Metallica Threw Away 'Box Of Riffs' Says James Hetfield

(Classic Rock) James Hetfield has reported that Metallica didn't keep any unused riffs after completing work on latest album Hardwired� To Self-Destruct. That's despite having notched up several hundred ideas that they felt were at least worthy of consideration.

Drummer Lars Ulrich has said that, prior to writing sessions for the follow-up to 2008's Death Magnetic, he went through a total of 1600 ideas to identify the strongest ones.

Now Hetfield tells La Viola: "Once an album is finished the box of riffs is thrown away. We use the best. There's no reason to save it if it's not good - we'll write new stuff. I'm very interested in moving forward."

He adds: "It was difficult, having 800 riffs on my phone or my computer, and all I wanted to do was, 'Let's write a new one now. Let's just do it.' There's something magical that happens when Lars and I get together and I plug into a loud, crunchy guitar sound. It moves me and I can create riffs." Read more here.

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