Metallica's next album to be released online?

Metallica are considering releasing their next album online, but drummer Lars Ulrich says it might be a while coming.

The band recently came to the end of their record deal following the September release of 'Death Magnetic', and are weighing up all the options, which could include a regular label release.

"We're free of our record contract," Ulrich told Rolling Stone. "We have that element of complete freedom with the next record, so we can do whatever we want. We could do an Internet thing or even put it on Andy Greene's record label."

Despite the fact that 'Death Magnetic' was well-received, the band are in no rush to churn out another album anytime soon.

"I wouldn't hold my breath for another Metallica record," Ulrich said. "I'm still decompressing and coming down from the whole experience of the last one, but if we spit one out every four or five years that's not so bad."

As previously reported, earlier this month Ulrich made $13.5 million after selling a Basquiat painting at Christie's in New York.

Metallica's new album to be released online?

Metallica are considering releasing their new album online, but drummer Lars Ulrich says that their next record might be a while coming.

The band recently came to the end of their record deal, and are weighing up all the options, which could include a regular label release.

“We’re free of our record contract,” Ulrich told Rolling Stone. “We have that element of complete freedom with the next record, so we can do whatever we want. We can mix it as ridiculously loud as we want to, fans be damned! We could do an Internet thing or even put it on Andy Greene’s record label.”

Metallica to begin work on a new album in 2011

Metallica have revealed they will begin work on a new album in 2011.

Drummer Lars Ulrich admits the group "really want to begin writing" the follow-up to 2008's 'Death Magnetic'.

"There's a bunch of balls in the air for 2011," he told Pulse of Radio. "But I think the main one is we really want to get back to writing again. We haven't really written since, what, 2006, 2007 and we want to get back to kind of just being creative again."

"Right now we are going to just chill out and then probably start up again in, I'd say, March or April," he continued. "And start probably putting the creative cap back on and start writing some songs."

Metallica harnessing 'good vibe' on tenth studio album

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich has revealed the band are keen to harness the current "good vibe" within the group and release their next album as soon as they can.

The group have traditionally left long periods between albums in the last 15 years, but will begin recording the follow-up to 2008's 'Death Magnetic' this spring.

Speaking to Danish newspaper Ekstra Bladet, Ulrich said: "In the past, we would be fed up with Metallica whenever we returned home after a gigantic world tour, but this time it's different."

He added: "Therefore it won't be that long before we start working on a new album. I think that we'll probably already get the creative process going in March or April and go into the studio."

The drummer said the reason behind the speed of the songwriting process was that the band are getting on pretty well. "There's a really good vibe in the band," he said. "We really want to get back to Metallica quickly because we are enjoying it so much right now."

The metal giants have suffered fraught interband relations in the past, some of which were documented in 2004 documentary Some Kind Of Monster. However, Ulrich said that things are different now and he was glad they had come through their problems.

"We found solutions to the problems that we've had instead of letting internal squabbles destroy the band," he said. "Which, for instance, happened to our friends in Guns N' Roses."

Metallica: 'Our next album will be a heavier Black Album'

Metallica have said that they believe their next studio album will be a "heavier version" of their classic 1991 self-titled album, which is widely known as 'The Black Album'.

The band are currently working on the follow-up to their 2008 studio record 'Death Magnetic' and have revealed that they are about eight songs into the process.

Speaking to Rolling Stone, guitarist Kirk Hammett said that the band were looking to reign in their songwriting and write tracks that were "more groove-oriented''.

He said: "If 'Death Magnetic' was a logical successor to '…And Justice For All', the next album will be a heavier 'Black Album'. We're not going to the depths of complexity that we did for 'Death Magnetic'. The stuff we're coming up with is more groove-oriented, a heavier version of what we were doing in the early 90s."

The band's drummer Lars Ulrich also said that he was sure the songs on the band's 10th studio album would be ''shorter and more to-the-point''.

He said: "When people talk about the old stuff, they think '... Justice'. But look at 'Harvester Of Sorrow' on that album. It's a fairly simple five-minute song. And 'Fuel' is an absolute scorcher live. Right now, I'm thinking shorter, more to-the-point."

