Metallica aim to ‘cut through division and bring people together’ with new album

(Image credit: Anton Corbijn)

Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett says that the Californian metal superstars are aiming to heal a divided planet with their forthcoming eleventh studio album.

Speaking exclusively to Classic Rock, the 58-year-old guitarist says, “Metallica has always been about bringing people together through music. I think the sentiment now is that people need music more than ever to bring everyone together and collectively celebrate that we've got to this point. There's a lot of division in the world, and hopefully this Metallica album will cut through the division and bring people together in ways that are more beneficial for everyone over all.”

While the quartet are gearing up for the September release of a blockbuster reissue of their world-conquering self-titled fifth album, commonly known as ‘The Black Album’, work continues on piecing together ideas for the follow-up to 2016’s Hardwired… To Self Destruct.

“We've tried to make the most of the Covid year-and-a-half, and we've been pretty successful,” says Hammett. “We've got together remotely and worked, and we've got together [properly] and worked. Things are moving really well. I would say that the music we're coming up with is very appropriate for the times.”

“Music should bring everyone together, it should be a celebration,” the guitarist adds. “That's what music is about. It's not about selling albums or getting Grammys, it's about putting out good music and helping the situation with that music.”

In December, drummer Lars Ulrich told Classic Rock, in a slightly tongue-in-cheek manner, that Metallica album eleven would be the group’s would be their best one yet.

“It’s the heaviest thing, the coolest," Ulrich joked, riffing on familiar metal band boasts. "But all kidding aside, if it wasn’t because we thought that the best record was still ahead of us, then why keep doing it?

"In Metallica we love the creative process, and it’s hard for me to imagine that we’ll ever stop making records."

In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past three months, the band are set to reissue a remastered and hugely expanded version of ‘The Black Album’, and a 53-artist tribute album titled The Metallica Blacklist, on their own Blackened Recordings label on September 10.

‘The Black Album” remaster will be available in multiple configurations including 180 gram Double Vinyl LP, Standard CD and 3 CD Expanded Edition, digital, and Limited Edition Deluxe Box Set (containing the album remastered on 180G 2LP, a picture disc, three live LPs, 14 CDs (containing rough mixes, demos, interviews, live shows), 6 DVDs (containing outtakes, behind the scenes, official videos, live shows), a 120-page hardcover book, four tour laminates, three lithos, three guitar picks, a Metallica lanyard, a folder with lyric sheets, and a download card).

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