For a band that is currently having a relatively "off" year, Metallica sure knows how to stay in the public eye. Lars Ulrich has been all over the place giving interviews, and in a recent chat with Classic Rock Magazine he divulged info about this summer's 3D movie as well as their new album, scheduled for release next year.
On their $20 million 3D movie coming this summer:
“There are similarities [to The Song Remains The Same],” Ulrich reveals in the latest issue of Classic Rock.
“There are four members in Led Zeppelin, four members in Metallica, it’s a full-length movie, and there’s a lot in this film that does not take place onstage.
“The major difference is that the stuff that takes place offstage in the Metallica movie does not feature any members of Metallica. It’s two separate worlds – a Metallica show and a story that unfolds in a parallel universe – and at some point they intertwine.”
So there is going to be narrative in the movie?! A plot in a concert film? I was going to skip this one, but I might have to see it just out of sheer morbid curiosity.
But what I really want to know about is the band's new album. Lars discussed the sound the band is going for. Lars recently opened up to Metal Hammer about the direction of the album, but he went into further detail here, saying it will be a similar sound to Death Magnetic:
“Death Magnetic is one motherfucker of a record,” said Ulrich. “There aren’t many Metallica records that sound as good as Death Magnetic four years after they were made. With a lot of the other records, there were questions: ‘Why did we do that?’ or ‘What was going on there?’ or ‘Why didn’t somebody say to turn the snare on?’ I don’t feel like that with Death Magnetic. What we’re doing now certainly sounds like a continuation.”
I love that the "snare sound" on St. Anger has become a joke to Lars and presumably the band. While I liked Death Magnetic, my one complaint was that the songs were too long. They didn't need to ride the same riff 50 times for 3 minutes. If the songs were half as long they would've kept my attention. Hopefully that will be the one difference between Death Magnetic and this upcoming album.
