Metallica's Lars Ulrich Addresses Fan Complaints Over New Album

BY Brock ThiessenPublished Sep 30, 2008

As we previously reported, there have been a few grumbles and groans over the sound quality of Metallica’s new Death Magnetic. In fact, there have been nearly 13,000 of them, and that’s just counting the number of fans who have signed an online petition demanding the band either remix or remaster the album, which many are calling "too loud,” "unclean” and in desperate need of some dynamic range. Well, Metallica’s little skin-hitting Dane, Lars Ulrich, has heard what some fans have been saying about his beloved Death Magnetic and he has a message for them — zip it.

In a recent interview with Blender, the ever-outspoken Ulrich defended the audio quality of the band’s new album, saying the CD version just as good as the one for Guitar Hero and, above all, it’s "fuckin’ smokin.’”

"Listen, there's nothing up with the audio quality. It's 2008, and that's how we make records,” he said. "[Producer] Rick Rubin's whole thing is to try and get it to sound lively, to get it sound loud, to get it to sound exciting, to get it to jump out of the speakers. Of course, I've heard that there are a few people complaining. But I've been listening to it the last couple of days in my car, and it sounds fuckin' smokin'."

Ulrich also reminded us that this isn’t the first time Metallica has received complaints over the sound quality of an album. "You gotta remember, when we put out ...And Justice for All, people were going, 'What happened to these guys, this record? There's no bass on it. It sounds like it was recorded in a fuckin’ garage on an eight-track.' And now ...And Justice for All is sort of the seminal Metallica record that supposedly influenced a whole generation of death metal bands."

Later, Ulrich added: "The internet gives everybody a voice, and the internet has a tendency to give the complainers a louder voice. Listen, I can't keep up with this shit. Part of being in Metallica is that there's always somebody who's got a problem with something that you're doing."

So, is Metallica going to cave? Are they going to redo their supposedly sonically inferior Death Magnetic? Not likely. The band’s management recently told the Wall Street Journal that 98 percent of listeners had an overwhelmingly positive reaction to Death Magnetic. And by the sounds of, this seems to be good enough for Ulrich, no matter is if there’s an online petition against him, or even a Facebook group.

"I'm not gonna sit here and get caught up in whether [the sound] 'clips' or it doesn't 'clip,'" Ulrich added. "I don't know what kind of stereos these people listen on. Me and James [Hetfield] made a deal that we would hang back a little and not get in the way of whatever Rick's vision was. That's not to put it on him — it's our record, I'll take the hit, but we wanted to roll with Rick's vision of how Metallica would sound."

Metallica’s Death Magnetic — a CD vs Guitar Hero comparison

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