METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich tells RollingStone.com that the band has written close to 20 new songs for its new album, and will likely enter the pre-production recording phase in the near future.

We are fucking in it,Ulrich says. “We’ve got lots of songs, and we’re honing them and tweaking them. It’s pretty close.

He continues: “In our world, there’s been a distinct difference between the creative phase and the recording phase. With this project, we’re trying to bridge the two a little more organically and not have there be such a great divide between the processes. We want to see if we can bring some of the creative curiosity, the impulsive stuff that happens when you’re first playing a song into the studio. You want to tweak it and get it good, but you also want to record it in a way where it doesn’t feel labored over and overthought. We’re trying to figure out where that line is.

Ulrich adds: “The creative elements are getting close to being done,” the drummer says. “Just remember, this is still ‘METALLICA time.’ When I say we’re close to being done, it means the next month or so. There’s a lot of stuff going on as life continues with family and personal events…. But we are certainly down there [writing] pretty much every day.

METALLICA‘s new studio album, its tenth, will follow up 2008’s “Death Magnetic”.