Metallica has been writing a new album throughout the pandemic, which drummer Lars Ulrich said gave the band "an opportunity here to still make the best record, to still make a difference." Metallica has also unfortunately run into some technological snags throughout the writing-from-a-distance process.
So when can we expect to hear some new music? In an interview with Classic Rock, Ulrich said probably not anytime soon. He cited not being able to get into a room and jam has really held things up, and calls the writing pace of the new album "glacial."
"[It's been] glacial," he said. These are the craziest of times and nothing is letting up. There's a little bit of movement, but it's hard to do a lot when we're not together."
James Hetfield said during a recent SirusXM Town Hall, he's written "tons of material" while sitting at home bored out of his mind. So at least there's some progress!
"For me, and I don't wanna sound ungrateful, 'cause I know there's a lot of people out there that are struggling because of this COVID… Where I live, it's all service industry. And, obviously, the music industry, it's tough — it's taken a big hit. For us, we're road dogs — we've been out on the road forever — so you're either on the road or you're writing. So the obvious thing is, 'Well, we're not on the road. Start writing.' So, [I've written] tons of material. And I'm sure there's lots of musicians out there that are just, like, 'Okay, what can I do? I'm gonna write and just get into that,' which I love doing."
