In an interview with Australian magazine "The Music"s official podcast in March 2019, Trujillo said that Metallica had begun jamming on new material for its next studio album. "I'm excited about the next record because I believe it will also be a culmination of the two records and another journey. There's no shortage of original ideas, that's the beauty of being in this band." He estimated that the album would be released "a lot sooner than the previous two did... this time around I think we'll be able to jump on it a lot quicker and jump in the studio and start working. We've all vowed to get this one going sooner than later." In an interview with Australian magazine "Mixdown" the following month, Hammett said that the band had tentative plans to enter the studio after the conclusion of its WorldWired Tour. He stated, "We're in our third year since "Hardwired". Maybe we can get a bit more focus and go into the studio a bit sooner." After not contributing any writing to "Hardwired... to Self-Destruct", Hammett said regarding his ideas for the new album, "I have a ton of material. I've over-compensated, so I'm ready to go anytime."