METALLICA's next studio album will arrive "a lot sooner than the previous two did," according to Robert Trujillo.

Fans had to wait five years for 2008's "Death Magnetic" and eight years for 2016's "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct", but the bassist says the next disc will not take as long to complete.

Appearing on this week's "The Music" podcast ahead of METALLICA's forthcoming Australian stadium tour in October, Trujillo said the group has already begun "jamming" on new material while on the road as part of its "WorldWired" trek.

Speaking to host Neil Griffiths, Trujillo said: "We have a zone we call 'The Tuning Room' which is a space where we can jam and warm up before the show. We're always in there coming up with ideas and you may get a few seconds of an idea but everything is recorded, always. And then of course at home, everyone has got ideas.

"'Death Magnetic' was, for the most part, a collaborative effort. 'Hardwired' was more central to James's [Hetfield, guitar/vocals] specific ideas and was also taking the spirit of what we had done on the previous record.

"I'm excited about the next record because I believe it will also be a culmination of the two records and another journey. There's no shortage of original ideas, that's the beauty of being in this band."

As for a possible release date for METALLICA's next effort, Trujillo said: "It will come a lot sooner than the previous two did... this time around I think we'll be able to jump on it a lot quicker and jump in the studio and start working.

"We've all vowed to get this one going sooner than later. Now, how soon? I don't know. We've been touring non-stop. It's been over two years now. At some point, sure, we'll need to take a little bit of a break. It's sort of the right thing for us to do because we've been going so hard."

According to Billboard, "Hardwired… To Self-Destruct" was METALLICA's 12th album to sell at least a million copies since Nielsen Music began tracking sales in 1991.

In total, the group has sold 58 million albums in the U.S. in the Nielsen Music era, and owns the overall top-selling album of that span of time: its self-titled 1991 release, with nearly 17 million sold.