Slayer’s Dave Lombardo defends Metallica’s Lars Ulrich: “I admonish the people who talk shit about him”

nme.com:

Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich often receives – claiming he “admonishes” those who “talk shit about him”.The drummer – who was formerly a member of both Slayer and Testament, and now plays in the extreme metal project Empire State Bastard – spoke out against the hate that is often aimed towards the thrash musician in a new interview with Metal Hammer, and expressed his appreciation for Ulrich.The conversation arose when the interviewer asked Lombardo whether or not he feels the Metallica drummer gets unfairly dismissed by many metal fans, and often has his influence on the band overlooked.“Absolutely!” he said. “I admonish the people who talk shit about him, I don’t like that.

You have to embrace who Lars is, and his contribution to Metallica’s sound.”He also explained that he saw another legendary metal drummer – Mario Duplantier of Gojira – rush to defend Ulrich in a recent interview, and fully agrees with his stance.“I saw Mario Duplantier recently talking about Lars, saying some kind words,” he recalled, referring to a recent interview on The Downbeat podcast earlier this year. “I feel Lars is an essential part of that band – anybody else and it just won’t sound the same.”“[With Metallica,] they’re such an inspirational band, and everybody wants to be as big as they are, and you can only do that by taking risks,” he continued. “They shocked people when they cut their hair or whatever, but it was part of their evolution and they clearly knew what they were doing.

I love that they’re still out there, kicking ass.”Elsewhere in the interview with the outlet, Lombardo also revealed the contemporary drummers he admires, in particular, Exodus’ Tom Hunting.“There were so many great drummers, I can’t just pinpoint one,” he.