At least one member of Metallica could be releasing new music soon

Yes, Metallica say they’ve at least maybe possibly thought about writing new music during lockdown. But given the epic eight-year gap between Death Magnetic and Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, there’s no guarantee it will actually materialise any time soon.

But it turns out one member of the band has been hard at work, and has four almost-finished songs to prove it. Guitarist Kirk Hammett has told Metallica fanclub magazine So What? that he has been working with S&M2 musical director Edwin Outwater and “a small chamber orchestra” on instrumental music inspired by his love of horror movies.

Saying the songs “feel like the best fucking things I've ever done”, Kirk revealed: "One of them is called High Plains Drifter and the other one's called The Incantation. They're not done yet. [They are] still in the rough mix stages. I mean, I have to get the rough mixes, but I have four tracks now. And the four tracks are like four different movies, man. They're not movie soundtracks; they're like movies. They tell a story."

He added that he intended to premiere the tracks with the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra later this year, before the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic scuppered his plans.

Metallica themselves are set to play a special acoustic charity show in their Californian HQ on November 14 to benefit their All Within My Hands charity. The performance will be streamed live on the day, in what will be the quartet’s first ever worldwide pay-per-view event.