Lars Ulrich Says Metallica Could Record a New Album in Quarantine

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich just participated in an hour-long livestreamed video chat with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff.

Much of the conversation centered around more generalized topics such as the global implications of the pandemic, how it’s affecting family, the environment, culture, the band’s All Within My Hands charity foundation and so on and so forth. But naturally Benioff steered the conversation towards Metallica specifics at a couple of different junctures, and here’s what Lars revealed:

• The band members are currently located in four different states.
• They have been communicating via group Zoom calls.
• There’s a good chance the band’s rescheduled South American tour dates (originally slated for April, now for December) will again be postponed.
• The same goes for the Aftershock festival in October, the lone remaining U.S. appearance of the band’s originally scheduled five double-headline festival shows.
• While Lars stopped short of saying they would record a new Metallica album while in quarantine, he did say there was “a very good chance” that would happen if the quarantine continues for “six months or a year.”
• The band and their people are currently working on finding a software solution that would allow them to put on a concert while in quarantine.

Metallica have been keeping fans occupied with classic concert videos from the archives on their YouTube channel, but a livestreamed quarantine concert would most certainly be an attention-grabbing affair that would have the metal world riveted. We’ll keep you posted! As for a new album, that seems less likely — especially given how slowly the band usually work — but a 2021 timetable for release isn’t out of the question.

You can watch the full chat below.