“I thought my playing was f**king spot on”: Kirk Hammett picks the Metallica album with his strongest guitar work
Kirk Hammett feels there’s one Metallica album in particular out of their 11 studio records that features his best playing.
Though he’s not one to sit down and truly listen to the band’s back catalogue, Hammett feels that their 1991 Black Album stands out as hosting his best guitar work and some great solos – even if some arrived after a little difficulty.
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Speaking to Metal Hammer, he says, “It’s weird, because my opinion of that changes all the time. I don’t sit around listening to Metallica, so sometimes something comes on and I’m like, ‘I haven’t heard this in fucking five years! I forgot about that sound.’”
He continues, “I don’t look in the rear-view mirror too often. The whole band is like that – we just move on. What’s the next cool thing we can do? It’s just how we are. But I will say, there was a period where I thought my playing was fucking spot on, and that was The Black Album. Those solos wrote themselves! Almost all of them worked out instantly.”
Hammett goes on to highlight the solo in The Unforgiven as one that was a little tricky to craft. Producer Bob Rock took a dislike to his initial ideas for the song, leading to Hammett improvising the solo that made the finished record.
“There were only a few things I wasn’t prepared for, and that was The Unforgiven solo, which is pretty well documented,” he says. “And the solo for My Friend Of Misery. But because the solo of The Unforgiven ended up being so spontaneous, that made me want to do them all like that from that point on.”
Earlier this year, Hammett also selected their 1996 Load album as featuring his best guitar tone. “I would have to say my lead sound on Load is the best tone I’ve ever gotten,” he told Guitar World. “I’m still chasing that sound. It was the 1961 SG with PAF pickups going out to 20 amps all blended together. Okay, I don’t know if it was 20, but it was definitely more than five.”
Metallica are touring throughout 2025 and into 2026. You can view the full list of their upcoming live shows via the Metallica website.
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