Battery is the bluntest, stupidly straight forward and ultra aggressive riff that still has hint of melody and mood in it. Sooo freaking effective! And Leper Messiah - probably the nastiest and filthiest riffs on this album!
I'd known about Metallica for years and even listened to Black Album religiously as a kid, but but never really "discovered" them until I was mid 20's. I downloaded their entire disgography and just left it on repeat on a playlist, and the one I kept coming back to, the one I'd never really heard but that sunk its hooks in hard, was Battery. Not long after that I would become a permanent fan and still listen to them pretty regularly 20 some odd years later
0:23 Harvester of Sorrow 0:55 Seek & Destroy 1:23 Creeping Death 1:55 Fade to Black 2:20 Enter Sandman 2:57 For Whom The Bell Tolls 3:24 Wherever I May Roam 4:12 Welcome Home (Sanitarium) 4:49 Sad But True 5:37 Master of Puppets
Under-appreciated Gems of Metallica Riffs: - The Frayed Ends of Sanity instrumental interlude (multiple riffs) - Damaged, Inc. breakdown/ending - Blackened verse + breakdown - That Was Just Your Life harmonized breakdown - Through the Never breakdown - Jump In the Fire intro/main riff (Dave Mustaine) As for the more recognizable ones, don't forget Orion and Disposable Heroes.
Great list. I’d add a couple more: -Blackened Main Riff -That was just your life Main riff -Middle section of Leper Messiah when the song speeds up - Sweet Amber riff in the middle of the song
I love the way your Rick'isms still shine through on these awesome riffs-great list man!!! My favorite tallica riff to play that is so easy yet so satisfying is the bridge of No Leaf Clover, right after the guitar solo... DUN DUN DUN, DUN, DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNN
My favorites are: Battery (main riff) Dyer's Eve (main and chorus riffs) Sad But True (main riff) Ride The Lightning (the spider riff) To Live Is To Die (interlude - clean riff) Enter Sandman (main riff) One (THAT riff) Blackened (everything) The God That Failed (main riff)
Lets not forget The unforgiven, the most heavy sounding metal ballad and the most touching lyric, a true masterpiece. Holier than you- great riff. And of course Where ever I may roam!
Can't agree, honestly. I think "heaviest sounding metal ballad" has to go to Pantera's "This Love." Not to say that "The Unforgiven " is a bad song, it's a great song, just not really super heavy.
The breakdown riff in "One" while James is singing "darkness imprisoning me" has got to be their most powerful and iconic riff. Not much to it, but very powerful.
How is that their most iconic lol, are you telling me that’s their most recognizable riff, not Master of Puppets, not Enter Sandman, but the bridge riff from One
It's a cool part but too simple. What makes it great is the band locking together so everyone is doing the same thing. Good piece of arranging rather than song writing.
"HAMMETT: I’ll tell you how the main [descending] riff to “Master of Puppets” came about. On the Ride the Lightning tour, James would always play the riff in the dressing room, but on the D string, and I’d play it simultaneously on the G string as a parallel-fourths harmony line. It sounded really dorky and funny. Then one day at rehearsal, James said, “Let me show you this really heavy song intro,” and proceeded to play that exact riff on the low E string. I said, “Ah, so you finally found a use for that dorky little thing!” It’s anything but dorky now."
Great list, Rick! Here is mine. Damage Inc - The middle part riff Blackened - Main riff Newsted represent! Creeping death - Die riff Orion - Main riff Frayed ends - "That" gallop riff Spit out the bone No remorse - chorus riff Through the never - Breakdown riff Fixxxer - Main riff Master of puppets - Pre chorus riff There are so many amazing riffs. On all the albums. Even St. Anger has a bunch of really great riffs.
Thank you for mentioning the Die riff from Creeping Death. I was surprised Rick didn't use that one, way more iconic. Have you seen Kirk being interviewed about writing that riff? Nutty...
My ex band used to do a seek and destroy and four horsemen medly and we called it seeking the horseman on our set list lol. We played tune in d standard (down full step) and our rhythm section was top notch and made us sound super heavy. We would start seek and destroy like Nirmal and do 2 verses till the part where it does the fast part where the drum breakdown is and from there we would transition into four horseman and start the song and do 2 verses and at the part where it has the middle breakdown we would jump back into the end of seek and do the outro part on seek. It was very cool and worked well together that way you wouldn't know it was two different songs if you weren't familiar with the original songs. I am a pretty good rhythm player but not much of a lead guy and we did not have a lead at the time so we did it that way to avoid any crazy solos lol. It really did work well. we also did am I evil and creeping death we called it am I creeping we did it similar when we would jump to creeping death just before am I evil speeds up in the middle we would do one chorus section and go straight into the die die die part then we'd go back into the ending part of am I evil. Those songs really worked well together. I miss playing music I need to find some more guys to jam with.
