Posted August 25, 2011 at 3:12 pm | No comments
As the last single released before the death of bassist Cliff Burton, “Welcome Home (Sanitarium)” is fittingly dark and heavy. Beginning with a creepy reverb guitar intro, “Welcome Home,” from Metallica’s masterpiece, Master of Puppets, quickly gives way to ominous arpeggiated chords under James Hetfield’s powerful growl. In typical Metallica fashion, these layers build in energy into a heavy double time chorus of “Sanitarium! Leave me be!” Although the first chorus is short-lived, a heavy metal bridge has already been foreshadowed, and sure enough, after the second chorus, Metallica keep the energy at 11 for some palm-muted chugging and shred soloing that never relents, leaving those slow, scary chords from the verses in the dust in favor of pure brutality.
Posted in: Guitar Tab
Posted August 24, 2011 at 3:11 pm | No comments
“The Unforgiven II,” from Metallica’s 1997 album, ReLoad, is the band’s sequel to “The Unforgiven,” which was featured on The Black Album. It has some similar lyrical themes, but the most obvious similarity is that the verse chord progression in “The Unforgiven II” is very similar to the chorus chords from the original. This sequel shifts the “ballad paradigm” back to normal, taking the soft chorus of the original and making it a soft verse that leads up to a distorted chorus, which was the pattern they wanted to switch around with “The Unforgiven.” “The Unforgiven II” does exactly what a sequel should; it reminds the listener of the first installment, but is crafted as a completely stand-alone work as well.
Posted in: Guitar Tab
Posted August 23, 2011 at 3:11 pm | No comments
“Turn the Page” is a classic Bob Seger tune, released as a single for his 1973 album, entitled Back in ’72. It contains the classic line about being harassed on the road, “Oh, the same old cliches ‘Is that a woman or a man?” which references multiple incidents of truckers and the like giving Seger and his tourmates grief for having long hair (this was the early ’70’s, mind you). In 1998, Metallica released an album of mostly covers, entitled Garage, Inc., and their cover of “Turn the Page” was the monumental lead single, staying at No. 1 on Billboard’s Hot Mainstream Rock chart for an impressive eleven weeks. In lieu of the soulful sax in the original, Kirk Hammett busts out his slide to play that heartfelt counter melody as Hetfield channels the hardships of the road, making their cover just as impactful as Seger’s original.
Posted in: Guitar Tab
Posted August 22, 2011 at 3:11 pm | No comments
“The Unforgiven” is the fourth track from Metallica’s eponymous 1991 album, also known as The Black Album. As any Metallica aficionado should know, this means that it is likely a ballad, but on this “ballad” the band decided to switch up the dynamic. Instead of softer, melodic verses and big, distorted choruses, they shifted the paradigm with a heavy verse that leads into a more relaxed chorus. The song has also given birth to two sequels, “The Unforgiven II” and “The Unforgiven III,” which appear on Metallica’s ReLoad and Death Magnetic albums, respectively. When playing “The Unforgiven” live, Metallica tends to lengthen the song with a couple additions, including a guitar solo near the end.
Posted in: Guitar Tab
Posted August 21, 2011 at 3:11 pm | No comments
“The Day That Never Comes” was the first single from Metallica’s back-to-form album, Death Magnetic. Like Metallica’s other ballad-y material, the song begins with Hetfield arpeggiating minor-key chords and Kirk Hammett playing counter melodies, but both hit the heavily distorted chords for the song’s huge, anthemic chorus. With Metallica, we are never far away from the thrash, and we are reminded of this by the bridge in “The Day That Never Comes.” The metal quartet ramp up the energy to a medium tempo driving section, but then drummer Lars Ulrich leads the way into an extended fast-paced harmonized-guitar and guitar solo-driven thrash jam that closes out this monster of a lead single.
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Posted August 20, 2011 at 3:21 pm | No comments
Michael Monroe has long been at the forefront of breaking music barriers from singing in Hanoi Rocks to his successful solo career. He now returns with his highly anticipated new CD, Sensory Overdrivedue out in the U.S on August 23rd which is produced by Jack Douglas of Aerosmith, John Lennon and Cheap Trick fame.
Posted in: Interviews, Metal Interviews
Posted August 20, 2011 at 3:11 pm | No comments
“Suicide and Redemption” finds Metallica foraying into sludge metal as they have in the past, with slower, thicker riffs and groovier rhythms. “Suicide and Redemption” is the sole instrumental on the legendary band’s most recent studio release, 2008’s Death Magnetic, coming right before the album closer, “My Apocalypse.” The song doesn’t mess around with different time signatures too much, instead staying on the simple side and really bringing out the duality of the title. It starts out with some of the heaviest riff-based metal there is, but eventually cools off into a melodic middle section before gradually speeding up to double time that precedes a monumental slow headbanging outro.
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Posted August 20, 2011 at 11:59 am | No comments
It’s still hard to believe that almost 30 years have past since Queensryche’s first EP with “Queen of the Reich” and “The Lady Wore Black”. I can remember like it was yesterday purchasing their EP and being blown away by it originality and amazing guitar work. Fast forward a few decades and Queensryche is still making great music with their 13th release Dedicated to Chaos.
Posted in: Interviews, Rock Interviews
Posted August 19, 2011 at 3:17 pm | 4 comments
After being plagued by numerous title changes, delays in production, editing, and release dates, Director Renny Harlin’s long awaited motion picture, 5 Days Of Warhas finally received an exclusive limited theatrical USA release on August 19, 2011, in New York City and Washington, D.C..
Posted in: DVD Reviews, Reviews
Posted August 19, 2011 at 3:12 pm | No comments
Although the opening riff could be out of some of the heavier of 80’s hair metal songs, “Seek and Destroy” quickly takes us on a journey to the beginnings of thrash metal. It features Metallica’s signature fat palm muted sound, which gets its heaviness from James Hetfield, Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett’s synchronized riffage. A little before halfway through “Seek and Destroy,” the band cuts out and Lars Ulrich speeds up his drumming to a slightly ridiculous tempo, perfect for some ridiculous palm muted action from Hetfield and some even more ridiculous shred solo from Hammett, which finds him trading four’s and two’s with the rhythm section. Watch out for that weird bend at about 3:47, Kirk has admitted that it’s a wrong note!
Posted in: Guitar Tab
