He's not considered a good drummer, I don't know a lot about it but watching them live he certainly stands out at times where he seems a little behind or ahead quite often.
He's garbage. Being kind at least he's developed an idiosyncratic 'style' that fits the music Metallica make and works most of the time, but I always wonder how good they'd sound with an actually decent drummer. For example, Larnell Lewis in this video kills Ulrich on one hearing and playthrough of this song
I've read a bit about Metallica and seen a few documentaries and heard the criticism of Ulrich and how producers and Hetfield would be pissed off at his inability to get the drums right for tracks.
Read about it, the guy is an egotistical prick and a bang average drummer. Some Kind of Monster is superb .
Used to annoy me when I saw James play and people would sit down when they sung sit down. ****ing infuriating literal interpretation of that song.
RIP Paul Jackson. Amazing bass player in Herbie Hancock's band. For all my fellow Jazz ****ers @The Ginger Marks @pieguts @luvgonzo
