On the forthcoming METALLICA album, "St. Anger":
"I don't like the word 'going back', because I don't like it to get nostalgic. I think we still have enough vitality and relevance… It's not about going back, it's about moving forward, but we're moving forward with a lot of elements of earlier stuff with us. It's almost like… We've done a lot of, what I call 'musical exploration' in the last few years, and I think that by continuing to find something to kind of be excited about, that path took us almost, like, in a circle. So now we're sort of having a lot of fun with playing some really, really fast stuff again. And when I say 'fast,' I mean, like, fast fast. And really aggressive, aggro, a lot of the old starts and stops, and the serious, dynamic changes, and a lot of songs north of seven, eight minutes. So it's not about 'Hey, we're going back, dude,' but it's more about, like… My analogy, which I'm actually getting sick of hearing myself say, is that… It's sort of like that old pair of shoes over in the closet that you haven't worn for a couple of years, but you put those shoes on again, and they just feel really damn good to have on again, and you kind of, when you put them back on, you sort of say, 'Why didn't I put them on earlier?' But you realize that you have to wear all those other pairs of shoes in order to feel comfortable in that pair of shoes again. Playing, like, super-fast is sort of like… We've done 'Battery', we've done 'Damage [Inc.]', we've done 'Blackened'… Maybe there isn't anything else to offer… But 10 years later, it sure seems like there's a lot more to offer in that direction. And basically, the new album is about 70 minutes of that. [laughs] It's not like there's three or four songs and then a couple of ballads. It's basically around 11… somewhere between 10 and 12 songs of just complete aggro, out-of-control earspank, as we call it."
"I don't like the word 'going back', because I don't like it to get nostalgic. I think we still have enough vitality and relevance… It's not about going back, it's about moving forward, but we're moving forward with a lot of elements of earlier stuff with us. It's almost like… We've done a lot of, what I call 'musical exploration' in the last few years, and I think that by continuing to find something to kind of be excited about, that path took us almost, like, in a circle. So now we're sort of having a lot of fun with playing some really, really fast stuff again. And when I say 'fast,' I mean, like, fast fast. And really aggressive, aggro, a lot of the old starts and stops, and the serious, dynamic changes, and a lot of songs north of seven, eight minutes. So it's not about 'Hey, we're going back, dude,' but it's more about, like… My analogy, which I'm actually getting sick of hearing myself say, is that… It's sort of like that old pair of shoes over in the closet that you haven't worn for a couple of years, but you put those shoes on again, and they just feel really damn good to have on again, and you kind of, when you put them back on, you sort of say, 'Why didn't I put them on earlier?' But you realize that you have to wear all those other pairs of shoes in order to feel comfortable in that pair of shoes again. Playing, like, super-fast is sort of like… We've done 'Battery', we've done 'Damage [Inc.]', we've done 'Blackened'… Maybe there isn't anything else to offer… But 10 years later, it sure seems like there's a lot more to offer in that direction. And basically, the new album is about 70 minutes of that. [laughs] It's not like there's three or four songs and then a couple of ballads. It's basically around 11… somewhere between 10 and 12 songs of just complete aggro, out-of-control earspank, as we call it."
