In a new interview on the podcast That Metal Interview, drummer Gene Hoglan of Dark Angel spoke about the alleged influence that the band’s 1986 song “Darkness Descends” had on Metallica’s 1988 track “One.”
Recalling when he first heard the now famous Metallica tune, Hoglan said: “This was pre-YouTube, pre-streaming. If the album [wasn’t] out yet, you had to listen to the radio to hear it… And so that new [Metallica] song was getting played all over KNAC. And I admit, I didn’t… I had my cassettes in my car… I wasn’t listening to KNAC a lot, but I was getting phone calls and messages… from friends saying, ‘Hey, man, have you checked out that new Metallica? Man, check that thing out, man. Wait till you hear that thing.’ And I’m just, like, ‘Oh, okay. Well, whatever.’ And when I heard it, I understood what everybody was talking about.”
Hoglan went on to speculate about why he thinks Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich may have lifted the drumbeat from “Darkness Descends” to use it in “One.”
“I remember having a conversation with [Metallica bassist] Jason Newsted when he was in Flotsam and Jetsam, and ‘Darkness Descends’ was just coming out. [Flotsam and Jetsam’s] ‘Doomsday For The Deceiver’ was out. We were backstage at the Country Club [in Reseda, California]. We were out in the parking lot just shooting the breeze and talking about metal and stuff. And he was talking about what a Dark Angel fan he was…. And I just kind of wondered… I wonder how this… At first, it’s, like, okay, it’s a coincidence. It’s a drumbeat. But when the opening lyric [of ‘One’] is ‘Darkness imprisoning me,’ that’s why I was kind of, like…”
He continued, clarifying that he was “never offended” by Ulrich supposedly copying his work.
“I was grateful,” he said. “I was, like, thank you. You made this riff, this thing that I wrote, we wrote, whatever, you just made it become legendary. Thank you, Lars. You are the godfather of all that we do. Please, if I’ve got anything you wanna borrow, you are welcome to it. Absolutely.”
Hoglan then accused Metallica of borrowing another Dark Angel riff for their track “Battery”:
“The first time I heard it, I was, like, ‘Hey, Jim [Durkin, then-Dark Angel guitarist]. That’s the riff from ‘Welcome To The Slaughterhouse’ off [Dark Angel’s] ‘We Have Arrived’ [album].’ I was, like, ‘Yeah, that’s the same riff.’
“I’m the riff police. I’m the O.G. riff police. I could tell you where this riff sounds just like this riff. And [I heard it] admittedly from people where they’re, like, ‘We totally stole that from you… He’s borrowing drastically from your band,’ kind of thing. And I’m just, like, ‘Wow. That’s crazy how that works out.’
“…But Metallica are the fathers. Lars Ulrich is the godfather of what we do, Bill Ward [Black Sabbath] being the godfather of what we all do. So, Lars will always get much respect from me, and we appreciate you doing that…
“So, there you go. But we are very appreciative to Metallica for how they’ve helped us in that little annals of history.”
