Metallica Reveal The Truth About Eddie Van Halen

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Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett recently released “Portals” EP and that marked his first-ever endeavour as a solo artist. He recently talked about why the band takes time to release studio albums.

Kirk Hammett outlines the reason

Hammett was asked in a new interview with Goldmine magazine why he and his bandmates take so long between records. It has been noted that in 40 years, the band has released 10 albums. He responded: “Yeah, you know, it’s not getting any quicker, too. It’s just like, we have a way of working. We have a process that unfortunately takes a long time. It’s just the way we work, the way it is, the way it works as a band. And I’ve grown to accept that.

“You know, putting out ‘Portals’ is great for me because it kind of frees me up from that schedule,” Kirk explained. “I can come up with a few tracks, record them and put them out, and I can do it on a completely different time schedule from the band. And that’s great because it doesn’t seem to get in the way of the band’s schedule because, like I say, we move at our own pace.”

Hammett also discussed the songwriting approach that is followed in Metallica. He stated that: “When I go in and create Metallica stuff, I give it my full creative energies. The way I look at it is, all the notes are already there. You just have to find them. I’m serious. They’re already there. You just gotta friggin’ find them. And so there’s that but also a reliance on spontaneity, on real in-the-moment creation.

I think that’s where I’m most effective. It’s like, any time I sit down to try and compose something that should be spontaneous, it ends up sounding composed. There’s nothing wrong with that, but I think catching yourself in a spontaneous moment is just much more exciting and much more honest. That might not make me sound like Eddie Van Halen, but that’s beside the point. I really feel like I’m playing for the song when I play that way.”

Bassist Robert Trujillo had previously added that the songwriting process for the next album could be a decidedly more collective effort compared to “Hardwired…”, which was largely composed by guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. “Hardwired… To Self-Destruct” debuted at No. 1 on The Billboard 200 album chart, selling 291,000 copies in its first week of release.