Metallica’s ‘St. Anger’ Snare Is Metalhead’s Sleep Paralysis Demon on TikTok
There’s no sandman coming for the Metallica fan and TikTok creator who recently shared a funny video imagining the snare drum from Metallica’s St. Anger as their sleep paralysis demon.
It’s an amusing thought, isn’t it? St. Anger‘s blunt snare sound has been debated among Metallica fans since the album emerged in 2003. Some listeners still find it questionable; Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich continues to defend it. But is the unusual thwack enough to terrorize one’s dreams? Apparently so — at least it is for Lee Deane of the U.K. extreme metal act Raised by Owls, as he portrays in the side-splitting mini-thriller he shared on his band’s TikTok account last month.
Watch the video down toward the bottom of this post.
In the clip, Deane gets awoken by a loud thud, eventually revealed to be coming from the St. Anger snare. The frightened musician hides under the covers as the drum levitates from its stand, the sound and terror heightening. It’s enough to make any Metallica lover wake up in a cold sweat.
Indeed, consternation surrounding the snare lives on.
But last year, St. Anger producer Bob Rock said he was “fine with that [sound],” detailing how studio experimentation led him to suggest to Ulrich the Plexi Ludwig drum responsible for the tone. As Rock remembered, after testing out the snare, Ulrich declared, “That’s the sound.”
Deane plays drums in Raised by Owls alongside lead vocalist Sam Fowler, bassist Toby Cope and guitarists Mark Bainbridge and Alex LeGrice. Listeners can hear their work (it resides somewhere in the grind- and deathcore vein) at raisedbyowls.bandcamp.com.