ABC/Randy HolmesMetallica's 10th studio album Hardwired...to Self-Destruct finally arrived last year, a long eight years after their prior effort, Death Magnetic, was released in 2008. According to frontman James Hetfield, the next Metallica album shouldn't take as long.
Speaking with Singapore's The Straits Times, Hetfield admits that the long gap between Death Magnetic and Hardwired "was a mistake," but "it won't be" another eight years before album 11 arrives.
Right now, of course, Metallica is focused on Hardwired...to Self-Destruct, which was released this past November. Hetfield says he's "surprised" that the album has received "such a positive response."
"It feels good to make a record that people are embracing as a new, viable album that they will have in their musical quiver," he says.
Metallica recently concluded a tour of Asia in support of Hardwired. After a four-show run in Copenhagen, the band will return to the U.S. next month to perform at this year's Grammys, held February 12 in Los Angeles.
"Music comes in trends and what not, but we haven't gone anywhere," says Hetfield. "If we're still popular enough to play the Grammys, that's cool."
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