Bleeding Me - many parts that are sheer joy to play. Halo on Fire - amazing chorus, and guitar during the verses is pretty damn good to boot. While I think you got it right mostly, there's some newer stuff that is worth the exploration. I say that as a AJFA guy.
These were ALL the Metallica songs my band played in high school, great fun to play. I think the only iconic riff we loved playing and missing here is JUMP IN THE FIRE
Great list! I’ve always been partial to Leper Messiah. The main riff and the one that leads into the faster middle part. I’d jam out to that song when is was a kid, just listen to it over and over. Thrashing bliss!
I discovered Metallica when I was 10 in 1988 a neighbor who was 4 or 5 years older than me was listening to The Master of Puppets album. When I heard "The thing that should not be" I was hooked. Still one of my favorite riffs.
As someone who learned guitar primarily to play Metallica riffs, this was great! Agree with number 1, stood the test of time for sure. Top 10 Metallica solos now Rick! ;)
@@imac29 your probably trolling but just in case, maybe one or two solos from kill em all would make it, and while they where layed out by Dave, Kirk played them differently on the record
He cheated with puppets too. No shame, so do I. James plays it ALL down strokes, no pull offs. 220 bpm. Impossibly fast. Yet that's why it sounds so hot.
For me personally, Master is their best album and there isn't a better intro to an album in that genre than Battery. So many great riffs on that album.
@@dizzle7558 There are too many metal albums to say that one is the best ever, but MOP isn’t even as good as RTL and AJFA imo. Regardless I wouldn’t say any Metallica record is the best metal record of all time lol.
1:35. What I like about no. 8 is that you’re really showcasing how different it sounds when playing it that way and why down-stroking is so important. It sounds so different played like that and definitely doesn’t rock as hard.
Lovely list. Load and Reload have so many simple, yet fun riffs that I feel get left out of people's lists, but they are fun to jam to: The Cure, Bad Seed, Fixxxer, Outlaw Torn, Bleeding Me, Until it Sleeps, Attitude, Wasting My Hate, and on and on.
@@88_TROUBLE_88 yeah I can't argue with that. It's old humor. It's just still that annoying and sad to me. That album was epic. Got it the day it was released. In fact I heard two songs live before release at 3 rivers in Pittsburgh. You could hear the bass then. That was a great show. Just still wish they'd remaster the album.. mabye with Rob. Probably never happen 😕
Dude! I can't stop laughing at the irony of mentioning (While not a bad song, in fact arguably his best. ) something that is the absolute opposite of Metallica!
Please, Rick, can you consider doing a PANTERA/ DIMEBAG DARRELL “Riffs” episode? Your content is awesome, btw and your knowledge of music is INSANE!!! 🙏
There is 2 guitar harmony part there that is both kirk and het it is so badass then it goes into just Kirk's solo that is such a great song. The entire black album is a classic album people just love to hate on it because it was popular and their style changed some
Brother, One of my favorite things about your channel is watching you completely jam out of the songs you love. For a man with the diverse musical background that you have, its so fun to see you apply it to metal. If you ever have someone on your channel to interview you, I'd like to reserve a spot in line.
This is a great list, Rick! The only riff I think I would've added somewhere is, "One." It's definitely not a fast thrash riff, but it totally iconic. Is it not necessarily fun to play? I guess maybe it's a little simplistic, but the sound of it is thoroughly haunting and beautiful.
I know that Load and Reload are considered the redheaded stepchildren of Metallica's library, but I think Load has some fantastic songs on it, and the riff at the end of Bleeding Me is one of my favourites.
The one thing I always loved about those two albums, is that they are some of the best audio quality records ever put to wax. They are recorded extremely well, amazing tones.
Agree on all. blackened… absolute killer riff for me. Missing here. I would take off one from the black album. But that’s personal preference. Metallica riffs are absolutely insane 🤘🤘
@@Cheddar_Wizard I bet you're not you listen to the black that's the 2nd worse metallica album ever their first 4 are the best always have been btw I listen to death metal I bet you dont
Great list! As you say, there are so many great riffs. Here are some other riffs I love to play :D Kill 'Em All: The Four Horsemen - 17 seconds Phantom Lord - 32 seconds No Remorse - 2 minutes 57 seconds Ride The Lightning: Fade To Black - 5 minutes 5 seconds The Call Of Ktulu - 33 seconds Master of Puppets: Battery - 1 minute 06 seconds Master of Puppets - 3 minutes 34 seconds Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - 4 minutes 49 seconds Disposable Heroes - 32 seconds Leper Messiah - 3 minutes 13 seconds Damge, Inc. - 3 minutes 14 seconds ...And Justice For All: Blackened - 38 seconds One - 4 minutes 35 seconds To Live Is To Die - 4 minutes 58 seconds Dyers Eve - 3 minutes 3 seconds Metallica: The Unforgiven - 34 seconds Through The Never - 2 minutes 52 seconds Load: Bleeding Me - 0 seconds Thorn Within - 44 seconds The Outlaw Torn - 29 seconds Reload: Fuel - 14 seconds The Memory Remains - 6 seconds Fixxxer - 1 minute 9 seconds S&M: - Human - 36 seconds Death Magnetic: Broken, Beat & Scarred - 59 seconds Hardwired...To Self-Destruct: Confusion - 59 seconds Top 10 lists can be crazy hard. But regardless of mood, there's at least one riff above I'll always enjoy playing.
The rythm guitar during the solos in songs like Ride The Lightning, Fight Fire with Fire, The Frayed ends of Sanity, Battery, Disposable Heroes is amazing. IMO Metallica is unique when it comes to making the parts in their songs build up into epic solos.
Was hoping someone would mention Frayed Ends riff under the solo. When I first heard that isolated it blew my mind. An amazing riff, really wish it'd gotten a chance to shine outside the solo.
Yeah! I remember when the Master of Puppets album came out and whenever my friends and I heard that main riff off of Damage Inc. we'd instantly go into a wild frenzied slam dance.
1. Blackened 2. And Justice For All 3. Eye of the Beholder 4. One 5. The Shortest Straw 6. Harvester of Sorrow 7. Frayed Ends of Sanity 8. To Live is to Die 9. Dyer's Eve 10. And Justice For All (seriously so many killer riffs)
10- Jump in the fire 9- holier than thou 8- fuel 7- master of puppets 6- disposable Hero’s 5- Damage Inc 4- The Frayed ends of Sanity 3- Fade To Black 2- One 1- Spit out the bone
Great choice. Personally I find nice to listen and to play the main riff of King Nothing. Pretty groovy and pretty heavy. There are plenty of nice ideas in the Load/Reload sessions, often missed by the fans of "true metal".
1 MASTER OF PUPPETS ("come crawling faster" Pre Chorus) 2 TRAPPED UNDER ICE (Middle Section from 1:47 such a sick riff) 3 LEPER MESSIAH (2nd Half tempo change 3:14) 4 CREEPING DEATH ("Die by my hand" bridge) 5 THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE ("Fearless wretch" Chorus riff 1:30) 6 DAMAGE INC ("We chew and spit you out" 3:14) 7 SPIT OUT THE BONE (Heavy middle section riff 5:02) 8 BLACKENED ("Opposition" Middle Section 2:36) 9 WHEREVER I MAY ROAM (main riff) 10 SOME KIND OF MONSTER (main riff) Imo. DAMN your mix, especially the bass & drums, sounded GREAT on For Whom The Bell Tolls!
Great article and love the refreshing jokey honesty about the down picking. Particularly on the Creeping Death demo it just shows how James' stunning down picking takes the riff to another level.
3:05 "For Whom the Bell Tolls" has always been particularly fun to play on bass. By the way, that's a pretty Les Paul. Looks like the colors of UNC a little.
I was drving my 8 years old son to his hockey practice, and put my favourite Metallica songs. For one thing he had never really listened any heavy metal songs, his reaction was: OMG dad this is so good who is this new band ?:):):) It's heavy but very melodic !
finally somebody remembers the straight drums of the black album. People think it was Lars being kind of lazy or unskilled, but it was a precise choice, the opposite to AJFA. Great video Rick, but one can tell you missed the entire thrash guitar playing style back in the days. We love you anyway ;-)
In all fairness people have been criticizing Lars way before the black album. I think he's got some great ideas but he's not very technical. But... that did not stop him
I think Bob Rock really hurt Metallica's identity. He didn't want them to be metal. Think about it, he was the producer from the black album to Stanger. The black album was iconic because they were carrying many of their ideas and momentum from their metal years. It was downhill from there until he left.
