James Hetfield Says Metallica Have '800 Riffs' Ready for a New Album

James Hetfield Says Metallica Have ‘800 Riffs’ Ready for a New Album

2014-06-15

Story by Charles Ken

Metallica singer James Hetfield says the band has plenty of riffs and lyrical material ready for its next album

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recently said the band hopes to start recording a follow-up to 2008’s “Death Magnetic” in September, and now, frontman James Hetfield is weighing in on new music. According to Hetfield, the guys have hundreds of riffs ready to go, and it’s just about getting into the studio, going through those guitar lines, writing some lyrics and making things happen.

“We’ve got to sift through like 800 riffs and see what the best stuff is,” Hetfield told Live 105. “Lyrically, there is a lot to work off of the last six or seven years since the last record.”

He added, “We are constantly inspired by stuff — not just books or movies or thing like that but life happenings, being parents, things that happen in life. Lyrically, especially, comes from within. We’ve all learned a lot in our lives this past six years. That will show up in there.”

When asked about the band’s Orion Festival, which lasted two years, Hetfield said the multi-genre music festival was an adventure the guys tried that “didn’t seem to pan out.”

“We had a great time,” he said. “We had a blast at both of them and hopefully if you were there you were fortunate. I don’t know if it will happen in the states ever again. Who knows what will happen with that? Other things like going to Antarctica, playing in China for the first time, and continuing to do festivals and writing a new record. That is what is on the agenda.”

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Charles Ken

Meet the expert - Charles Ken is a graduate of Michigan State University where he studied writing and history. He's a longtime music buff and covers classic rock for Audio Ink Radio. Contact him at ken@audioinkradio.com.