Lars Ulrich's Drum Setup on Metallica's St. Anger (2003) | MetalForge

Frequently Asked Questions

Why does St. Anger snare sound different?

The St. Anger snare sounds different because Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock intentionally disengaged the snare wires on the bottom head and tuned the batter head extremely tight for the entire recording. With the wires off, the drum no longer produces the buzzing crack that defines a normal snare — it produces a dry, metallic "clang" that listeners frequently compare to a trashcan lid. This was a deliberate aesthetic decision aligned with the album's raw, industrial production brief, not a recording mistake or a hardware problem. The sound has been one of the most polarising production choices in modern metal since the album's 2003 release.

Did Lars use snare wires on St. Anger?

No. The snare wires were intentionally disengaged for the entire St. Anger recording. The drum used was a DW Collector's Series 14" maple snare — a quality professional instrument that produces a textbook fat snare crack in normal use. For St. Anger, the wires were turned off and the batter head was tuned to extremely high tension, producing the metallic "clang" sound heard across every track on the album. This was confirmed by Lars Ulrich and Bob Rock in interviews and documented visually in the Some Kind of Monster film. It was not a recording mistake — it was an explicit aesthetic choice the band has consistently defended for more than twenty years.

What drum kit did Lars Ulrich use on St. Anger?

Lars Ulrich used a custom DW Collector's Series Maple kit on St. Anger — a departure from the Tama Artist Maple and Starclassic kits he had used through the Black Album, Load, and ReLoad eras. The kit was finished in black with chrome hardware and configured with two 22"x18" bass drums (a true double bass setup, not a single kick with double pedal), a 12" rack tom, and 14" and 16" floor toms. Shells were DW's flagship North American Hard Rock Maple construction. Cymbals were a Zildjian Z Custom and A Custom hybrid, pedals were Tama Speed Cobra HP910, sticks were Ahead aluminium-core signatures, and heads were Evans throughout (EMAD on kicks, EC2 on toms, Heavyweight on the snare batter). The kit was assembled at HQ — Metallica's San Francisco facility inside the Presidio — for the album sessions.

Was the St. Anger snare sound intentional?

Yes. The St. Anger snare sound was an entirely intentional production decision made by Lars Ulrich and producer Bob Rock. The brief for the album was a raw, industrial, garage-band drum sound that rejected the polished, room-mic-heavy approach of the Black Album, Load, and ReLoad. Disengaging the snare wires and tuning the batter head ultra-tight was the most direct way to deliver that aesthetic. The decision is documented extensively in the Some Kind of Monster film, has been defended in numerous interviews by both Lars and Bob Rock, and was committed to across the entire record — there is no "corrected" version of any track. Listener reception has been deeply polarised since release, but the band has never described the sound as a mistake; it was the sound they meant to make.