Metal Anarchy

Metallica’s Kirk Hammett will be releasing a new solo EP, titled “Portals,” on April 23 as part of Record Store Day. The effort, which will be available on vinyl, CD, and digitally, will include the following tracks: “Maiden And The Monster,” “The Jinn,” “High Plains Drifter,” and “The Incantation.“

Metallica shared a description of the EP on their official website:

“True to its title, ‘Portals’ is a collection of gateways to musical and psychic destinations. Recorded around the world, from Los Angeles to Paris to Oahu, Portals is the result of Kirk’s life’s journeys and an invitation to tap into your own inner world. Heavily influenced by classical music, soundtracks, horror movies, and maybe a little Ennio Morricone, Kirk wanted the EP to span the decades and touch upon all the horror he loves. The idea behind the EP was to have all the songs flow into each other, so he relied on a whole cast of his friends to record the four songs.

Produced by Kirk, ‘Portals’ is comprised of the songs ‘Maiden and the Monster’ and ‘The Jinn’ on side A, followed by ‘High Plains Drifter’ and ‘The Incantation: on side B. The latter two were co-written with Edwin Outwater, who you may remember from ‘S&M2.’ Outwater also contributed keyboards and led the orchestral players from the LA Philharmonic on ‘Portals.’

Other familiar names amongst the ‘Portals’ players include drummers Jon Theodore (Kirk’s fellow Wedding Band member) and Abraham Laboriel, Greg Fidelman on bass, Emmy-winning arranger Blake Neely, and Bob Rock.”

Hammett also added:

“Initially, before I even had the idea for a solo EP, I was inspired by the need to create some sort of soundtrack music to accompany The Kirk Hammett Collection for the first ‘It’s Alive‘ exhibition at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts, 2017. I wanted to conceive music to play on a loop in the background as people walked through the exhibit. I sat down one night with a progression, and before I knew it, all the parts were there for ‘Maiden and the Monster.’

The initial concept for ‘Portals‘ started with that one song. Following that, I realized I could create different soundtrack moments. These songs are what I call ‘Audio Cinematic;’ I’m creating sounds and pieces of music for the movies playing in my head. Hopefully they’ll create movies in other people’s heads in a similar fashion.”