Artists Pick the Best Albums and Singles of 2008

MY FAVORITE ALBUM
BY LARS ULRICH
of Metallica

Gods of the Earth by the Sword

We're fortunate to have this heavy-metal band from Austin out playing with us, and we've got them playing shows on our days off so that we can go see them. I'm a product of British metal — Iron Maiden, Saxon, Angel Witch — and the Sword sound like the definitive new wave of British heavy metal, which is interesting coming from four guys from Texas. The arrangements, the intros and outros, the middle eights and that type of stuff, it reminds me of Deep Purple, Black Sabbath or Judas Priest. They're not really a young Metallica, but that's because they're cooler than we were.

Photo: Getty