Hammett hails ‘powerful’ Meshuggah

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has called his recent appearance on stage with Meshuggah an “amazing experience.”

He played with the Swedish outfit on their track Bleed at the RockBar Theatre in San Jose during the guitarist’s annual horror-themed Fear FestEvil earlier this week.

He tells SiriusXM (via Blabbermouth): “I could feel the power behind me. It was kind of like being in front of a locomotive and the only way to keep in front of that locomotive is to just play my ass off and keep up with it.

“I’ve jammed with a lot of people and I’ve jammed with a lot of bands, but that was so unique. It was amazingly powerful and an amazing experience.”

Meanwhile, his Metallica bandmate Lars Ulrich joined Royal Blood on stage in San Francisco on Wednesday night. He guested behind the kit for Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher’s Out Of The Black.

This month, Hammett reported that some of the material on their upcoming 10th album was “a bit more progressive” than their previous work.

Metallica will headline this year’s Reading and Leeds on August 29 and release 1982 demo No Life ’Til Leather on tape to mark Record Store Day this weekend.

Scott Munro
Louder e-commerce editor

Scott has spent 35 years in newspapers, magazines and online as an editor, production editor, sub-editor, designer, writer and reviewer. Scott joined our news desk in the summer of 2014 before moving into e-commerce in 2020. Scott keeps Louder’s buyer’s guides up to date, writes about the best deals for music fans, keeps on top of the latest tech releases and reviews headphones, speakers, earplugs and more for Louder. Over the last 10 years, Scott has written more than 11,000 articles across Louder, Classic Rock, Metal Hammer and Prog. He's previously written for publications including IGN, Sunday Mirror, Daily Record and The Herald, covering everything from daily news and weekly features, to tech reviews, video games, travel and whisky. Scott's favourite bands are Fields Of The Nephilim, The Cure, New Model Army, All About Eve, The Mission, Cocteau Twins, Drab Majesty, The Tragically Hip, Marillion and Rush.