Metallica's gearing up for the 2025 leg of their M72 tour, and in a new interview with Rolling Stone Kirk Hammett gave an update on the follow-up to 2023's 72 Seasons.

“I have 767 new ones for the next album,” the guitarist said about the amount of riffs he's written for the new project. “It is such a nightmare going through this stuff, too. And I’m the one responsible for all of it and I can’t do it…. I don’t foresee us starting the next album for at least another year because we’re still finishing the 72 Seasons tour.”

“Once we fully finish this and go to all the outlying places like Asia and Australia and New Zealand, I think we’re gonna take a little bit of a break, not too much of one, and then we’re gonna get right back into it,” he added. Unfortunately for fans, Hammett doesn't think they'll start working on their next album “for at least another year.”

Hammett also discussed the potential sound of the new material. “Who knows? We might just say, ‘Okay, let’s go back to the Nineties again,’" he said. "It’s not a bad idea! We haven’t said that to each other yet. And it’s interesting because when Load’and Reload’came out, there was a lot of backlash. But nowadays I run into fans and they love that era.”

“We play ‘Fuel’ and people go nuts. We play ‘Until It Sleeps’ and people know every word. It’s kind of like how when I was a teenager, I listened to all the Zeppelin albums except Zeppelin III because it was more acoustic and I just wanted the high-energy aggressive stuff," he added. "But over time I really came to embrace Zeppelin III and how wonderful it is.”

See a list of Metallica's North American tour dates below.

Metallica's M72 World Tour 2025 North American Tour Dates

April 12 - Las Vegas, NV Sick New World @ Las Vegas Festival Grounds

April 19 - Syracuse, NY JMA Wireless Dome *

April 24 - Toronto, ON Rogers Centre *

April 26 - Toronto, ON Rogers Centre +

May 1 - Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium *

May 3 - Nashville, TN Nissan Stadium +

May 7 - Blacksburg, VA Lane Stadium *

May 9 - Columbus, OH Sonic Temple @ Historic Crew Stadium

May 11 - Columbus, OH Sonic Temple @ Historic Crew Stadium

May 23 - Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field +

May 25 - Philadelphia, PA Lincoln Financial Field *

May 28 - Landover, MD Northwest Stadium *

May 31 - Charlotte, NC Bank of America Stadium *

June 3 - Atlanta, GA Mercedes-Benz Stadium *

June 6 - Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium +

June 8 - Tampa, FL Raymond James Stadium *

June 14 - Houston, TX NRG Stadium *

June 20 - Santa Clara, CA Levi’s Stadium +

June 22 - Santa Clara, CA Levi’s Stadium *

June 27 - Denver, CO Empower Field at Mile High +

June 29 - Denver, CO Empower Field at Mile High *

* Pantera and Suicidal Tendencies support

+ Limp Bizkit and Ice Nine Kills support

Greg Kretschmar