"We haven't been able to sit down, actually, and write music together for an album for, in a long time," Newsted says. "It's been five years since we did that. It'll be cool to see what happens, what people come in with. A lot has happened in the last five years for everybody — kids coming in, changes in the way we look at things. And I think that if the three songs we've written this year for Metallica [including two for the S&M project] are any indicators of what is to come, I have a lot of confidence in the potential and a lot of excitement about what's going to come out."