Virginia Fuel, Virginia's local chapter of the Metallica Club, published an interview with Lars Ulrich's longtime assistance Steven Wiig. Here is excerpt from the chat:
Have you had a chance to listen to the new stuff that Metallica is working on?
Steve Wiig: "I hear it all of the time. I can't get away from it. I'm usually in or around the studio with them. There's some fast stuff, heavy stuff, slow stuff. There's some stuff on there that sounds a little bit closer to the "Fade to Black" / "Sanitarium" / "One"-style. the clean riff thing, a great melody. Verse stuff with the heavy chorus and the ending blows the shit out of the roof. It's cool to hear them doing that kind of thing again. That's what Rick Rubin has been saying; don't be afraid of doing more of what you do really well. Don't try to reinvent the wheel. Just make a really good Metallica album."
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So far as far as I know James is doing all of the lyrics, and not necessarily like what was done for "St. Anger". I’d imagine Rubin would want James to go off into his own world and tap into his own things and get lyrics that come from the heart. I think James' track record has definitely shown he is capable of coming up with some deep lyrics when he taps into it on his own. I'm anxious to hear what he digs up lyrically."
Steven Ray Wiig is an American musician and film actor. He is the drummer in the band Papa Wheelie, fronted by former Metallica bass player Jason Newsted and appears in the films Into the Wild under director Sean Penn and Some Kind of Monster. He currently resides in Sausalito, Marin County, California and works with Metallica. He is a close friend and Personal Assistant to Lars Ulrich.
Credits for the info to encycmet.com.
I'm even more exited when I didn't get tickets for a show!! 
