Metallica’s Lars Ulrich is one of metal’s most maligned drummers. While he has often been accused of poor timing and lacklustre fills, ardent fans of his are quick to point out that above tempo and technicality, he injects their albums with heart. When the drummer was looking to recruit bandmates in 1981, he placed an advert in a local paper. It read: “Drummer looking for other metal musicians to jam with Tygers of Pan Tang, Diamond Head and Iron Maiden.”
While his admiration for the early metal pioneers is palpable across Metallica’s catalogue, some albums were far less well-received than others, with St. Anger coming top up of the list. But throughout his career, Ulrich has always been forthcoming about their missteps as well as their successes.
While talking to Vulture, briefly touched on the 2003 dud, saying it was “more of a polarizing record” and that some fans had a hard time with its musical “brutality”. Given that the record was universally panned and almost became its own running joke, his consideration of which was their most underrated album might strike a more intriguing note for Metallica fans.
Ulrich said it was a hard ask, explaining how difficult it was for him to “separate the record itself from the process and the time and place of making the record” in what felt like a nod to the personal issues that clouded many of their sessions.
From his infamous war with Napster to his volatile relationship with Hetfield, often the emotional environment Metallica recorded in dictated their quality. As Ulrich himself admitted, each record, for better or worse, had to “represent the vision of the moment,” so they’re almost like an audible litmus test for Metallica’s stability, too.
That said, two albums immediately sprang to mind as some of their best work. “If the most underrated records, i.e. the least appreciated records, are Load or Reload, then I would say I’m fine with that because I think those are pretty decent records,” he said.
“When I hear songs from either of those records, I’m pretty happy with what I hear. So that means that if the other stuff sits north of that, then that’s a good bar to have, I’m OK with that,” Ulrich continued. “If you have to kind of put them all into a sound bite: Justice [For All] the album without the bass on it. St. Anger the album without the snare. All this stuff, I’m very OK with any of that.”
He ended on a positive note, wheeling out his tired-and-true answer whenever Metallica fans asked what his favourite album was – the next one. “If I’m not more excited about the next one, what’s the point of making it?”
