A metal band covering Metallica’s “Enter Sandman” is the concert equivalent of a Southern rock band covering “Free Bird.” But Rob Zombie isn’t above tackling an obvious classic, so he and his ghoulish backing band paid tribute to the iconic, riff-heavy anthem during a recent show in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

“I’m never sure about this,” Zombie asks the audience in the clip, “but do we have any motherfuckin’ old-school metal motherfuckin’ heads in the room?” He then teases the still-unannounced track, claiming it’s older than many of the people in the room, before the band launches into the brooding, descending riff.

But he cuts the performance short, pausing to ask the audience if they should carry on with the metal classic. Fueled by the crowd’s roar, the band recharges the track and builds to a headbanging chorus. Elsewhere in the set, Zombie also led the group through a take on British metal act Diamond Head’s 1980 gem “Am I Evil?”

In related news that could only be called “Zombie-esque,” the musician-filmmaker also recently teamed with American Psycho author Bret Easton Ellis for an upcoming Fox miniseries based on Charles Manson. Zombie will direct, while Ellis will write the script and other additional materials for the project, which will retrace the events leading to one of America’s most horrific crimes.

“I have been obsessed with this insane story since I was a kid, so obviously I jumped at the chance to be involved in this incredible project,” Zombie told Variety of the series. “After speaking with Bret, I immediately realized that we shared the same vision for this epic madness.”

Meanwhile, Metallica are currently “in the fourth inning” of a new studio LP. “We’re going through the grind,” drummer Lars Ulrich recently told Rolling Stone. “We’re in there doing riffs and putting them into songs. We don’t really write one song and then show up the next day and do another one. We just work on riffs and sections, connecting riffs and tempos and moods.”