Metallica: We haven't made our best album yet

Metallica meet fans at Mexico City Q&A
Metallica meet fans at Mexico City Q&A (Image credit: Getty)

Metallica frontman James Hetfield says the band “haven’t yet” made their best album.

The thrash giants issue 10th album Hardwired… To Self-Destruct on November 18. And while they are pleased with how it has turned out, Hetfield insists the band continue to get better with every record.

At a Q&A with fans in Mexico, Hetfield says: “The next album is always going to be the better one. We haven’t made our best record yet.

“We’re continuing to keep improving ourselves as people, as musicians, as just human beings.”

Asked why they took so long to follow-up 2008’s Death Magnetic, Hetfield urges fans to keep up the pressure on the band to deliver an 11th album.

He says: “It took a long time. People got mad. And I realised when we were playing the album for some of the journalists that it’s such a great feeling to give birth to new music and how it makes other people feel made me feel good.

“So I don’t know why we waited so long. Make sure we don’t wait so long again, okay?”

Metallica are on tour, with dates lined up through into 2017.

Metallica Hardwired… To Self-Destruct tracklist

Disc1

  1. Hardwired
  2. Atlas, Rise!
  3. Now That We’re Dead
  4. Moth Into Flame
  5. Am I Savage?
  6. Halo On Fire

Disc2

  1. Confusion
  2. Dream No More
  3. ManUNkind
  4. Here Comes Revenge
  5. Murder One
  6. Spit Out The Bone

Metallica tour dates 2016-17 so far

Nov 01: Bogota Hipodromo de los Andes, Colombia
Nov 03: Guatemala City Estadio Cementos Progreso, Guatemala
Nov 05: San Jose Estadio Nacional, Costa Rica
Jan 11: Seoul Gocheok Sky Dome, South Korea
Jan 20: Hong Kong AsiaWorld-Expo, China
Feb 03: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 05: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 07: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Feb 09: Copenhagen Royal Arena, Denmark
Mar 25-26: Sao Paulo Interlagos Racetrack, Brazil
Mar 31,-Apr 01: Buenos Aires Hippodrome San Isidro, Argentina
Apr 01-02: Santiago Parque O’Higgins, Chile

New Metallica in the style of ...And Justice For All

Stef wrote close to 5,000 stories during his time as assistant online news editor and later as online news editor between 2014-2016. An accomplished reporter and journalist, Stef has written extensively for a number of UK newspapers and also played bass with UK rock favourites Logan. His favourite bands are Pixies and Clap Your Hands Say Yeah. Stef left the world of rock'n'roll news behind when he moved to his beloved Canada in 2016, but he started on his next 5000 stories in 2022.