Metallica’s Kirk Hammett has been hard at work. Fresh off the release of a new coffee-table book showcasing his guitar collection, Hammett has revealed that he’s prepping his first full-length solo album, and that he has over 700 riffs stockpiled for Metallica’s next LP.
“I’m just actively getting ideas together for my [first] solo album,” he told Rolling Stone in a new interview. “I guess the best way to describe it is it’s gonna be a fusion of all sorts of styles…. All of a sudden I’m writing classical progressions, and all of a sudden I’m writing more heavy stuff and all of a sudden I’m writing like a funk thing….”
Hammett released the Portals EP, back in 2022. While that four-song release included instrumental pieces, the forthcoming full-length will feature vocals, though Hammett hasn’t settled on any singers just yet.
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“There will be vocals because the songs that I wrote scream for vocals this time around,” he said. “So I’m like, okay, who’s gonna be doing the vocals? I don’t know. I hope I’m not — I already have too much to do onstage”
Meanwhile, Hammett — a notorious riff hoarder — has precisely 767 riffs stored up for Metallica’s follow-up to 72 Seasons. The guitarist said that the band plans to “take a little bit of a break, not too much of one” after their touring commitments, “and then we’re gonna get right back into it.” He also revealed that Metallica could dip back into their ’90s “Alternica” sound for the new record.
“I have 767 new ones for the next album,” he said of his riff stash. “It is such a nightmare going through this stuff, too. And I’m the one responsible for all of it and I can’t do it…. I don’t foresee us starting the next album for at least another year because we’re still finishing the 72 Seasons tour.”
Regarding the direction of the new album, he added: “We might just say, ‘Okay, let’s go back to the ’90s again.’ It’s not a bad idea! We haven’t said that to each other yet. And it’s interesting because when Load and Reload came out, there was a lot of backlash. But nowadays I run into fans and they love that era. We play ‘Fuel’ and people go nuts. We play ‘Until It Sleeps’ and people know every word.”
Metallica are just under a month away from kicking off the 2025 North American leg of their “M72 Tour.” Get tickets here.
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