Speaking to Kerrang! magazine, Hammett says, "We cannot think of any other reasons to procrastinate. We're kind of backed up into the corner now, so yes, we have to start working on the album. And I'm excited. James [Hetfield] has, like, 800 riffs. I only have 400, but there's not going to be any shortage of ideas. It's going to be interesting to see how it turns out."

There are no songs as such yet, though. Hammett says, "We have little bits and pieces of music earmarked to become songs, and really that's all I can say about it. We're pretty psyched about it. We're only procrastinating because we love being at home with our families, but we really do love writing songs together and making an album."