Metallica - One

While I was trying to figure out the first song or album to discuss on here, I eventually came to the conclusion that I should start at the beginning, and like so many metal lovers before the first band that had a huge impact on me was Metallica. And "One" is one of the best songs off of my favorite album of theirs "...And Justice for All". For one, it begins with something that I think only prog bands have the guts to do, which is put non-musical sounds in their songs. So we open up with the sounds of a battlefield and James Hetfield shouting orders, the chopper blades start whirring and the character of the story is airlifted out of combat.

That's when the clean guitar comes in with one of the most appropriately sad riffs I've ever heard. After listening to it analytically for this blog post, I can see the images of the soldier being airlifted out of the battle and ending up in a hospital over the intro riff and solo, which was set up by the battle sounds. It's a great example of the music telling a story as much as the lyrics do.

While on the subject of the intro solos, this song has some of the most well written solos in it I think, with the context within the song taking a clear charge over the need of a lot of guitar players to have blatant shred in whatever they play. Of course the final solo gets a decent amount of shred in there, this is Metallica after all.

The lyrics in this section provide everything that the listener needs to connect to this character. It provides every inner thought of this man that can only determine that he is strapped into a machine to continue living, because all he can feel are the needles pumping in what he needs to keep breathing. It's very haunting and Hetfield walks the line between his clean and gravelly voice very expertly as the music behind him switces between clean with punches of distortion.

After all of the intro verses and choruses are played and sung, the transition into the heavy section is unbelievably well arranged. The layers that add on and peel away to eventually give us the legendary triplet riff are perfectly timed so that there is no abruptness in bringing the sorrow of the song into hatred and anger. The double bass drums alluding to the final heavy section is one of my favorite parts of the transition.

The last part is the headbanging goodness that we have all come to expect from Metallica. Heavy riff, pounding drums, James gets to yell "Heeeelllllll-awww", it's classic metal. But, being classic Metallica, it doesn't stop there. What sets this apart from all other metal is the solo, and the soli interlude right before the end.

The solo, which does start out with the shreddy tapping section, is primarily melodious. This section is the heavy balls to the wall ending, but Kirk Hammet takes the time to slow down, make some phrases and add some bluesy licks in there that FOLLOW THE RIFF (I love when that happens).

And after that, there are no more lyrics, other people would have ended it there, but no, there's more. They add harmonized guitar section that sort of brings the mood of the song up a bit, and I think that what it implies is that the character of the song is going to die. Sure, most of the time that is a sad thing, but for this character it's what he wants, he is being forced to live a life of perpetual pain and this major-y section is telling him that he will finally get release. It's a surprisingly beautiful way to end the sad and angry song, but that's what sets it apart as a truly great song.

I believe that's all I have to say analytically and philosophically about this particular song. If you have any comments, questions, or suggestions for me I will be reading the comments below.