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.
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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.
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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.
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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.
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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 3:11 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 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!
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Posted August 18, 2011 at 7:52 am | No comments
Ride the Lightning, Metallica’s second studio album, is now considered one of the most influential thrash metal albums of all time, but when it was released in late July of 1984, it was just the tenacious and relentless new album from speed mongers Metallica. It maintained the feverish psychosis of Kill ‘Em All, but hinted at the more progressive, extended metal jams that the band would become famous for. The album’s namesake, “Ride the Lightning,” is sung from the point of view of a death row inmate scheduled for a trip to the electric chair, lamenting his fate and the current state of the justice system. With its huge wall of buzz saw guitars, “Ride” is one of the heaviest songs on one of Metallica’s heaviest albums, and it features a solo by Kirk Hammett that begins melodic and slow. By the end of the the bridge section, however, your fingers will be flying all over the fretboard.
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Posted August 17, 2011 at 7:51 am | No comments
1986’s Master of Puppets, metal giants Metallica’s third studio album, is widely regarded as one of the best metal albums of all time. It has been included on “Best of” lists in publications ranging from Q to IGN to Rolling Stone and even TIME Magazine. The seventh track from that album is “Orion,” the only instrumental track James Hetfield and company decided to include. The song, whose name allegedly came from the “spacey” bridge section, features several solos that are often mistaken as the work of guitarist Kirk Hammett. They are actually bass solos played by the late Cliff Burton, who died soon after in a van crash while touring behind Master of Puppets.
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Posted August 16, 2011 at 7:51 am | No comments
A live favorite for Metallica fans, “One” was the third single from their 1988 album …And Justice For All. Since its release as a single in 1989, it has gone on to become one of the fearsome foursome’s most popular and well-loved songs, helped by the song’s status as Metallica’s first Top 40 hit. Like many Metallica songs, “One” begins with James Hetfield fingerpicking a tender yet ominous intro, over which Kirk Hammett plays a clean guitar solo. In typical Metallica fashion, it builds and builds, getting faster and heavier through multiple changing time signatures, which leads to a Kirk Hammett tapping-ridden guitar solo. I hope your tap chops are up to snuff!
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