When Metallica performs at Conseco Fieldhouse next Thursday, it will be the band's first indoor show in Indianapolis since Market Square Arena was demolished in 2001. Drummer Lars Ulrich says he has fond memories of the old building, which helped the band realize its popularity during a tour to promote the ". . . And Justice for All" album in 1988. "I remember that Indianapolis, for some reason, was kind of the measuring stick. 'If we can go and play in Indianapolis and do well there, then we've cracked middle America,' " Ulrich said during a phone interview. "We played an awesome show. People were into it and we were into it. I thought, 'Maybe this thing is going to work after all.' " The film "Some Kind of Monster," currently playing at AMC Castleton Arts, provides an unvarnished look at Metallica's recent history -- including periods in which vocalist-guitarist James Hetfield underwent substance-abuse rehabilitation and the entire band entered therapy. Ulrich says Metallica plowed through two decades without sitting down to assess their interpersonal relationships. As raw-nerved as "Monster" appears, the drummer says the documentary was worth the musicians' investment of time and aggravation: The Star: James came back from working on some of his problems and it looked unlikely that he'd continue on with Metallica. What happened to change that? Ulrich: After he came back and he was ready to sit down and talk, we realized that ultimately -- even though we had a lot of resentment about things from the past -- we felt that we were survivors. We were always ready to dig in and go the extra mile to try to make the best of what Metallica was, what Metallica needed, what Metallica stood for. Although for the first couple of months when he came back, there wasn't a lot of love. Still, we probably had more in common than not. Our love for playing music and the love for Metallica as a separate entity was big enough to see if we could make it happen. Not everybody gets a chance to see their personal discussions and debates played back on film. What went through your mind as you watched those moments? "What's with the third chin?" "What's with the receding hairline?" I can't give you any dramatic revelations about what happens as you sit and watch some of that. You realize certain things about how you communicate with people. Every time you see it, you have different reactions. I've seen it by myself at home. I've seen it with five people, 50 people, 500 people. Every time, the experience is different. Sometimes I'm really focusing on certain things that are going on with the people, sometimes I'm completely tripping on how well the thing is edited together. If nothing else, it's good for us to see because it's given us a chance to kind of look in the mirror and realize certain things about ourselves. Metallica has earned acclaim in many ways for a long time. Now, some people are calling "Some Kind of Monster" the best rock 'n' roll movie in history. Was that ever on your to-do list as your career progressed? Yeah, in between dropping the kids off for school and picking them up (laughs). Of course not. Anybody who knows anything about us knows that we've always been interested in pushing the creative envelope as far as possible. With the success that we've been fortunate enough to have, it's given us freedom to push that envelope. Having a relationship with Joe (Berlinger) and Bruce (Sinofsky) back to (1996 crime documentary) "Paradise Lost," I certainly felt there was some sort of project there somewhere. They really wanted to do something with us. Nobody really knew what shape it would take, but these types of collaborations have to start in a place of trust and a place of respect. When you have that, you can free yourself to go wherever it goes. It's different, because it's not necessarily about your creative work but your willingness to expose your lives. There wasn't an agenda when they (the filmmakers) first came out. It was, "This band is going through some kind of transformation right now. Roll the cameras and see what happens." There couldn't be a plan because we didn't know where the band was going. Is there a movie if there's no band? There were these larger questions we didn't even dare look at. The film was just part of that three-year period. James said this great quote the other day about the film being an accompanying thing to (the 2003 album) "St. Anger." He said you also can turn it around and say maybe the film is the main thing and "St. Anger" is just the soundtrack. I can't put all of this in a black-and-white perspective. It's all a little bit of a blur. "St. Anger," "Some Kind of Monster," our personal lives, the creative experience, therapy -- it all sort of intertwines. Is it too early to ask what the vision is for the next studio recording? It's exciting to think about. We're 15 months into the "St. Anger" touring cycle, and we have three months left. It's been a great ride, probably the most satisfying one we've had because of where we came from two years ago. It's not too early to ask (about the next album). I would hope we would get back to it sometime next spring. We have a lot of hard, substantive ideas that we've thrown down on tape. It feels like we're on a bit of a roll here. I'm actually looking forward to going back in. Typically, 15 months into a touring cycle, we'll be like, "If we took five years off after this, it wouldn't be long enough."