Kirk Hammett has revealed that he's been working on "a ton of material" for Metallica's next album.
Speaking to Mixdown, Kirk says that he's "ready to go" with the follow-up to 2016's Hardwired... To Self-Destruct.
“When I was 13 or 14 years old, bands put out albums every year. Seriously, Kiss put out an album every eight months – none of this eight years between albums," says Kirk.
“None of us are very comfortable with the fact it’s been so long, because that’s a long time. We’re hoping to avoid that this time around.”
“We’re in our third year since since Hardwired… To Self-Destruct," Kirk continues. "Maybe we can get a bit more focus and go into the studio a bit sooner.
“I have a ton of material. I’ve over-compensated, so I’m ready to go anytime.”
Last month, bassist Rob Trujillo said that a new Metallica record would come much sooner than the two previous albums.
“This time around I think we’ll be able to jump on it a lot quicker and jump in the studio and start working," Rob told The Music.
“We’ve all vowed to get this one going sooner than later. Now, how soon? I don’t know. We’ve been touring non-stop. It’s been over two years now. At some point, sure, we’ll need to take a little bit of a break. It’s sort of the right thing for us to do because we’ve been going so hard.”
Metallica's European stadium tour starts on May 1 in Lisbon, Portugal.
They will headline Manchester’s Etihad Stadium on June 18 and London’s Twickenham Stadium on June 20. Get your Manchester tickets or your London tickets now.