Metallica's Lars Ulrich says there is a ''very good chance'' the band could make a quarantine album.

The heavy metal group's drummer has revealed he and his bandmates - James Hetfield, Robert Trujillo and Kirk Hammett - have been discussing ''how we can just be a band again'' post-lockdown and he also teased that if they are still stuck at home in six months' time, they are bound to make their first record since 2016's 'Hardwired... to Self-Destruct'.

In a chat on Twitter with Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, Lars said: ''The people that make the software and all the stuff that we use to record are sitting right now trying to figure out how Lars and James and Kirk and Rob can make a Metallica record from four different locations in four different states. That's obviously something that we're very excited about.''

Quizzed on the prospect of them making an album remotely during the coronavirus pandemic, Lars said: ''A lot of that will do with how long the stay at home orders are in place and a lot of that will have to do with if there's a second wave of the virus. Who knows what our world will look like six months from now?

''But obviously, the one thing you can depend on from creative people, for better or worse, is that they can't sit still for very long and I can tell you that one these weekly Metallica Zoom sessions we are talking about how we can just be a band again.''

He added: ''I can tell you that all four of us are really excited about what that could look like. Will there be a Metallica quarantine record?

''I can't tell you because I can't tell you how long the quarantine will last, but if you and I and the rest of the world are still sitting here six months or a year from now, I can say there's a very good chance.''

The sticksman's comments on the prospect of new tunes from the 'Enter Sandman' hitmakers come after guitarist Kirk revealed he has tonnes of ''kick-ass'' material ready for the band to work on, as losing ''500 musical ideas'' when his iPhone broke made him ''produce twice as much''.

He said: ''I have a lot of stuff written that I've put aside for the band -- a lot of stuff.

''Because last album, I didn't have any stuff, 'cause I lost most of my ideas when I lost my phone - over 500 musical ideas ... It took me a long time to recover from that.

''And I got it into my head I had to produce twice as much - basically, I overcompensated.

''So, as it stands, as we speak, I have a lot of material - really kick-ass, great material - that I just can't wait to show the other guys and turn into some music, record, get the album out and have more kick-ass metal.''