Listen to METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett's new solo track High Plains Drifter

18 April 2022

METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett has released a new solo track, High Plains Drifter.

Taken from the guitarist's first solo record, Portals, High Plains Drifter was inspired by Clint Eastwood's 1973 western of the same name.

“[The song] was not meant to be specifically music for that film," says Hammett in a statement, "but…once it was written, I immediately thought it conveyed the same sentiment as the film, so the piece was christened accordingly.

“The music for High Plains Drifter initially came from a Flamenco piece I had written. It was a two-and-a-half-minute piece, and I really liked it, but it was one of those riffs that would be hard to integrate into Metallica.

“I knew I wanted to do something with it, even though it came out spontaneously. I had been sitting outside messing around with a Flamenco acoustic guitar I’d just bought, and it flowed out in the moment. I was determined it would have a life.”

High Plains Drifter is the first release from Hammett's Portals EP, which the guitarist previously described as "soundtracks to the movies in your mind.” The EP is set for release on Blackened Recordings on April 23.