@@whiplash1903 of course, yet if you are as ambitious as Lars has been (especially between MoP and AJFA) then you need enough technique to express the ideas.
After doing my regular classic guitar lessons, Metallica and Megadeth were my guitar teachers. There are so many. The main riff of The Four Horsemen, holy moly. Blackened, Creeping Death, Damage Inc. is sick and tough to play clean. I totally dig your no.1. Epiccest of them all.
I'm pretty good with Rick's entire list but I might have substituted in Four Horsemen or even King Nothing instead of Wherever I May Roam. I'm one of the weirdos that loved the blues-infused jaunt that were Load/Reload. Was it traditional Metallica? No, but it was just part of the journey and there was some legit good stuff in there.
It's a good list. When the black album dropped I thought "Enter Sandman" was the best. I now have the opposite opinion. For black album riffs, "Sad But True" holds the test of time. Binge & Purge has a version that hits so fast and heavy that I wondered for a moment which track it was on Justice and then realized it wasn't on Justice. Rick had a lot of representation from Ride. I probably would have had more from Kill 'Em All.
@@evanthompson4186 yeah, blackened is tough for guitarists and drummer, I know a number of Metallica-loving drummers who absolutely refuse to do blackened I'm cool with the not fun to play - that disqualifies many of the great ride, master, justice riffs so I'm not mad that they weren't there. As I roll into middle age my arm tends to cramp up trying to play those. Same goes for playing that riff from master with all downstrokes, too much age and not enough cocaine to tear through that one properly. I play it similarly usually.
"There are so many great Metallica riffs. This is a really hard list to make." You said it Rick! Here's one that maybe wouldn't be as obvious/popular: the Trapped Under Ice pre- and post-bridge riff, played twice (1:49) and four times (2:24) respectively. I believe it's a Hammett riff, characterized mainly by phrygian dominant and the tritone. Awesome, and fun to play!
The House Jack Built, Hit the Lights, Atlas Rise, Blackened, Holier Than Thou, Jump in the Fire, Disposable Heroes, Dyers Eve, Whiplash, and Fight Fire With Fire would make a B-List for me. All are great riffs and fun to play.
I've always loved giving myself trauma by attempting Through the Never with 100% downstrokes. Ronnie's got a great swagger. It's almost impossible to choose just ten great Metallica songs!
Love Through the Never and I was lucky enough at a young age to have my guitar teacher teach me how to play it in all downstrokes and it’s probably my favorite of their songs to play. Rock on!
@@jordanspory7633 I've found it easiest to play by using a combo of knuckle, wrist and elbow movement, it makes it feel more fluid, and doesn't wear me out as much as just using the elbow or wrist.
I used to be able to do the down strokes with no issues (even though I'm a finger playing bassist) as I practised 4-6 hours a day back in the day on guitar. Now, as I barely pick up the guitar, I cannot keep it up. One would need a month of practising 4 hours a day, to get it back - muscle memory. So get practising.
Awesome list! I love playing Sad But True. The first time you hit that D power chord after the slight pause just feels so badass 👿 Proves you don't need to tune down far or play difficult riffs to be heavy as fk! 🤘
Rick rocking Met riffs. Gotta love it! 🤘
Hey Mike
Mr Beato bringing worlds together.
You’re everywhere mike
He def saw your how to play enter sandman correctly video haha, but missed the master of puppets one (didnt do the cromatic 2-1-0 at the end)😂
So wishing he interviews pap Hetfield 🥺
Battery is the bluntest, stupidly straight forward and ultra aggressive riff that still has hint of melody and mood in it. Sooo freaking effective! And Leper Messiah - probably the nastiest and filthiest riffs on this album!
Bow to Leper Messiah!
I'd known about Metallica for years and even listened to Black Album religiously as a kid, but but never really "discovered" them until I was mid 20's. I downloaded their entire disgography and just left it on repeat on a playlist, and the one I kept coming back to, the one I'd never really heard but that sunk its hooks in hard, was Battery. Not long after that I would become a permanent fan and still listen to them pretty regularly 20 some odd years later
I'd say Blackened out-edges it by just a bit.
0:23 Harvester of Sorrow
0:55 Seek & Destroy
1:23 Creeping Death
1:55 Fade to Black
2:20 Enter Sandman
2:57 For Whom The Bell Tolls
3:24 Wherever I May Roam
4:12 Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
4:49 Sad But True
5:37 Master of Puppets
I want Rick to go to jail for not including Blackened and Battery 🙃
@@timbok83haha 😂 this comment. But I agree. Scrap Enter Sandman 🙄
I love your channel, you go through Metallica to jazz, sting and other genres without prejudice. Good music has no limits. Greetings from Brazil.
