Lars Ulrich has given an update on the possibility of a new Metallica album, saying the band are currently “creating at some level”.

Speaking to SiriusXM’s Trunk Nation With Eddie Trunk last week (September 9), the 57-year-old drummer was asked if a follow-up to 2016’s ‘Hardwired… To Self-Destruct’ was on the way.

“We’re on that path. I don’t know if it’s cohesive enough to call a record, but we’re dipping our toes,” Ulrich explained (via Blabbermouth). “We’ve been trying to stay busy. We did the drive-in thing last summer. We did an All Within My Hands event in November. We did [The Late Show With Stephen] Colbert. We’re doing [Jimmy] Kimmel [Live!] tomorrow.”

He continued: “We’re engaged. And we are creating at some level. It’s way too early to talk about a record or a timeline or anything. But we’re staying busy. And it’s exciting to just think of the possibilities.

“Right now we’re so rejuvenated and just ready to get back in.”

Back in July, guitarist Kirk Hammett had talked up the new Metallica album’s arrival, saying he hopes it will “cut through the division” in the world.

The band have been working on new music during the coronavirus pandemic, with James Hetfield confirming that the band wrote 10 songs together over Zoom in quarantine.

Yesterday it was confirmed that Metallica will headline the first-ever German edition of Download Festival when it takes place in 2022.

The inaugural Download Festival Germany will take place at the motor racing circuit Hockenheimring in the Rhine valley on June 24 next year. Also confirmed for the line-up so far are Nevada band Five Finger Death Punch and Swedish power metal outfit Sabaton.