If you’ve seen Metallica recently, you know that the band is getting older. The group’s four members have greying hair and infinitely more dad jokes than in their heyday. But, you’d also note that the band can still rip and has not lost their affinity for the heavy. 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct was their 6th consecutive album to hit No. 1 on the Billboard 200, and their 10th consecutive album to feature loads of muscular guitar riffs and wailing solos. And guitarist Kirk Hammett, who’s been in the band since 1983, is a big part of that.
But it’s a song without Metallica that our latest appreciation for Hammett arrives. On a new song from Michael Schenker, best known as the guitarist from UFO and Scorpions, Hammett holds back nothing, letting loose a fierce guitar solo that shreds in a way that’s rare to hear. Maybe it was the fact that Hammett was collaborating with one of his idols that brought out the best in him, but regardless, it’s a throwback track that demands devil horns thrown into the air. When all is said an done, Hammett leaves the collab as more than a fan, with Schenker telling Revolver he now considers him a friend.
Check out Kirk Hammett’s guest appearance on Michael Schenker’s “Heart And Soul” above, and look for Schenker’s album, Resurrection, due on March 2nd.
