more intellectually stimulating and challenging – they were deeper records – and it wasn’t until 2013 when we played it that I realized ‘Kill ‘Em All‘ had a cohesiveness.
It had its own thing with the speed, but it’s simpler – the songs are longer but not quite as progressive. It’s a world all its own. And I think there are some elements of that that rubbed off into this. I’d say there’s a trace of residue from rediscovering ‘Kill ‘Em All‘ that crept into the songwriting.”
Lars had a lot more to say of the album to Rollingstone.com. Meanwhile, the band also have a pop up store opening up for a limited time today (August 19th) until 11pm and tomorrow, Saturday, August 20th, in Minneapolis, MN in celebration of their headlining set tomorrow at the US Bank Stadium in the city. Read on for details:
