Metallica's Lars Ulrich illegally downloads own album

'It was kind of bizarre'

Metallica drummer and notorious Napster naysayer Lars Ulrich has admitted he illegally downloaded his band’s latest album from a file-sharing website.

The heavy metal rocker told US music channel VH1 he wanted to test how the process worked.

“I sat there myself and downloaded ‘Death Magnetic’ from the internet just to try it,” he said. “I was like, ‘Wow, this is how it works.’ I figured if there is anybody that has a right to download ‘Death Magnetic’ for free, it’s me.”

Ulrich and six of his friends supped on a bottle of wine at the drummer’s house and used an unnamed file-sharing client to download the album, which was released last September.

“We found it - this was like two or three days after it leaked. I was like, ‘you know what? I’ve gotta try this.’ We sat there and 30 minutes later I had ‘Death Magnetic’ in my computer. It was kind of bizarre.”

So, Metallica’s drummer’s views about peer-to-peer downloading have clearly mellowed in recent years.

But in July 2000 it was a very different story when Ulrich testified before the Senate Judiciary Committee against Napster after the band’s entire back catalogue tipped up online.

Ulrich's comments come just days after The Pirate Bay trial drew to a close in Stockholm, Sweden. A verdict is expected on 17 April. ®