Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich’s new interview with Louder Sound saw him reveal his picks for the best and worst Metallica album, and the results may surprise you.
When asked about the best record he has ever made, many fans may assume that Ulrich would opt for an album from Metallica’s heyday of the ’80s and ’90s.
However, he instead chose 2016’s Hardwired… To Self-Destruct, the band’s most recent studio album.
Ulrich explained that it was the record he has the “fewest issues with,” as well as the one that “still sounds the most representative of [his] current headspace.”
Conversely, when made to pick his worst record, Ulrich went with Kill ’Em All, Metallica’s 1983 debut.
While Ulrich insisted that the band haven’t made a bad record, he conceded that the album sounded like “a very long time ago.”
“Without pussying out, I don’t look at any of them as mistakes,” he said.
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“Kill ’Em All sounds like a very long time ago, a lot of youthful energy on that one… but I’m very at ease with the past.”
Throughout the interview, Ulrich also touched on several more bests and worsts, including his favourite band and singer.
For both categories, Ulrich paid tribute to Aussie legends AC/DC, along with the late Bon Scott.
“Bon Scott was the coolest singer ever – the vocal delivery, the tongue-in-cheek double entendres and the magnetic personality,” he said.
“Those early AC/DC records – Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, Let There Be Rock, Powerage, Highway To Hell – are just fucking timeless.”
On the subject of the greatest album of all time, Ulrich declined to choose just one, instead naming Deep Purple’s Made In Japan, Diamond Head’s Lightning To The Nations, Motörhead’s No Sleep ’Til Hammersmith, Oasis’s Definitely Maybe and Rage Against The Machine’s self-titled debut.