Metallica’s Kirk Hammett: New Horror-Themed Songs ‘Feel Like the Best F–king Things I’ve Done’

Metallica are sorting out ways to work on new music amidst a pandemic and Kirk Hammett has some ideas of his own he's working on outside of the band. A known horror enthusiast, the guitarist has collaborated with Edwin Outwater, who composed the S&M2 live performance, on some horror-themed instrumental songs. Hammett feels they've got potential to be his career-best work and said "they're like movies."

Hammett already has a line of horror-themed guitars and even showed off his personal horror collection at the "It's Alive" exhibits that brought some of his favorite pieces outside the home and into an actual museums for a limited time.

Regarding these instrumentals, which sound especially enticing with Halloween just a couple weeks away, Hammett told Metallica's fan club magazine "So What!", "I recorded those tracks with Edwin, a small chamber orchestra and some other musicians."

He said there's four total tracks he's put together and that two of them were in collaboration with Outwater. Hammett had particularly strong thoughts about these pieces, "which feel like the best fucking things I've ever done."

Offering a bit more insight, Hammett went on, "One of them is called 'High Plains Drifter' and the other one's called 'The Incantation'. They're not done yet. [They are] still in the rough mix stages. I mean, I have to get the rough mixes, but I have four tracks now. And the four tracks are like four different movies, man. They're not movie soundtracks; they're like movies. They tell a story."

When asked if it was fair to say Metallica fans will "probably" get to hear new music before the pandemic is over, Hammett agreed it was "absolutely" a fair assumption.

On top of the S&M2 live album and video performance, Metallica have released a new version of "Blackened," the song, as well as 'Blackened," the whiskey. The new edition whiskey was crafted using the recent live release to make it "sonically enhanced."