🙏🏻🙏🏻🙏🏻
BR BR
BR BR BR
Good music is good music, no matter what the genre.
Yeah, I loved his video on Oscar Peterson
Does this mean there’s an interview with James Hetfield coming up? Would sure hope so!
I'd wouldn't mind the entire band - Lars. Lars is rather unlikable in every way possible, but Robert and Kirk seem nice.
@@draetonalimoffatt8780 have you heard Lars podcast? Dude is an amazing host
Hetfield's 58. Only two more years of downstokes left 😲
@@kingloser4198 cool. That gives me more than 15 years…what are downstokes and how do I use them? 😝
@@patrickwayne9074 When a cat comes near you move your hand from its head to its tail only - but not back the other way. Do that as fast as you can.
Under-appreciated Gems of Metallica Riffs:
- The Frayed Ends of Sanity instrumental interlude (multiple riffs)
- Damaged, Inc. breakdown/ending
- Blackened verse + breakdown
- That Was Just Your Life harmonized breakdown
- Through the Never breakdown
- Jump In the Fire intro/main riff (Dave Mustaine)
As for the more recognizable ones, don't forget Orion and Disposable Heroes.
-The unforgiving , check the guitar only version.
@@LukezyM the unforgiven not the unforgiving
Frayed. By far 👌
- The riff after Kirk's solo in The Struggle Within
- The opening of My Apocalypse
- The main riff in Atlas Rise
Disposable heroes has an incredible galloping riff so I think that riff definitely deserves a mention
i agree. so simple yet so crushing. the main riff is very cool too
∆
Mention??? That's their best song of all time imo ,
I love playing the bridge riff
Agreed
Great list. I’d add a couple more:
-Blackened Main Riff
-That was just your life Main riff
-Middle section of Leper Messiah when the song speeds up
- Sweet Amber riff in the middle of the song
Death magnetic fantastic riffs and ofc st anger. Nice list
Hell, include the rest of Sweet Amber while were at it. That's a fun song to play.
I've been using this name and gamertag for some 20+ odd years because of that riff. Still love it
Agreed. Sweet Amber, and all the other St. Anger song is killer.
I feel like That was just your life doesn't get the love it deserves
'The Thing That Should Not Be' is the most underrated and heaviest riff of METALLICA
Concur
frayed ends of sanity says hello)
Yep. It’s their heaviest song.
@@РоманМелехин-ы5ы good contender but Thing's riff is a little heavier.
@@jeremiahscarlett1784 i dont think so)
I love the way your Rick'isms still shine through on these awesome riffs-great list man!!! My favorite tallica riff to play that is so easy yet so satisfying is the bridge of No Leaf Clover, right after the guitar solo... DUN DUN DUN, DUN, DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNN
You meant "DUN DUN DUN, DUN, DUN DUN DUN, DUN DUN DUN DUNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNN", right?
One of the most underrated, underplayed Metallica songs!
friends with the benedicts
And that machine-like hiss, damnnn.
Interesting hearing MoP with no palm mutes.
My favorites are:
Battery (main riff)
Dyer's Eve (main and chorus riffs)
Sad But True (main riff)
Ride The Lightning (the spider riff)
To Live Is To Die (interlude - clean riff)
Enter Sandman (main riff)
One (THAT riff)
Blackened (everything)
The God That Failed (main riff)
Which riff is THAT riff
Du du du duuuuu or dududududun dududududun dudududuuuuun
he can not play battery or dyers eve and so on
@@floydfreeman1318 somehow, I know what you meant. I prefer dudududududun dudududududun
@@jameshoulding8951 nice I agree with you
Battery is so bad ass. I love RTL too
Lets not forget The unforgiven, the most heavy sounding metal ballad and the most touching lyric, a true masterpiece. Holier than you- great riff. And of course Where ever I may roam!
Can't agree, honestly. I think "heaviest sounding metal ballad" has to go to Pantera's "This Love." Not to say that "The Unforgiven " is a bad song, it's a great song, just not really super heavy.
My favorite song
The breakdown riff in "One" while James is singing "darkness imprisoning me" has got to be their most powerful and iconic riff. Not much to it, but very powerful.
How is that their most iconic lol, are you telling me that’s their most recognizable riff, not Master of Puppets, not Enter Sandman, but the bridge riff from One
It’s called “the double bass part”
@@specmatt1001 you mean the "machine gun" riff...
