Orion

From MetallicaWiki

Orion is the seventh track on Metallica's 1986 album Master Of Puppets.

The song features bassist Cliff Burton in his "lead bass" approach, meaning he plays his bass guitar in a prominent and melodic role in addition to holding down the rhytmic and harmonic foundation. It contains two bass solos, which are often mistaken for guitar.

It was named after the star constellation, Orion, due to the song’s spacey sounding bridge. It was played over a speaker at Burton's funeral.

The song is more progressive than the band’s previous work. There are three main parts of the song: the heavy beginning, the spacey interlude, and the ending recapitulation that brings back the heaviness. The song features several solos:

• A bass solo by Cliff Burton (1:42 - 2:12)
• A guitar solo by James Hetfield (2:57 - 3:44)
• Another one by Kirk Hammett (6:22 - 6:35), leading in the second bass solo (6:35 - 6:54)
• And the last by Hammett (7:02 - 7:32)

Notes

Written By: Hetfield/Ulrich/Burton
Copyright © 1986 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured
All Rights Reserved