Did Metallica 'Borrow' Dark Angel Drum Beat for 'One'? Gene Hoglan Has Some Thoughts

Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan has addressed the long-floated idea that Metallica's classic "One" actually "borrowed" the drum beat from Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends," which preceded it by two years.

The drummer recently guested on The Metal Interview podcast (seen below) and the discussion turned to the alleged influence his band may have had on Metallica. Within the chat, Hoglan recalled "One" becoming popular on the metal radio station KNAC out of Los Angeles and that being around the time that he had friends reaching out to him about the similarities between the two songs.

"When I heard it, I understood what everybody was talking about," said the drummer.

Hoglan shared the he has a fascination with being "the O.G. riff police" and trying to figure out how the similarities could have happened.

In this case, he recalls, "I remember having a conversation with Jason Newsted when he was in Flotsam and Jetsam, and 'Darkness Descends' was just coming 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 that's where I was kind of, like, he talked about what a fan that he was, and I just kind of wondered… 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…"

Dark Angel's "Darkness Descends" opened the album band's sophomore set of the same name, but was not issued as a single from the record. "One" was the third single released from Metallica's 1988 set .... And Justice for All. It became their second song to chart in the U.S. and was the band's first music video as well. The song peaked at No. 46 for Mainstream Rock, but No. 35 for the Billboard Hot 100.

How Gene Hoglan Feels About the Similarities

While you may often see artists clashing over similarities in their songs, that is not the case for Hoglan when it comes to Metallica. The drummer shared that he was "never offended" by it and added, "I was grateful. 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."

He later added, " 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."

The drummer also noted that "Darkness Descends" wasn't the only Dark Angel song that shared a similarity to a Metallica track. He shared that when he heard "Battery" for the first time, he noticed a similarity to Dark Angel's "Welcome to the Slaughterhouse."

And while Ulrich is credited with the "One" drumbeat, Hoglan shared, "You know who plays that ['One'] drum beat better than just about anybody, even myself? James Hetfield. You never heard him when they do their little drum thing on stage? James Hetfield gets on the drums and he plays it, and he plays that beat, and it is so rock solid. I'm, like, 'God, he plays that better than me. And I wrote that darn thing.'"

Do you catch the similarities? Both songs can be heard below. And check out the full Metal Interview chat with Gene Hoglan below the songs.