As Metallica continue preparations for the 2013 edition of their Orion Music + More festival – set for June 8 and 9 at Belle Isle in Detroit, MI – they are already talking about plans for a new album.
"I want it done yesterday," frontman James Hetfield tells Billboard, "and (Orion) and this movie [the 3D film Through The Never] is keeping us pretty busy at this point and it's taking a lot of our time and effort. We've been touring some obscure places; I guess basically what we're trying to do is pay for this movie, so the touring is keeping us from getting in there and finishing the record. Right now the focus is on the movie."
Hetfield says the band has at least made a start on a new album.
"Yeah, we got out into the room and jammed and we've come up with enough material for a record, for sure," he says. "We've gone through maybe one-tenth of the material that's on our riffs CDs. We've got enough for an album, we just haven't had enough time to really focus on it and dial in and start whittling it into these masterpieces, hopefully."
Bassist Robert Trujillo points out that "the work ethic is super, super strong, and that's what takes us longer than other bands, because we're sitting there and sometimes we're really analyzing things. I mean, for every one lyric, Hetfield has, like three lyric possibilities. But I can tell you this; the grooves and the riffs that are already on the radar are really, really awesome. We've still got more riffs to go through and jam out and throw into the process, but we're getting there, and we'll have something great, hopefully, in the next year."
For full details on Orion Music + More, check out the lineup and schedules here.
“Through the Never” will debut in IMAX theatres across North America for a one-week engagement starting Friday, September 27.
The film will then expand into additional theatres on October 4.
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