UNLIMITED

Guitar World

Kirk Hammett’s Solo Debut

“THIS IS THE first time I’m playing 100 percent what the heck I want to play!” says Kirk Hammett over the phone from his home in Hawaii. Metallica’s lead guitarist is known for being a genuinely stoked dude. But there’s a reason that he’s extra excited on this morning in early April — and it has zero to do with his Big Four band.

Hammett is about to release his debut solo outing, Portals — a four-song instrumental EP that finds the guitarist leaning into his love of horror films, classical music and soundtracks as he explores a musical style he calls “audio cinematic.”

Clocking in at just under 30 minutes, the EP runs the gamut from spine-tingling metallic epics to sweeping spaghetti Western–flavored jams. Plenty of Hammett’s signature Metallica moves are on display; is stacked with massive riffs, dark, evocative

You’re reading a preview, subscribe to read more.

More from Guitar World

Guitar World2 min read
Free Rider
ONE OF MY biggest influences is the great Paul Kossoff from the band Free. Paul had a guitar riff that changed rock radio in the early Seventies, “All Right Now.” Like Leslie West, Kossoff wrote incredible songs that were larger than life, transcendi
Guitar World3 min read
1978-present Proco Rat
TODAY’S GUITARISTS ARE blessed with about 26,844 distortion pedals to choose from, give or take two. But back in the late Seventies the selection was much more limited, with stomp boxes like the Electro-Harmonix Big Muff (which some would still call
Guitar World3 min read
Peavey Invective .112
AMP-MODELING APPS, pedals and processors may offer guitarists compelling alternatives to a traditional tube guitar amp, but as long as products like the Peavey Invective .112 that offer distinctive tonal character and versatile features continue to b

Related