Let's Be Honest: The Drum Work On And Justice For All Is...

Legend has it that there was some "robotic assistance" to Lars' drumming on the track "Dyer's Eve" because the tempo was too fast for him to keep up with by himself. That could be just Lars-hatin' B.S. though.

Fat Freddy wrote:

Legend has it that there was some "robotic assistance" to Lars' drumming on the track "Dyer's Eve" because the tempo was too fast for him to keep up with by himself. That could be just Lars-hatin' B.S. though.

That's the kind of stuff I'm talking about. No one ever said this kind of thing until around Load and Reload, when it was clear that Metallica was never going back to the metal roots. This was the time when Lars showed his interest in wine and art, and the band wore make-up and feather boas in the album art. I don't buy the coincidence.

I dont buy into all that B.S either.I dont have much love for Lars but I've seen him play live and know for a fact the dude could hold is own.

I don't buy the B.S. myself and enjoy all Metallica albums through TBA and think Lars used to be a really good drummer before they got LOADed down (pun emphasized). And yes, Hetfield is WAY overrated, though I did like his vocals.

I'll be honest, in my younger days I thought Lars Ulrich was one helluva great drummer. Then back around 1989 or so I got to see Sepultura on their first tour of the US. My brother and I were up at the front of the crowd against the stage, and we happened to be in a spot where I had a clear view of everything Igor Cavalera was doing on the drum kit. He was a MACHINE! I think I watched more of him than any of the other band members. Amazing drummer!! When we left the club that night I remember thinking "Screw Lars Ulrich, I have just seen the new King!"

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'll be honest, in my younger days I thought Lars Ulrich was one helluva great drummer. Then back around 1989 or so I got to see Sepultura on their first tour of the US. My brother and I were up at the front of the crowd against the stage, and we happened to be in a spot where I had a clear view of everything Igor Cavalera was doing on the drum kit. He was a MACHINE! I think I watched more of him than any of the other band members. Amazing drummer!! When we left the club that night I remember thinking "Screw Lars Ulrich, I have just seen the new King!"

Yeah Igor is a monster behind the kit.

Watch the video of "A Year and a Half in the Life of Metallica"...look at how many reels of drum overdubs they load into the van...they spent MONTHS recording drum tracks, Lars tracking little bits and pieces that they could stitch together in the mix. You don't need Pro Tools to do that...just a multi-track tape recorder with plenty of spare tracks. I'm sure the same process was used on Justice. That's not necessarily a sin either, most rock bands do LOADS of overdubs.

It's not like a jazz recording where everything is played live and if there's mistakes...then they are there on the album.

thrasher73 wrote:

Fat Freddy wrote:

I'll be honest, in my younger days I thought Lars Ulrich was one helluva great drummer. Then back around 1989 or so I got to see Sepultura on their first tour of the US. My brother and I were up at the front of the crowd against the stage, and we happened to be in a spot where I had a clear view of everything Igor Cavalera was doing on the drum kit. He was a MACHINE! I think I watched more of him than any of the other band members. Amazing drummer!! When we left the club that night I remember thinking "Screw Lars Ulrich, I have just seen the new King!"

Yeah Igor is a monster behind the kit.

Damn skippy... and it was all the more amazing cuz he wasn't using his own drums ...they only brought their guitars over from Brazil with'em, so he was playing on the opening act (Faith or Fear)'s drums

Lombardo > everyone else

Opinions on personality aside, Ive never thought Lars to be a great drummer. Good, but thats about as far as I'd go.

here here. i think all the thing about lars being a bad drummer is that there are not eight hundred kick drums beats a minute or something stupid like that

GrandNational wrote:

Eyesore wrote:

spectrefate wrote:

It was flawless because it was mechanized.

A drum machine, huh?

About a decade ago, a drummer buddy of mine had told me that a majority Lars's drumming had been manipulated in the studio, specially on AJFA. I have no reason to doubt this, I don't think personally he could have pulled off that kind of drumming without some help. Dave Lombardo he's not.

Lombardo is overrated.

Explain how Lars plays this stuff live, then?

Eyesore wrote:

spectrefate wrote:

It was flawless because it was mechanized.

A drum machine, huh?

Nah. The drums are phenomenal. I think he blew out his knees or something on that one, because he was never even close to being that good again.

mc666 wrote:

Lombardo > everyone else

True but thats beside the point

What about this MC,whos better Lombardo or Hoglan?

thrasher73 wrote:

mc666 wrote:

Lombardo > everyone else

True but thats beside the point

What about this MC,whos better Lombardo or Hoglan?

perhaps i was not clear...
Lombardo > everyone else

I got to be honest, it sounds like crap to me. The drum work itself is pretty good, but the tone is just not heavy enough to fit in with the guitars. Just my opinion, so don't start a flame war.

mc666 wrote:

thrasher73 wrote:

mc666 wrote:

Lombardo > everyone else

True but thats beside the point

What about this MC,whos better Lombardo or Hoglan?

perhaps i was not clear...
Lombardo > everyone else

Gene Hoglan is far better.

Eyesore wrote:

Gene Hoglan is far fatter.

that's obvious

Lars knew what he wanted to sound like, brought underground bands into the forefront and never really could play like them. He's decent and I give him props for sticking with his influences, he just didn't have the chops. 'alica as a whole is better then their parts.

I think he "knew" what he wanted to sound like.

I'm glad you agree with me.

The drumming is pretty good, but it ain't the greatest thing in the world. I still view Lars as very overrated, yet that doesn't mean I think he's worthless.

This thread has nothing to do with Lars's drumming overall.

This is one of the albums that I would actually practice to and learn how to play drums from. I used to be able to play the whole album beat by beat. I probably forgot a lot of it by now but I thought lars' drumming was great. At the time this was the heaviest band I would listen to. I really dont think lars used any drum machines or any of that nonsense up until the black album which was a lot of cut and paste, but really which band doesnt do that? Especially nowadays everyones so obsessed about everything being on "the click" that things have to be touched up during recording.

Theres a couple of reasons why lars' playing has gotten worse over the years. Age being one but also look at his drum kit compared to what it used to be. its half the size. Listen to how he even plays motorbreath he cant do the drum roll during the chorus anymore so they just pause and continue and also Bob Rock messed these guys up so much its a shame.

Justice is a great album from start to finish.

Eyesore wrote:

This thread has nothing to do with Lars's drumming overall.

I'd say Lars peaked on JUSTICE. It's definitely his last great drumming performance.