It's a cool part but too simple. What makes it great is the band locking together so everyone is doing the same thing. Good piece of arranging rather than song writing.
@@tepidtooth8539 --
"HAMMETT: I’ll tell you how the main [descending] riff to “Master of Puppets” came about. On the Ride the Lightning tour, James would always play the riff in the dressing room, but on the D string, and I’d play it simultaneously on the G string as a parallel-fourths harmony line. It sounded really dorky and funny. Then one day at rehearsal, James said, “Let me show you this really heavy song intro,” and proceeded to play that exact riff on the low E string. I said, “Ah, so you finally found a use for that dorky little thing!” It’s anything but dorky now."
James and Kirk still, somehow manage to play Master of Puppets and Creeping Death with all down strokes even now as they approach 60 years of age🤯
I mean, they have had a couple years to practice
@@mitchsmix269 yeah just a couple
Ikr crazy
Probably because their forearm muscles are so accustomed to it that it doesn’t even wear it out anymore
@@mitchsmix269 yeah just a few
Blackened all the way. To be fair, I was never able to get that one right myself. Killer riff though. Great work Rick. You have a great channel.
That for me is number 1. Honestly my top 10 would be half of And Justice For All
Blackened is sick. Should’ve made Rick’s top 10.
Agreed 👍
Yes! A perfect opening track. The haunting, melodic fade in, and then BAM! Buckle up, kids...
of wolf and man is my favorite metallica song but blackened has to be my next favorite. that song makes me want to kick my grandmother in the teeth
Solid list, Rick.
"Through the Never" is a fun riff to play.
Leper Messiah and Trapped under ice are fun to play, so is Ktulu
So fun to play!
the bridge riff, it's the most fun to play imo
That is SUUUUUUUCH an underrated song
Such a great riff and an under appreciated song.
Love Metallica. I can't even put into words what this band did for me growing up. Some songs would bring to tears I thought were so good.
Great list, Rick! Here is mine.
Damage Inc - The middle part riff
Blackened - Main riff Newsted represent!
Creeping death - Die riff
Orion - Main riff
Frayed ends - "That" gallop riff
Spit out the bone
No remorse - chorus riff
Through the never - Breakdown riff
Fixxxer - Main riff
Master of puppets - Pre chorus riff
There are so many amazing riffs. On all the albums. Even St. Anger has a bunch of really great riffs.
I like your list. We have similar taste. I would also put Lepper Messiah middle riff in it
@@tzvonar Nice!! I love that riff as well, there are so many! It's almost impossible to just choose 10!
Thank you for mentioning the Die riff from Creeping Death. I was surprised Rick didn't use that one, way more iconic. Have you seen Kirk being interviewed about writing that riff? Nutty...
Lol i would literally have this as my list + battery
Fixxxer has such a great groove. Great choice alot of people won't mention.
My personal favorite is the Dyers Eve riff. It’s so underrated yet it’s just such a cool riff
They played that live in 09, last time I saw em.
Yeah I like that too. That could be the only true "thrash" song on the album, not that genre classing matters, jut sayin.
Yes. Dyer's Eve is their most violent and dark song to me, and the riff is a big contribution to this
Dyers Eve is my favorite Metallica song!
@@reaverofsouls yes, I saw them in Nîmes, I was really surprised and happy that they played this one as they rarely played it until then
Crazy how Hetfield plays the Puppets intro with all downstrokes.
Call of Ktulu has long been one of my favorites but being an instrumental usually keeps it off of "iconic" lists. Great job on the riffology Rick!
That one's complicated
The Call of Ktulu, Orion and Suicide and Redemption are some of my favorite Metallica songs, bar none. You're not alone!
Glad you mentioned Call of Ktulu, that one is on my list for sure.
You could pretty much include the entirety of Ride the Lightning and you wouldn't be wrong.
@@AceFace50001 Or Master of Puppets for that matter...
Battery and Blackened are 2 of the greatest opening songs in album history.
Amen brother! But a lot of people have trouble playing Blackened... lol
Battery is so brutal.
Good choice!
Rick should know better at least
@@christebo7305 that double picked note on the first fret of the fifth string is the one little part that kicks my ass, so infuriating!
Or fight fire with fire
Two great bridge riffs: “Fade to Black” and “The Day That Never Comes”. Both so dang heavy and melodic.
The harmonising between the bass and guitar parts during the Orion solo are a favourite for me. Really nice section of their music.
