Orion (Metallica song)

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"Orion"

Cover of Master of Puppets
Song by Metallica
from the album Master of Puppets
Released	February 28, 1986
Recorded	Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark September-December, 1985
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	8:28
Label	Elektra Records
Producer(s)	Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen
Master of Puppets track listing
"Battery" "Master of Puppets" "The Thing That Should Not Be" "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" "Disposable Heroes" "Leper Messiah" "Orion" "Damage, Inc."

"Orion" is the seventh track from Metallica's 1986 album Master Of Puppets. It is an instrumental piece composed by Cliff Burton with help from James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich.

Some of the guitar and bass solos on this song were taken from the original demo of ""Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" [1].

The title is in reference to the cosmic or space-like sounds heard during the transitional point of the song. "Orion" was the third instrumental Metallica recorded, the first being "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" from Kill 'Em All and the second being "The Call of Ktulu" from Ride the Lightning. Metallica demonstrated their progression as songwriters and musicians by using multiple guitar/bass harmony parts and many stylistic changes throughout both the song and Master of Puppets as a whole[2]. Orion has been covered in live acts by many other bands such as Dream Theater, Rodrigo y Gabriela, and Mastodon. Pantera guitarist Dimebag Darrell played parts of "Orion" in a memorial for Cliff Burton shortly after his death.

The song fades in with a heavily distorted bassline, joined by the drums and guitars about one minute in. The song then jumps into one of its signature riffs with an occasional, highly distorted bass fill. A guitar solo is layered over the original riff. At the 3:55 mark, the signature bass solo is played with a chorus pedal. The song's namesake "spacey" sounds are heard during this point. After several harmonizing guitar solos, carried along by Burton's bass, a complex and heavily distorted bass solo is played, which is a prime example of Burton's lead bass playing style. After the solo, a fast paced guitar riff is played, and the song settles back into one of its original riffs and finally fades out.

The album version of the song was played at Cliff Burton's cremation, as it was largely his composition.

This song is widely considered the greatest composition of Cliff Burton's career. It was also one of Burton's favorite songs, second to "Master of Puppets".

Although Metallica has played parts of "Orion" live throughout their history, including opening their supporting set for The Rolling Stones's A Bigger Bang Tour show at SBC Park in San Francisco in November 2005, with the first half of the song, it wasn't until June 3, 2006 during the Escape from the Studio '06 tour at the Rock Am Ring Festival in Nuremburg, Germany that Metallica finally played "Orion" in its entirety. These European shows were also noteworthy for the album Master of Puppets being played all the way through.

[edit] Covers

This song was covered by the band Mastodon for Kerrang!'s Master of Puppets: Remastered.
On his song "The Number Song" (from Endtroducing.....), DJ Shadow sampled the intro of Orion.
Rodrigo Y Gabriela play a version of Orion during their live shows, which also features on their second studio album, Rodrigo Y Gabriela.
In 2003, the song was featured on The DC Video (a skateboarding movie by DC Shoes) while Danny Way broke two world records on his megaramp. It is also featured at the beginning of the movie when the skaters are introduced.
This song was also played live by the Progressive Metal band Dream Theater during a live show in Barcelona, Spain, New York City and The Netherlands (As was the entire Master of Puppets album).

[edit] See also

List of rock instrumentals

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v • d • e Metallica

James Hetfield • Kirk Hammett • Robert Trujillo • Lars Ulrich

Cliff Burton • Dave Mustaine • Ron McGovney • Jason Newsted

Discography

Albums and Extended Plays: No Life 'Til Leather • Kill 'Em All • Ride the Lightning • Master of Puppets • Garage Days Re-Revisited • ...And Justice for All • Metallica • Load • ReLoad • Garage Inc. • S&M • St. Anger • Some Kind of Monster • Ninth studio album