Metallica will play a headline slot at this summer's Download Festival as well as a series of other large European shows, performing 'The Black Album' in its entirety.

The band's manager Cliff Burnstein recently revealed that Metallica had brought their plans to tour Europe forward by a full year to coincide with the ongoing Euro crisis.

Metallica hint that they could release next album without a record label

Metallica's Lars Ulrich has hinted that the band could release their next album without a record label.

In an interview with Spin, the drummer confirmed that their deal with Warner had now expired following the release of their last studio album 'Death Magnetic' in 2008, and said that the metal legends were discussing different release strategies for the next LP.

He said:


He went on to add: "We're writing music and we're going to be recording very soon. At some point we're going to want to share that with people that are interested in listening to it. So we gotta figure out ways we want to do that, from giving it away in cereal boxes to getting people to do handstands for it. We could come up with something wacky."

However, Ulrich did insist that the band wouldn't employ an unusual distribution model for the sake of it. "This whole thing about who can come up with the coolest [release strategy] so it can be written about on 12 different blogs for six hours – mean sure, that's all pretty cool and hip," he said. "But at the same time you have to remember we have a very global audience. We have fans in India and the U.A.E. and Russia. In a lot of these places there are still more conventional ways of getting music to people."

Metallica will play a headline slot at this summer's Download Festival as well as a series of other large European shows, performing 'The Black Album' in its entirety. In October last year they teamed up with Lou Reed to release the album 'Lulu', which is based around German dramatist Frank Wedekind's 1913 play about the life of an abused dancer.

Earlier this year, meanwhile, the band said that their next LP would be like a "heavier version" of 'The Black Album'.

Earlier this year, meanwhile, the band said that their next LP would be like a "heavier version" of 'The Black Album'.

In another interview, Lars said it was going to be a blend of the black album and "Destroyer", but Gene wagged his finger at him.

Immediately after the festival Hammett will be back in Metallica's HQ studios to continue work on its next album, the long-awaited follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic. "We have a lot of good songs," Hammett reports. "The songs are ever-changing at this point. Nothing is etched in stone. We still have a lot of material have to sift through, still. We have well over a dozen songs and we still have well over two or three hundred riffs, too, so it's hard to say at what point we actually are in in the project. I don't think we hit the middle point yet. I would say we're at the 25 percent point, maybe 30 percent point. It's hard to say, but I mean we are working on it and there are songs and we're making plans to write more songs and record."

Hammett acknowledges that the process of Metallica making an album remains some kind of monster. "Whenever we go into the studio it becomes such a huge sort of thing in our lives that it does take on monstrous proportions. It takes up a lot of space in our lives. Yes, you can look at it as something monstrous, for sure -- and we've made movies about it, so there you go, man."

Metallica -- which released one new song, "Lords of Summer" -- last year is also prepping to hit the road for a handful of shows, starting May 9 at the inaugural Rock in Rio USA festival in Las Vegas. The group will play in Europe as well as Lollapalooza on Aug. 1 in Chicago.

KIRK HAMMETT Confirms Identity Of METALLICA's New Album Producer

Kirk Hammett has confirmed to Alternative Press that METALLICA has "pretty much" tapped Greg Fidelman to produce the band's long-awaited follow-up to 2008's "Death Magnetic" album. "As far as what the final outcome will be, I don't know," the METALLICA guitarist said. "We have not brought in any [other] producer and it looks extremely [unlikely] we'd bring one in this late into the project."

As for Greg's exact role during the recording process, Hammett said: "The title 'producer' itself is a bit ambiguous. It differs from person to person. You can call Rick Rubin a producer, but he's not the [same] type of producer as Bob Rock, who is there for every note. At the same time, Rick Rubin gets stuff done. Greg Fidelman is a different type of producer in that he's with the engineer always looking to try and move the project forward. And that's different from, say, Dr. Dre, who is the type of producer who is actually making backing tracks, producing music, writing music. In the hip-hop world, Dre is a producer. It's so ambiguous. If you go by the traditional term, we're doing it with Greg, pretty much."