"Searchiiiiiiiiiiiiiin! Seek and Destroy!!!" The whole song is sooooo fun to play, not just the main riff. It absolutely belongs to this list.
i used to play that song in a band, the jam part after the last verse always gave us an adrenaline kick
My ex band used to do a seek and destroy and four horsemen medly and we called it seeking the horseman on our set list lol. We played tune in d standard (down full step) and our rhythm section was top notch and made us sound super heavy. We would start seek and destroy like Nirmal and do 2 verses till the part where it does the fast part where the drum breakdown is and from there we would transition into four horseman and start the song and do 2 verses and at the part where it has the middle breakdown we would jump back into the end of seek and do the outro part on seek. It was very cool and worked well together that way you wouldn't know it was two different songs if you weren't familiar with the original songs. I am a pretty good rhythm player but not much of a lead guy and we did not have a lead at the time so we did it that way to avoid any crazy solos lol. It really did work well. we also did am I evil and creeping death we called it am I creeping we did it similar when we would jump to creeping death just before am I evil speeds up in the middle we would do one chorus section and go straight into the die die die part then we'd go back into the ending part of am I evil. Those songs really worked well together. I miss playing music I need to find some more guys to jam with.
It’s song number 9.
Bleeding Me - many parts that are sheer joy to play.
Halo on Fire - amazing chorus, and guitar during the verses is pretty damn good to boot.
While I think you got it right mostly, there's some newer stuff that is worth the exploration. I say that as a AJFA guy.
These were ALL the Metallica songs my band played in high school, great fun to play. I think the only iconic riff we loved playing and missing here is JUMP IN THE FIRE
Battery was also missing lol
Yep Jump In The Fire is top tier.
Jump in the Fire was the first Metallica song I could play just because the main riff is just kinda the minor pentatonic scale.
My favourite to play is probably the first I learnt - "Orion". Oh, and the quieter arpeggiated part in "Master of Puppets".
Great list! I’ve always been partial to Leper Messiah. The main riff and the one that leads into the faster middle part. I’d jam out to that song when is was a kid, just listen to it over and over. Thrashing bliss!
Think a top 20 riffs is needed with this band. Great stuff as always, Rick.
At least
agree..Def could have gone 20..hell I'd watch 40 , but that's for us real fans
Yep def 20
i could probably think of 10 bad ass riffs off of every album except st. anger, might have to limit that one to 5. (frantic is a great song, fight me)
The breakdown in Four Horsemen is one of the most badass riffs ever.
You mean Sweet Home Alabama? ;)
@@jsalvatori I think he means the great riff before the SHA. Do do do dadadada da da da
@@MetalRob81 yeah that riff is fire
Horsemen would have made my list. 🤘
I discovered Metallica when I was 10 in 1988 a neighbor who was 4 or 5 years older than me was listening to The Master of Puppets album. When I heard "The thing that should not be" I was hooked. Still one of my favorite riffs.
I was around 12 on 1994 and it Motorbreath. My mind was blown
As someone who learned guitar primarily to play Metallica riffs, this was great! Agree with number 1, stood the test of time for sure. Top 10 Metallica solos now Rick! ;)
Half of them are from Mustaine.
@@imac29 they are not!
@@imac29 your probably trolling but just in case, maybe one or two solos from kill em all would make it, and while they where layed out by Dave, Kirk played them differently on the record
Definitely number 1 I called that one pretty obvious
@@imac29 he wrote their first 2 albums only
Honorable mention to the odd cousin of the Enter Sandman riff: King Nothing. Damn fun to play.
Also a Kirk Hammett riff :-)
that riff fits really well on bass too
I came here to suggest King Nothing as well. Nice. Such a groovy riff.
I jammed on the King Nothing bassline with my band the other day. The guitarist and a guest guitarist played random stuff over it for 45 minutes.
He cheated with puppets too. No shame, so do I. James plays it ALL down strokes, no pull offs. 220 bpm. Impossibly fast. Yet that's why it sounds so hot.
Also doesn’t sound palm muted to me, but Beato is such a beast on the guitar, I’ll give him a pass lol
The four horseman, disposable heroes, frayed ends of sanity, welcome home (sanitarium), ride the lightning… top 10 just isn’t enough for Metallica
I very much second Four Horsemen and Frayed Ends of Sanity.
Disposable heroes is without doubt my fav Metallica song. The crescendo that Kirk plays during the solo is without doubt the highlight of his career.
