Lars Ulrich Offers Update on Progress of New Metallica Album

Metallica is slowly (emphasis on "slowly") making progress on a new album according to drummer Lars Ulrich.

When asked by Diamond Head guitarist Brian Tatler about the new album's progress for a new feature in Classic Rock magazine, Ulrich responded with, "Glacial. These are the craziest of times and nothing is letting up. There’s a little bit of movement [in that direction], but it’s hard to do a lot when we’re not together."

Ulrich's last update came in November when he said during his Rolling Stone "Musicians on Musicians" interview with Phoebe Bridgers, "We’re three, four weeks into some pretty serious writing. And of all the s--- — pandemics, fires, politics, race problems, and just f---ing looking at the state of the world — it’s so easy just to so fall into a depressive state. But writing always makes me feel enthusiastic about what’s next."

He added, "It’s like, 'F---, there’s an opportunity here to still make the best record, to still make a difference. To still do something that not even turns other people on, but turns me on.'"

News of Metallica working on new music during the pandemic was confirmed by Ulrich in June when he said in an interview with Swedish talk show host Fredrik Skavlan, "We're just starting, in the last four weeks maybe, we connected again. We've been obviously connecting [even before that], but we [have now] connected creatively, and now we're sort of in discovery mode, I think is a good way to say it. We are sending ideas to each other via e-mail and via Zoom and [trying to] make music in these unusual situations."