In an interview with Marc Benioff in April 2020, Ulrich stated that Metallica could work on its next studio album while in quarantine. Trujillo told "The Vinyl Guide" in June that the band was "excited about cultivating new ideas" for its new album. "We communicate every week, which is really great, so we have our connection intact [...] what we've started doing is basically just really concentrating on our home studios and being creative from our homes and navigating through ideas and building on new ideas. And that's where we're at right now". He also said that the band was working towards eventually entering a studio to record the album.