Metallica will apparently end at some point

The good news is that Kirk Hammett thinks that Metallica can only go on so long.

The bad news?

The 51-year-old guitarist hopes the band can work out a plan which means they can play for the next 20 years but he's not very hopeful.

He said: ''I personally think we have another 10. Maybe that's one album, maybe that's two albums, I don't know.''

There's a potential break point in 2024, but there's a danger they'll still be dragging themselves round, slaughtering wildlife and moaning about technology until 2034. That means they'll be hanging around for as long as Switzerland's nuclear power stations. Scientists say it's too close to call which institution will create the most toxic crap in that time.

What has led the band to realise that tempus fugit?

Watching the Stones, apparently:

Kirk said: ''I saw the Stones last year in San Francisco and I thought they played fucking great, and for a bunch of guys who are 70-plus, it was a pretty amazing feat.

Hang about, Kirk - although there's an element of backhandness to that 'brilliant for old guys', you might want to really hammer it home:

''I don't know if we can do what we do when we're in our 70s, because playing one of our songs is equal to playing eight Stones songs in terms of physical energy and intensity.'

Yeah, they're brilliant for old guys playing songs that are only 12.5% of a Metallica song. That's nailed it.

Metallica fans don't want anything surprising - Metallica

There are, you suspect, a great many bands who know, in their hearts, that their fans don't really love them for their skills and novelty; all they want is a new album that sounds exactly like the last one. However soul-crushing it might be, the sane financial decision is to eschew invention in favour of repetition.

You don't often hear bands admit it, though, so a small bouquet of honesty to Kirk Hammett of Metallica, who effectively nails his fans as painfully conservative:

I've learned that there's a signature METALLICA sound, and if we stray too far from that, our fans get impatient, or they just don't understand, or they miss the point. And I'm not saying that's a good thing or a bad thing; it's just something we have to contend with.

Same as last time, then, guys? Yep, same as last time.