re: I heard that Lars was the Lou Pearlman of Metallica.

For sure. Anybody that discounts Lars after listening to Puppets and Justice, or the live shows from that era doesn't know what the frick they're talking about. And it's crazy there's so many on here that have no idea how much he contributes to the writing process.

I guess I’m just a old Metallica fan but there is no better metal to me… the reason I learned to play guitar is “to live is to die” they way they blended acoustic with distortion, so I guess I just don’t care about all the rest.
Oh and finally seeing them live when I was like 17 on Jan 1 2001 in Cleveland they started with blackened and man you could feel the bass in your chest, so hard!

Edit for: man I think it’s time to restring the old acoustic

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This is complete bullshite. His peers and other musicians disagree wholeheartedly. This is just what has become to cool thing to say since the Lars hate started at the same time as that Napster bs.

fricking amateurs thinking they're edgy when they really look dumb as hell.

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I have been a professional musician for 25+ years. And I agreed with Lars on the Napster thing, so I have no personal axe to grind.

Just listening to several tracks from live shows through the years. He was better 35 years ago and he seems to do better with the straight ahead fast stuff. But when things slow down and especially if feel and groove are needed, things often fall apart.

Here's a live clip from 2019. He speeds up and slows down at bizarre and random times. Just listen for about 30 seconds and hear 2 or 3 instances where he's rushing or dragging.

Enter Sandman 2019

Listen right after "Now I lay me down to sleep..." (3:15ish) and hear him slow down dramatically. My guess is because he has some sort of cue going on in his in-ears for the kid's voice and he realized he was waaaaay ahead. And after the kid's voice is done, he starts speeding up again, then slows down right before re-entering the chorus. And he often screws up the anticipation beat just before bar four of the chorus. And under "Grain of sand" at 3:51, that's just a mess.

Ive noticed his issues with time for a while now. Perhaps it's an age thing, but its definitely there. In this clip he starts well. Straight ahead and the time, while not metronomic, is fine. When it slows down in the middle section, things get way too loose and around the 7 minute mark it starts to sound like he is struggling with time a bit.

Master of Puppets 2019

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Is Lars one of the greatest drummers out there? Probably not but you cannot deny what he & the band accomplished with their 80’s output.

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The level of music produced by a band is often much higher than the skill level of the individual members.

There’s no denying that Lars is the business man of the group and that he plays an integral part in the writing process - specifically arranging and editing riffs with James. But from a strictly technical perspective, his drumming is pretty awful. Sure he was better 30 years ago but even then he had tempo issues and his fill transitions were meh. If I recall correctly Metallica even considered giving him the boot in the mid 80s. I mean he’s got the snare crash thing… so there’s that.