The similarities between Dark Angel's 1986 track "Darkness Descends" and Metallica's 1988 track "One" are hard to ignore. The songs have similar riffs, similar drumming styles, and even share some lyrics. Dark Angel drummer Gene Hoglan is well aware of this and has commented to Metal Hammer about he feels he ended up influencing Metallica.
"'Steal all you can from drummers,'" said Hoglan. "That’s what drummers do – it’s just how you apply it that makes it your own. I had such a mishmash of influences it was going to be inevitable that I was going to develop my own style.
"Like in Dark Angel, I was trying to create beats that had never been heard before. Like the opening of 'Darkness Descends,' that beat in the very first minute, I’d never heard anyone play that beat before, so I dropped it in.
"Then a few years later I had all the phone calls: 'Hey have you heard that new Metallica song 'One'? It’s got your beat in it, it’s got the riffs, it’s even got the lyrics, 'Darkness imprisoning me!'
"I thought, 'Oh that’s cool, we’re influencing Metallica now!' [Laughs]"
I mean, just listen to the two songs below and it's pretty clear that Metallica had at least heard "Darkness Descends." As for Hoglan, who hasn't he influenced?
