TheVine.com out of Australia recently caught up with METALLICA drummer Lars Ulrich. An excerpt from the interview is available below.

Q: Has playing the Death Magnetic songs in amongst your back catalogue made you understand the record in a different way?

Ulrich: "I would say the main thing the last two years have done for Death Magnetic is made me appreciate it even more. And this is coming from a guy who has not always had a great relationship with [our] records once they're done. There's been a lot of questions, a lot of raised eyebrows, a lot of 'What were we thinking?'. And that has sometimes set in rather quickly.

Every record's always been a very compulsive, momentary, instinctive kind of thing. A very pure thing. But in the wake of that, three months later or six months later, it's always like...you sit there and go 'What the fuck were we thinking?'. But with Death Magnetic, which we finished about two and a half years ago, I can definitely tell you that we've never had a record that has been appreciated by members of the band - at least speaking for myself - for as long as Death Magnetic. I heard three or four songs in the car while I was home on the last break [from touring]; it still sounded amazing. I was listening to one of the songs earlier just to check on something that we have to play tonight, and it still sounds great. Two and a half years later. It just blows my head off. So I can absolutely tell you that there's no Metallica record that's stayed in such a positive light as Death Magnetic has for me. Which is a good thing. It also makes me a little wary about it. As we're sitting there thinking about the next record [laughs]."

Q: It must be encouraging in that, arguably, that record was celebrating your history. And it's been so well received, comparatively.

Ulrich: "Oh yeah. The best thing about those songs, in a live situation, is how effortlessly they all slot in with all the older stuff."

Q: There must be kids that are getting Death Magnetic first. And going back.

Ulrich: "Sure, it's worked out rather well. I never expected it to work out quite that well. I think there's always been - sometimes been - a borderline elitist reluctance to embrace the new records from some fans. Because if you embrace the new records in some way, it's [somehow perceived] as a diss on the old stuff. Which I've never quite been able to understand. But this record has really been embraced by the fans, it's probably the most openly embraced Metallica record since the first four."

Go to this location for the complete interview.

As previously reported, Cherry Lane Music will issue The Sound & The Fury, a new educational book/CD from METALLICA guitarist Kirk Hammett, on March 9th.

In 1993, Guitar World introduced a column called The Sound & The Fury, penned by Metallica's master of metal guitar himself, Kirk Hammett. In his column, Kirk didn't just talk about his licks, riffs, warm-ups, and techniques – he taught them. He also answered questions on every imaginable topic sent in by readers, making the column a major hit that ran for years. This book combines all of Kirk's columns into one volume, with an accompanying CD of demos played by Nick Bowcott.

The book's song list:

'..And Justice For All'

'Battery'

'Creeping Death'

'Damage, Inc.'

'Enter Sandman'

'For Whom The Bell Tolls'

'Hero Of The Day'

'The House Jack Built'

'Human'

'King Nothing'

'Master Of Puppets'

'Nothing Else Matters'

'Of Wolf And Man'

'One'

'Orion'

'Poor Twisted Me'

'The Thing That Should Not Be'

'Through The Never'

'Welcome Home (Sanitarium)'

Further details and pre-order at this location.