LARS ULRICH Says New METALLICA Album Sounds 'Very Human'

Timothy Finn of The Kansas City Star recently conducted an interview with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. An excerpt from the chat follows below.

The Kansas City Star: What does "Death Magnetic" remind you of?

Ulrich: It reminds me of a METALLICA record. I have a tendency when I think of METALLICA records to think of snapshots from when the record was made. So when I think of "Master of Puppets" I have a tendency to think of where we were when we were writing it. I know that sounds boring, but I don't have some superexotic sound bite.

The Kansas City Star: What do you think of the record, then? What's your reaction to it?

Ulrich: When we're making a record, or we've just finished it, I've learned you can get so high on the process itself that whatever it is you've done sounds golden. To give the most neutral answer possible, you have to get away from it for a while so you can assess it and judge it. When I heard it in the car two weeks ago for the first time since we finished it, I thought it sounded very human. It sounded like a bunch of guys playing music together instead of some prefabricated, sterile, all-life-sucked-out-of-it kind of record.

The Kansas City Star: Was that the intent going in?

Ulrich: When we met with [producer] Rick [Rubin] a couple of years ago, he said he really wanted to make a record that captures the energy we produce when we play together. He felt like we'd never captured that before. When I hear this record, it sounds like that kind of energy, that kind of in-your-face pummeling kind of thing. It sounds like it's got a lot of attitude and dynamics and energy; and it sounds like a bunch of people who are alive on planet Earth and playing music together and having a pretty good time doing it. It also got me where I was going a little faster — in the car. So that's always good. If you're running late, put on the METALLICA record. You'll get there faster. I've known Rick for a long time. I've known him longer than I've known Bob [Rock, previous METALLICA producer]. He's always been a friend, and I've always wondered what it would be like to work with him. It was great. We needed to make a change, and we made a change. We kind of let Rick steer the ship; me and James [Hetfield] especially tried to hang back and let Rick make all the big-picture decisions. Rick is very different from Bob. He has a very different way of doing things. Rick is not a musician; he's not a "technical" guy. He's the kind of guy who hangs out on the couch and listens to songs with his eyes closed and says, "Why don't we try this or that?" It's a very different kind of thing. He doesn't sit there and go, "Double the last chords up" or "Go to F-sharp instead of G." He's more "big picture." He says things like, "You guys aren't playing together. Play together. Listen to each other when you're playing." That's the kind of comments you get back, more so than, "Play some different notes on the guitar solo." He's not that specific. He's got a different kind of way of doing things then anyone we've ever worked with. … It's very, like you said, intuitive. It feels like there's an element of — and I mean this in a positive way — an element of chaos. I don't think he really knows what's coming next week.

Read the entire interview from The Kansas City Star.