METALLICA's ULRICH Says New Album Will Be 'More Dynamic, More Varied' Than 'St. Anger' - July 2, 2007
Belgium's Studio Brussel conducted an interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich on Sunday (July 1) prior to the band's appearance at the Rock Werchter festival. In regards to METALLICA's new studio album, Lars said the backing tracks were done in May and that the band will start laying down vocals and overdubs in August in hopes of finishing the CD by October or November. Lars predicted the album will drop in February 2008. He said, "It doesn't sound like 'St. Anger' to me. It's a little early to kind of put in a soundbite exactly. But it doesn't sound anything like 'St. Anger'. It's probably a little more dynamic, and a little more varied, and it has lots of different nutty METALLICA stuff on it. I don't know. . . One thing I can tell you is that [the songs] are quite long." Regarding talk of Eastern influences, as hinted by guitarist Kirk Hammett in an Austrian interview a couple of months ago, Ulrich said, "There's a couple of bits in there that could be called Eastern, but don't read too much into that — it's not an album full of 12 'Kashmir's or anything [referring to the classic LED ZEPPELIN track famous for its Eastern influences — Ed.]. But there is some stuff in that direction, sure." Lars also spoke about some of his favorite European festivals and what to expect from their Rock Werchter show. Listen to the four-and-a-half-minute interview at this location.