Kirk Hammett Admits Feeling Left Out!

It wouldn’t really be a new Metallica record without at least a little bit of drama between the band members. For the group’s upcoming Hardwired … to Self-Destruct LP, it looks like it’s guitarist Kirk Hammett‘s turn. The band members talk about the new record  and gave the impression that the double-disc set is very much centered around the songwriting partnership of frontman James Hetfield and drummer Lars Ulrich. “Lars focused more on simplifying the creative journey, and locking into James and really bringing him in for this album,” explained bassist Robert Trujillo. “It’s Lars’ vision, and I’m happy to support whatever we need to do.”

That vision, however, apparently came at the expense of room for Hammett’s contributions. Without explicitly throwing anyone under the bus, Hammett fessed up to feeling left out of the songwriting process, calling the experience a “very bitter pill to swallow.” “For me, being in this band, I always want to contribute,” he admitted. “Obviously, that was not meant to be this time and I had to accept that fact. … Hopefully, I can bring my ideas to the next Metallica album. I just hope it’s not another eight years.”

As fans may recall, Hammett had plenty of new material to bring to the table early in the Hardwired writing sessions and unfortunately ended up losing roughly 250 riffs he’d earmarked for the record after misplacing his phone. It’s tempting to wonder how things would have worked out if that hadn’t happened, but like Hammett said, there’s always next time.