Metallica are the reason that I picked up a guitar for the first time, and are the biggest influence on my style of playing and how I write. The raw energy portrayed in their music is what I want to show in my own music. The combination of fast tempos and the constant power-chords played at semiquavers is the sort of thing I want to be doing in my own music.
While Metallica are not an instrumental group, the sound of their rhythms are what I want to be taking on board.
While looking into Metallica, I watched a clip from an episode of ‘Classic Albums’ which covered the production behind the’ black album.’ This was really interesting and made some really good points when interviewing the band. These two are the ones that stuck out to me as the ones that were the most helpful, and that I will be able to use.
Triple Tracking:
For James Hetfield to get his guitar sound, he actually records his guitar parts three times. He then has one panned to the left, one to the right, and on left in the middle. This gives his guitar tone his signature ‘Big’ or heavy sound.
Riff Structure:
During the programme, Kirk Hammett is interviewed on how he came up with the riff to the iconic song ‘Enter Sandman.’ He and Lars Ulrich explain how they will write a riff, have this repeat and then finish it with it’s “tail.” I found this really interesting as I don’t really know much about writing riffs already so this will be useful to try.
Another characteristic that Metallica have in a lot of their music, particularly the ‘Master of Puppets’ album, is a classical or modal feel. This is especially present in the acoustic sections of their music. My favourite example of this is the introduction to the song ‘Battery’ from this album.
Another thing about this acoustic sound is the actual guitar sound itself. The guitar sound is more that of a steel acoustic than a clean electric sound. This combined with the heavy distortion when the rhythm section kicks in reinforces a menacing sound. I am defiantly going to have a go at writing something like this in my EP.
The guitars that Metallica use are a brand called ESP, with EMG active humbuckers installed. Recently, I happen to have bought an ESP guitar with these pickups on, so I will be using this when recording as this will further add the the ‘Metallica’ sound that I love.
The albums that I will be listening to for inspiration are:
The Black album,
…and Justice for all,
Ride the lightning,
Master of Puppets.
The sound of these albums in particular have the sound that most resembles what I want to produce in my own work.