Well, I mean, this is all kind of based on just the entire horror genre’s impact on my psyche ever since I was a little kid, you know? I didn’t have to run out and start watching specific horror movies. You've talked about how you had a very clear vision of what you wanted these songs to sound like.
I’m going to fuckin’ take the guitar solo from the demo and fly it in.” That’s what we did. When we were recording the track for real and it came time to do that guitar solo, everything I did was not as good as that demo solo, so I just said, “Fuck it. The last guitar solo on “Maiden and the Monster” was actually a first take that I did for the demo in a hotel room at two o’clock in the morning in Miami. You know, sometimes you can hear weird cuts or weird edits in guitar solos. You won’t see any weird cuts or weird edits. You listen to the solos, and they’re not composed. If I felt like it fit the feeling and the emotion of the song, I said, “Great, I’m not going to second guess it that’s what it is.” That’s what you get. I didn’t try to fuckin’ outdo it or anything. I just walked up, I played the solo and if I felt it was an honest moment that we captured. I didn’t give a fuck about any of that stuff. They’re all fuckin’ first or second or third takes because I just didn’t want to be caught up in the slog of, “I’m changing the solo because I don’t like this part or I don’t like that part.” Or it’s not shred-y enough or anything. On this LP, it’s 100% me with no limitations and stream of consciousness. So when I’m in there doing a solo, he gives me input. That’s always kind of shaped my guitar solos, as well as working with whoever the producer is on that particular album – and also, with Lars because Lars likes to micromanage everything. You know, it needs to be somewhat commercial. It needs to have something that’s dynamic that catches your attention. I have to make the solo somewhat accessible – and what I mean by that is, it needs to have hooky parts. I have to play within the context of the song. What I mean by that is, a lot of times when I’m coming up with solos for Metallica, I have to play for the song. So I said to myself, “If I can’t nail these solos in three or four takes, then I’ll just hang it up and wait until the next day, and then try and nail it in three or four takes.” You know, that’s what I did. When I was working on this stuff, I didn’t want to labor over any of it. Yeah, you know, there’s no real limitations put on me. We get to hear the virtuoso side of your playing, but also your shredder roots. The guitar solos on this new EP are intense. The next logical thing to do is just share it with everyone."ĭuring a recent conversation, he explained to UCR how the new music took shape. "When you collaborate with somebody, you make something of consequence. "It would be selfish of me to just think, you know, I could sit on this and just play it for people when I feel like it," he explains. In Hammett's view, it would be a "crime" for fans not to get a chance to hear the music. It’s obvious now," was his thought at the time. "Shit, okay we’ve got to put this stuff out. He never saw himself recording as a solo artist, but things reached a point where Hammett knew he had something he couldn't keep under wraps. As Portals took shape, Hammett knew that Outwater was a natural for the project. They bonded over their love of all things horror-related, staying in touch. Hammett enlisted a variety of musicians and collaborators – most notably conductor Edwin Outwater, who had previously worked with Metallica on S&M II. He says the music has an "audio-cinematic" approach, one that is meant to create "soundtracks movies in your mind." The title of Portals is deliberate, as Hammett sees each of the four pieces as gateways to myriad musical and psychic destinations.
"Twice already!"īy then, he knew he was on a certain path. "Fuckin' hell, it happened again," Hammett adds, with a laugh. A second attempt, which became "The Jinn," produced the same results. As he listened to "Maiden and the Monster," the nearly seven-minute epic that kicks off Portals, Hammett realized that "this has already become something so much more than its original intention," as he tells UCR.