One by Metallica is probably one of the most famous metal songs of all time thanks to its exposure in Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and for being one of the lead singles of the band's fourth album ...And Justice For All.
The track begins with sound effects of explosions and helicopters, setting up the primary theme of the song - war. This can be seen by the brutal and semi violent lyrics on the song. Then comes in soft guitars and slower drums. This contrasts to Metallica's heavy metal roots, and this goes on for the majority of the song.
At the chorus, grungy guitars are introduced, bringing roughness into the fairly soft majority of the song. This continues for around half of the song's duration, and the structure stays similar throughout. Around four minutes in, the drums get progressively heavier, and the grungy guitars that were present in the chorus become a staple of the song. What follows is an extremely heavy bridge, that lasts around a minute and a half before a wonderful solo blasts, electric guitars contrasting perfectly with the distorted otherwise background guitars. The bridge continues before the song grinds to a halt.
On a different subject, the lyrics are the other key part of the song. They follow a World War I soldier that has been injured horrifically, as all of his limbs, ears and vocal chords have been taken out due to a landmine. He expresses his severe pain through the song, and by the end of the song exclaims that he wants to die numerous times, however cannot do so due to his own life.
This song in almost every way is completely perfect. Considered a masterpiece in the metal genre, One to me is an incredibly heavy yet fantastic listening experience, and I personally really enjoy the song despite not knowing much of the metal genre.
Rating: 10/10
You can listen to One below:
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The World of Music
Non-FictionMusic is a massive world, and I completely and utterly love it. This book is an amalgamation of reviews, facts and general music nerd-ness, all compiled online.
