Metallica’s Lars Ulrich sings Judas Priest in rehearsal, praises Miley Cyrus for Chris Cornell tribute performance

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Lars Ulrich has taken a lot of flak over the years for his drumming skills, but there’s no denying the success he has had behind the kit as Metallica’s stickman. However, it’s highly doubtful that the band would have become the biggest metal band on the planet had Lars been their frontman instead of James Hetfield. Either way, we have a taste of Ulrich’s singing skills, thanks to new rehearsal footage the band just posted on YouTube.

The clip was shot in the tuning room before Metallica’s October 18th show in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. At the 7:30 mark of the video (cued up below), Lars tells his bandmates, “Let’s play ‘Delivering the Goods’,” referring to the Judas Priest song off 1978’s Killing Machine. The band then launches into the song, with Ulrich rocking the mic with his guttural voice for a couple of verses.

Interestingly enough, Jon Zazula (aka Jonny Z), who founded Megaforce Records and gave Metallica their first record deal, told Metal Hammer a few years ago that Ulrich once entertained the notion of being the band’s vocalist in their early days. “James wasn’t the most confident of singers,” explained Zazula. “I don’t think he felt comfortable. At one point there was even talk of Lars becoming the frontman. For about five seconds.”

[See Also: Ranking Every Metallica Album From Worst to Best]

In other news, Ulrich had the highest praise for Miley Cyrus after she and Metallica both performed at last week’s Chris Cornell tribute concert at The Forum in Inglewood, California. “Miley, still stunned by your next level version of ‘Say Hello 2 Heaven’ for Chris! Beyond inspiring…,” the drummer captioned an Instagram photo of himself and Cyrus, who sang the Temple of the Dog classic at the concert.

Metallica kicked off the latest North American leg of their “Worldwired Tour” this past Friday (January 18th) in Tulsa, Oklahoma. The band will follow the stateside trek with a European tour that’s scheduled through August. See their full itinerary here.

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