“Side-project” has long been a four-letter word in the minds of Metallica. From the moment James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich co-founded the thrash metal heavyweight in 1981, it’s been their sole outlet, with the pair seldom turning up in other artists’ music. In fact, in the case of drummer Lars, he’s only manned the kit on record for one other band.
Lars, a Dane who moved to America in 1980, has always been one of the most outspoken champions of ’80s metal that you’ll ever hear. His passion for New Wave Of British Heavy Metal heroes like Iron Maiden and Diamond Head is well documented, but another of the drummer’s greatest idols are countrymen Mercyful Fate, led by the falsetto-screeching monarch King Diamond.
“One band you can’t leave out of a conversation about Metallica’s influences are Mercyful Fate,” Lars once told Metal Hammer.
“They had long songs that were journeys through all different moods and dynamics and light and shade, and they were responsible for us lengthening our own songs. By the time we’d spent six months listening to Mercyful Fate, we’d added an extra verse, an extra chorus and started making the arrangement longer. It was a matter of trying to better it, I guess.”
The stars aligned for the diehard metalhead when Mercyful returned from a seven-year hiatus in 1992 and set about making their third album: the followup to their iconic Melissa (1983) and Don’t Break The Oath (1984) duology. The proto-black metal masters struggled to keep a drummer upon their resurrection, with former sticksman Kim Ruzz declining to return. Morten Nielsen acted as a replacement member on 1993 comeback In The Shadows and – somehow, amidst the upheaval – Lars was able to also sneak into the fold.
Lars drums on In The Shadows’ bonus track, the first fully fledged studio recording of a pre-Melissa song called Return Of The Vampire. This marks the only time the drummer has smashed the kit in the studio for a band outside Metallica (he also guested for Royal Blood in 2015, but that was just a live appearance). Lars’ performance sounds characteristically groovy through the track, the slow, heavy approach offering a strong contrast against the King’s more high-flying voice.
Lars was so proud of the fact he got to perform with Mercyful that, talking to Classic Rock, he once named Return Of The Vampire as a candidate for the song he’d want played at his funeral.
“That’s an old classic that I played on when they re-recorded it around 1993,” he said, “and maybe in some weird way Return Of The Vampire could be me in my afterlife coming back.”
Listen to Return Of The Vampire 1993 via the video player below.
Although we’re unlikely to hear Lars do any more non-Metallica drumming at this point, you can catch him on tour with the California titans from later this month. See the band’s full live schedule for the year below.
Metallica 2024 tour dates:
May 24: Munich Olympiastadion, Germany
May 26: Munich Olympiastadion, Germany
May 29: Milan I-Days Festival, Italy
Jun 01: Vienna Racino Rocks Festival, Austria
Jun 07: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland
Jun 09: Helsinki Olympic Stadium, Finland
Jun 14: Copenhagen Parken Stadium, Denmark
Jun 16: Copenhagen Parken Stadium, Denmark
Jun 26: Oslo Tons Of Rock Festival, Norway
Jun 29: Clisson Hellfest, France
Jul 05: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 07: Warsaw PGE Narodowy, Poland
Jul 12: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain
Jul 14: Madrid Estadio Cívitas Metropolitano, Spain
Aug 02: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 04: Foxborough Gillette Stadium, MA, USA
Aug 09: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 11: Chicago Soldier Field, IL, USA
Aug 16: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 18: Minneapolis US Bank Stadium, MN, USA
Aug 23: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 25: Edmonton Commonwealth Stadium, Canada
Aug 30: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 01: Seattle Lumen Field, WA, USA
Sep 20: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 22: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 27: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
Sep 29: Mexico City Foro Sol, Mexico
