Battery (song)
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| “Battery” | |||||
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| Single by Metallica from the album Master of Puppets |
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| Released | 1986 | ||||
| Recorded | Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark September-December, 1985 | ||||
| Genre | Thrash metal | ||||
| Length | 5:10 | ||||
| Label | Elektra Records | ||||
| Writer(s) | James Hetfield Lars Ulrich |
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| Producer | Metallica Flemming Rasmussen |
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| Metallica singles chronology | |||||
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"Battery" is the opening track of Metallica's 1986 album Master of Puppets. As with the opening track from Ride the Lightning, Battery begins with a slow, clean guitar part. In this case, as many as four acoustic guitars are layered harmonically before the drums and bass come in with distorted guitars playing a more melodic version of the acoustic part. This lasts until 1:06, when the guitars cut into a very fast minimalist thrash metal riff that is the basis for the rest of the song. In live concerts, the beginning is not played by the band but instead the actual recording is used (recently dropped 1/2 step in key, since the band tunes 1/2 step down).
In keeping with the general "control" theme of Master of Puppets, the lyrics of "Battery" discuss the control that anger can have over one's behavior. The title refers to "battery" in the sense of "assault and battery", as shown by these lyrics: "Smashing through the boundaries / Lunacy has found me / Cannot stop the battery".
"Battery" is still an almost constant part of the band's live set list, frequently as the opening or closing song. In some cases, it is also used as a song before the intermission. When played, the song may stop before the interlude, and James Hetfield asks the crowd "Are you alive?... How does it feel to be alive?" and followed by the solo played by Kirk Hammett. During the chorus of the original version, bassist Cliff Burton can be heard roaring the backing vocals each time Hetfield says the title.
In the live version of the song played on the Live Shit: Binge & Purge album, intros to the songs "No Remorse", "Ride the Lightning", and "So What?" are played in the song. When performed with the San Francisco Symphony in 1999, the intro up to the thrash riff was instead played by string players in the symphony, utilizing pizzicato in the beginning (the original acoustic) then with bows for the rest.
[edit] Critical reception
When discussing Metallica in an October 2007 interview, Evile frontman Matt Drake stated that he first became interested in the group via Master of Puppets.[1] "The first time I heard “Battery”", mentioned Drake, "I thought “That's it. I want metal to be my love. All I want to hear is just metal”.[1]
[edit] Covers
- This song (along with the entire Master of Puppets album) was covered by Dream Theater as part of their world tour in 2002 and has been released as an official Bootleg recording.
- This song was covered by the band Machine Head for Kerrang!'s Master of Puppets: Remastered, and is also included as a bonus track on some versions of their album The Blackening.
- The song was also covered by the a cappella metal band Van Canto on their debut album "A Storm To Come".
- On "Animetal Rebirth Heroes", Animetal uses the riff for "Battery" throughout the entire song "Touch" with some changes in between.
- This song was covered by the band Ensiferum for EvIL Ultimate Metal Covers No. 55. It was also featured on the single Tale of Revenge.
- This song was covered by Eric AK (Flotsam & Jetsam), Dave Lombardo, Mike Clark, and Robert Trujillo for Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica. Dave Lombardo would play the song with Metallica on stage when Lars Ulrich missed the 2004 Download Festival, and Robert Trujillo would become a member of Metallica in 2003.
- This song was covered by Prototype for "Phantom Lords - A Tribute to Metallica" released by Dwell Records in 2002.
- The song "The Bitter End" from Sum 41 is very close to the song, having similar chord patterns and the same song structure, specifically the first guitar solo after the first verse and chorus, as well as the slower riffs leading up to the second solo.
[edit] References
- ^ a b Morgan, Anthony (2007-10). “Armoured Assault” - Evile frontman Matt Drake hails gargantuan Thrash masterpiece Enter the Grave. Lucem Fero. Retrieved on 2008-05-03.
- ^ "Battery" song info at Encyclopedia Metallica
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