Kirk Hammett is famously known as the guitarist extraordinaire from Metallica. He has played on the classic albums by Metallica that sold millions around the world and made him famous and highly respected as a musician in the process. He famously stated that he plays guitar at least 364 days of the year, a passionate commitment to the instrument. Although Metallica had never really permitted their lineup at any stage to do solo projects, the time had come for Kirk Hammett to shine and create this EP, which is worth observing as Metallica usually is seen as a force of James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich at work, along with (arguably) those two men’s egos. Kirk had obviously needed to express his own unique creativity as a result. Let’s hear this EP and hopefully, it will be a decent listening experience.

Maiden and the Monster is a seven minute long opening piece. It begins with a slow fade-in and spacey keyboard based intro, followed quickly by backwards guitars. Kirk gets playing nicely here, and he shows the world what he has got, musically speaking. A really good listen from the start, this is much better than expected. Some lovely guitar licks are present here, and the whole thing sounds like a great sonic adventure. Soon enough, this launches into some pseudo-classical and dark musical sounds. Kirk shows his real musical prowess here, and the music continues to grow and evolve throughout. Sure, it’s more textural than a consistent piece of music, but it works well nonetheless. Kirk Hammett’s playing on this tune is very, very good. The sounds throughout are really quite dark and demonic. Around the middle, this tune gets back into Classical Music mode and melodic listening. This is a bit mixed here to listen to. Sure, this is a good effort, but it doesn’t sound all that pleasant. Eventually, drums enter in the second half and this piece continues along nicely. It does sound really good and fine throughout this section, being a very refreshing listening experience. The layers of sheer melodicism here are very tuneful, interesting and excellent. Kirk plays like nobody else, and in many ways, is inimitable as a guitarist. Nonetheless a good start to this EP, this is the sort of music that would be played in films and such. Nonetheless, a very good tune to hear. It gets very loud at the end and concludes well.

The Jinn begins with some eerie and weird sounds, quickly having some additional dark and heavy textures seep in. Kirk Hammett begins playing some slow-ish leads here on guitar, and this piece begins to progress nicely. The sounds here are fairly unique, albeit not outright consistent. Still, this is an interesting listen. It’s not outright bad but is fairly forgettable. A violin is played expressively here, which adds some tasty playing to the mix. Soon afterwards, some fairly Metallica-esque guitar riffs enter, along with a violin as well. Good to hear. There is a violin solo afterwards, followed by a synchronised guitar part to match here. Pounding drums follow afterwards, and this tune becomes alive. It’s okay, but honestly, this stuff should have been saved for a Metallica album. This is followed by some screaming guitar solos throughout, with a load of wah-wah added to it. The music here is okay, but not phenomenal listening. The drumming is pounding and powerful and sounds excellent on its own. The violin playing returns, followed by a load of Progressive Metal styled guitars. This is good for what it is, but not absolutely amazing. Kirk does play very nicely here, but all the same, this is fairly average music. It ends with some bass guitar grooving and droning sounding violin. This finishes after nearly seven minutes. It’s okay, but not brilliant.

High Plains Drifter is also the name of a Beastie Boys song. Regardless, it begins with some interesting acoustic guitars and viola to match. It retains its Classical Music overtones here. A full-on orchestra follows. This is obviously very intelligent music, but it sounds very different musically from anything Metallica ever attempted. In fact, this is not a million miles away from Progressive Rock/Metal in its orientation. Marching drums follow, and this tune gets powering along. It is a strange listening experience, but somewhat satisfying. Eventually, clanging piano and acoustic guitars play some good melodies, followed by drums and a multitude of other instruments. Palm-muted guitars follow, and this tune gets going. This is fairly good for what it is, and Kirk Hammett plays nicely along with an orchestra. Very intellectual and different, this is very much audio/visual music in a cinematic way. Great to hear. Some awesome guitar soloing emerges near the end of this tune, and this finishes with a lone acoustic guitar section and orchestration to match. Decent.

The Incantation is the final track on this EP and the longest at over eight minutes long. It begins with keyboard swells and a lone trumpet. This is different and interesting, even if the vibe here sounds somewhat off. This is exactly what Miles Davis would record if he were alive today and into Metal. Some loud and punchy guitars enter, and there are some great drum rolls and other pieces of awesome instrumentation to match. Soon enough, this gets going with some awesome and interesting sounds. It is a good mish-mash of Heavy Metal music and Classical influences here. The sounds and playing throughout are really quite awesome, even if this does feel like a formulaic exercise at times. Some terrible wah-wah guitar enters, which sound really quite awful. This definitely should have been edited or rewritten, it does not sound good. This continues on for some time, as Kirk does some technically impressive yet melodically poor guitar soloing. Following are some crunchy rhythm guitars before this breaks into a strange midsection. There is some great bass guitar playing and drumming, followed by a weird electric sitar present here. This is very weird musically as well, and to be fair, it is not that good to hear either. This sounds much more like an exercise in musical jokery than anything else, really. Sure, Kirk needed to do his own thing here, but this does not help on a musical level. In the second half, there is a thunderous and different musical mixture of Classical orchestration and awful Metal guitars. Again, Kirk Hammett plays well but this is not a great piece of music. Regardless, this is indeed interesting but awful. Granted, Kirk can play but the melodies here are definitely not the best. Eventually, the guitars stop after a gong hit and a trumpet plays again. It’s okay, but certainly lacking. Kirk plays some final melodies on guitar, and this piece concludes. Ordinary.

This is not the greatest example of music by Metallica’s Kirk Hammett. It should have been a decent representation of his ability to craft great guitar leads. Instead, this comes across as musical jokery (for want of a better description) and although Kirk’s playing is exceptionally good here, it is not matched by memorable melodies or wonderful music. Therefore, this is a bit of a failure upon listening. It’s not totally bad but there is very little good about it, either. Should you listen to this EP? Only if you really dig Metallica and feel that hearing Kirk do a poor solo effort is worth it. Otherwise, avoid it.

Very disappointing and average.

5/10