Kirk added: "Greg is a real pleasure to work with. Even though he can be a bit of a taskmaster, he listens to you. He's super-flexible. He knows how to crack the whip without fucking pissing people off."

Hammett also admitted that "the hardest part" about recording METALLICA is coordinating the bandmembers' schedules so that the production process can move forward at a comfortable pace. "Hey, for us, life has its demands," he said. "We're trying to make an album and go on tour, trying to be a band, but we all recognize that if someone has a family situation, that takes priority over everything. That's another reason why [the new album] is taking so long. That's another obstacle for Greg Fidelman. He's always joking about it, but it really takes a lot of, like, you know, tap dancing and juggling."

Lars Ulrich Says Metallica’s New Album ‘Will Be Done This Summer’

We know we’ve said this before, but this time it seems like we really won’t have to wait much longer for Metallica‘s follow-up to 2008’s Death Magnetic. In a new interview, Lars Ulrich says that next month is when the group will reconvene to put the finishing touches on the record.

“We’re now coming towards the end of the musical creative process and we’re starting to look ahead and the process of how we’re gonna share this record with the universe,” he told Metal Forces. “The month of June is basically when we’re gonna sit down and figure what we’re gonna do with it all; what we’re gonna call it and what’s gonna be on it”.

Despite the delay, Metallica haven’t been unproductive since Death Magnetic. Five years ago, they released Lulu, a collaboration with Lou Reed, and 2013 saw them branch out into film-making with Metallica Through the Never, which combined a Metallica concert with a narrative story. And they’ve also toured very frequently, which a pair of experts said last year was largely to help recoup the money they lost on the movie and the two Orion Festivals. A new song, “Lords of Summer,” was premiered in 2014.

Now, with virtually nothing on their tour calendar, they can channel their energy into the new record, so that, as Ulrich added, “If the record doesn’t come out this year then it won’t be because it’s not done. It will be because there’s some sort of cosmic reason that it would be smarter to hold onto it until next year. But the record will be done this summer”.

The group are working again with Greg Fidelman, who engineered both Lulu and Death Magnetic. “Greg Fidelman is 24/7 on this record and has been since last summer,” Ulrich said. “He’s doing an insanely great job and has been putting his heart and soul in it pretty much every waking moment of his life in helping us engineer and produce this record.”

Metallica Set to Release New Album ‘Hopefully by Fall’

Metallica are inching closer to completing their first studio release since 2008’s Death Magnetic, with a possible release date later this year.

“We’re mixing it now, so hopefully by fall it’ll be out and hitting people’s ears,” James Hetfield said prior to performing the National Anthem at a recent San Jose Sharks hockey game. “We’re super stoked about it. It’s been a long time coming – and, you know, this is what we do. We love playing, and the next album is exactly what it’s supposed to be, so we’re excited about it.”

Lars Ulrich Calls Metallica’s New Album ‘More Diverse’ and ‘Less Frenetic’ Than ‘Death Magnetic’

After years of delay, Metallica‘s new album is in the mixing stage with the hopes of a fall release. And while drummer Lars Ulrich admits he doesn’t fully know what it sounds like, he was able to describe how it contrasts with their previous effort, 2008’s Death Magnetic, in a new interview.

“It’s probably a little less frenetic than the last record,” he told Citizens of Humanity. “It’s probably a bit more of a diverse record than the last one. It’s exciting, but I don’t have quite the perspective yet.”

One of the reasons for the change in sound, he believes, is a change in producer. The return to their thrash metal roots on Death Magnetic was the work of Rick Rubin, and with a new man behind the boards, they can look in other directions.

“Rick Rubin really encouraged us to, for the first time, be inspired by our past,” Ulrich explained in the new interview. “It was the first time we sort of looked in the rearview mirror. This time around it’s a little bit of a different thing. We’re not working with Rick, we’re working with the engineer from the last record, who’s producing, Greg Fidelman. So there’s some of the same production elements at play, but we’re expanding a little bit on the sonics.”