Will there ever be a more controversial figure in heavy metal than Metallica’s Lars Ulrich?
In a recent interview with Australia’s Heavy Magazine (transcribed by Blabbermouth), former HIM frontman Ville Valo gave his two cents on the Metallica drummer. The interview touched on the thrash band’s infamous 2004 documentary “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” following the band through their recording sessions around St. Anger.
Valo gave his perspective on the band choosing to document the entire process and all of the drama during that time period:
“To be honest with you, Metallica can do whatever they wanna do after the great albums they’ve made,” Valo says. “And they were trying to survive as well, and I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s a ton of bands who’ve gone through very similar things.
“But Metallica, for whatever reason, chose to do it in public. I think that’s the main thing that is the issue here.”
He also goes into whether or not he would take part in a documentary around his own recording process:
“I’m a very… a bit shy, or I don’t wanna draw too much attention to myself, as we Finns usually, it’s the way we are — a bit hermit-like. So it feels so weird, the whole Metallica thing, when it came out. Because in our culture, it’s important to keep some stuff to yourself.
“Or the other way around — it’s not necessary to open up everything [to the outside world]. But then again, maybe that was the thing they needed to do to be able to make great albums afterwards.”
Lastly, he looks at Metallica as a whole, offering huge praise to Ulrich and his place in rock music.
“I love Lars. I think after [Led Zeppelin drummer] John Bonham, Lars is probably one of the most important drummers. He has such a recognizable style.”
We’ll probably continue to debate Ulrich’s virtues until the end of time. Where do you stand on Lars’ contributions?