Legendary rockers Metallica have opened up about their upcoming ninth studio album, the follow-up to 2003’s hit St Anger.

“This stuff is certainly a lot more dynamic and a lot more varied than the last couple of go-rounds,” drummer Lars Ulrich told Revolver magazine. “There’s a lot of light and shade in these songs. There’s heavy, fast, nutty stuff, and then there’s some slowdowns and musical interludes. It’s been no secret that Rick [Rubin, the Def Jam head honcho who is producing the record] suggested to us that we use a couple of [our early] records as reference point – that we spend some time kind of accessing that headspace.”

Currently in the studio, the Californian “Enter Sandman” outfit are due to release their new disc in late 2008.