The Call Of Ktulu

From MetallicaWiki

The Call Of Ktulu the eighth and final track on Metallica's 1984 album Ride The Lightning. It was Metallica's second instrumental song, following the first instrumental (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth from Kill 'Em All. The song's working title was "When Hell Freezes Over".

It's a song about H. P. Lovecraft's short story "The Call Of Cthulu", of which Metallica's late bassist Cliff Burton was a fan.

The idea is based upon H. P. Lovecraft's book The Shadow Over Innsmouth which was first introduced to the rest of the band by Cliff Burton. The song's name was taken from one of H.P. Lovecraft's main stories featuring Cthulhu, The Call of Cthulhu, which was written in 1928 for the magazine Weird Tales. The name "Ktulu" is originally written "Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft. In the story, it says that mentioning the name Cthulhu (Verbally or written) will bring him closer. Metallica changed the title to "Ktulu", in fear of the beast.

Metallica's vocalist James Hetfield admits that one of his biggest regrets was changing the name Cthulhu to Ktulu, so that listeners and fans could understand the title better.

The song is also the last song to include songwriting credit for Dave Mustaine. Mustaine later recorded the song "Hangar 18" for Megadeth's 1990 album Rust in Peace, which features the same chord progression in the intro.

Notes

Written By: Hetfield/Ulrich/Burton/Mustaine
Copyright © 1984 Creeping Death Music (ASCAP)
International Copyright Secured
All Rights Reserved