Metallica have been speaking about their eagerly anticipated ninth studio album and say that it is both eclectic and dynamic.

Lars Ulrich took time out from doing “nips and tucks” in the studio to speak at a press conference promoting their headline appearance at Bonnaroo Music Festival this June.

According to Billboard, the drummer explained that the band are eying up a September release for the as-yet-untitled record, which he claims differs from previous efforts.

Ulrich said: “We sort of promised ourselves that unlike all the records we made in the '90s, which were just completely stressed-out and just nutty, that we were gonna try and have a little more sane environment and we've actually, surprising mostly to ourselves, been able to keep to that.

"We've pretty much finished the music now, so all the next level stuff is just starting to go down."

He continued: "These are long songs ... we're talking seven-minute, eight-minute, nine-minute nutty-ass songs. We don't make them long or short on purpose; you just kind of do what feels natural. We're not really gonna edit them, so we're gonna lose another one at some point in the next month or so and probably end up with 10."

Asked about the record’s direction, Ulrich added: "(The album is) definitely pretty all over the place. There's a lot of variation, a lot of fast, slow, melodic, kind of hardcore, nutty super-fast speed stuff.

“It's a little more like how some of the earlier records were a little more dynamic within the songs."

(by Scott Colothan)