Metallica close to completing new album

LOS ANGELES, Aug. 24 (UPI) -- Members of the U.S. rock group Metallica say they are close to completing a new album after two years of work.

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich said he has been besieged by requests for information about "Death Magnetic," but is maintaining his silence until it is finished, the Los Angeles Times reported Sunday.

"I'm one day from disowning the record. In the morning I can talk about it as part of my past. For months people have been asking me what the new record is like. I've told them, 'I don't know, I'm too close to it,'" Ulrich said Friday.

The final mix of "Magnetic" is due from the band Sept. 12 and the rockers say they hope their first new album in five years will help them overcome the stigma associated with their 2004 film "Metallica: Some Kind of Monster."

"I feel like it's an albatross around our neck," guitarist Kirk Hammett told the Times of "Monster," which showed the band mates bickering and engaged in therapy. "I hope this new album will come out and make it clear that we've moved on. We're much more unified and mature."