The Call of Ktulu

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"The Call of Ktulu" is the title of an instrumental composition by the heavy metal band Metallica, released on their second studio album, Ride the Lightning in 1984. It was inspired by the writings of H. P. Lovecraft, particularly The Call of Cthulhu (The song's title is a phonetic spelling of Lovecraft's Great Old One Cthulhu.^[1]). The Call of Ktulu was Metallica's second recorded instrumental, and first in which the entire band played together.

This is one of the many Metallica songs to have been largely written by former lead guitarist Dave Mustaine and was originally entitled "When Hell Freezes Over."^{[citation needed]} Late bassist Cliff Burton was a huge Lovecraft fan and it is likely he was responsible for the title change.

This goes some way toward explaining why the main arpeggios in this song are played note for note as chords in the Megadeth song, "Hangar 18". It was also used in the Megadeth song "When" from their album The World Needs A Hero.

The song is also notable for being the longest Metallica song as of the release of Ride the Lightning, with a length of 8:53 minutes, and still remains their fourth longest studio recording (discounting the cover songs "Mercyful Fate" and "Tuesday's Gone" from the cover album Garage Inc.).

The song was re-arranged by Michael Kamen for Metallica's 1999 S&M project and won a Grammy for the best rock instrumental performance.

Interestingly, an uncredited MIDI soundalike version appeared in the 1993 computer game Doom on Episode 2, Map 2.^[2]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• List of rock instrumentals