As he said, there is a hell of a lot to choose from, mega Metallica fan non guitar player
Four horseman is not a Metallica riff, but a Mustaine one. Yes, he was in Metallica, but it will always be a Mustaine riff.
The Frayed Ends Of Sanity Bridge riff is awesome!
For me personally, Master is their best album and there isn't a better intro to an album in that genre than Battery. So many great riffs on that album.
Best metal album period..Don't think anything is close..
@@dizzle7558 There are too many metal albums to say that one is the best ever, but MOP isn’t even as good as RTL and AJFA imo.
Regardless I wouldn’t say any Metallica record is the best metal record of all time lol.
Ride the lightning is my favorite
Agree. Master is the best metal album ever!
Still remember hearing that on vinyl for the first time when it came out (Battery). Blew me away. Very very few albums I can say that about.
1:35. What I like about no. 8 is that you’re really showcasing how different it sounds when playing it that way and why down-stroking is so important. It sounds so different played like that and definitely doesn’t rock as hard.
Lovely list. Load and Reload have so many simple, yet fun riffs that I feel get left out of people's lists, but they are fun to jam to: The Cure, Bad Seed, Fixxxer, Outlaw Torn, Bleeding Me, Until it Sleeps, Attitude, Wasting My Hate, and on and on.
king nothing!
Reload sucks
There's a reason Rick didn't include anything post- Black Album.
I don't care what anyone says the load albums were good they weren't as good as Master of puppets or Ride the lightning
I didn't really like much of Load or Reload, but I do agree Bleeding Me is a great riff
Love that you can hear the bass in the mix. Sounds really cool. Someone should tell Metallica....
I noticed that too!
You can hear the bass in their songs, except one Album.
@@88_TROUBLE_88 I'm glad to see that 30 years later you have finally moved on from this issue which now gets no reaction from you anymore ;-P
@@88_TROUBLE_88 yeah I can't argue with that. It's old humor. It's just still that annoying and sad to me. That album was epic. Got it the day it was released. In fact I heard two songs live before release at 3 rivers in Pittsburgh. You could hear the bass then. That was a great show. Just still wish they'd remaster the album.. mabye with Rob. Probably never happen 😕
@@rhinoutopia Spotify, "...and justice for Jason"... then you have the bass.....
*Four Horsemen* is the most under-appreciated riff of all time of Metallica.
It's the "best" riff in my eyes, Dave mustaine is a beast
dude Four Horsemen is my favourite riff ever (after Iron Maiden riffs ofcourse ;))
small world huh aayush
We need a What Makes this song Great on Baker Street by Gerry Rafferty. Amazing sax and one of the best of not the best guitar solo
I concur!
Awesome song. Foo Fighters did an amazing cover of that song in the late 90’s.
Absolutely. I've thought that for quite a while.
Dude! I can't stop laughing at the irony of mentioning (While not a bad song, in fact arguably his best. ) something that is the absolute opposite of Metallica!
@@stevewhite443 lol
Please, Rick, can you consider doing a PANTERA/ DIMEBAG DARRELL “Riffs” episode? Your content is awesome, btw and your knowledge of music is INSANE!!! 🙏
I personally think that Jasons bass solo and Kirks guitar solo in My Friend Of Misery are pretty underrated!
There is 2 guitar harmony part there that is both kirk and het it is so badass then it goes into just Kirk's solo that is such a great song. The entire black album is a classic album people just love to hate on it because it was popular and their style changed some
@@midnight347 yess! such an amazing album.
That bass into is dark! That song gives me Castlevania vibes.
@@snorkman2 omg yess
Brother,
One of my favorite things about your channel is watching you completely jam out of the songs you love.
For a man with the diverse musical background that you have, its so fun to see you apply it to metal.
If you ever have someone on your channel to interview you, I'd like to reserve a spot in line.
was there anyone else who, when Rick said "A lot of people will expect this to be #1...." was thinking "What!?!?! Master of Puppets is only #6????"
Pretty mid tbh
Yes, me!!! 😅
3:45 yes!!! My Fav Metallica song, Really underrated in the black Album or even in whole Metallica Songs list.
This is a great list, Rick! The only riff I think I would've added somewhere is, "One." It's definitely not a fast thrash riff, but it totally iconic. Is it not necessarily fun to play? I guess maybe it's a little simplistic, but the sound of it is thoroughly haunting and beautiful.
Kind of similar to Fade to Black
I was just waiting for the moment when he'd play One, because I was sure it was on the list. To me it is very iconic, fun and heavy
Sanitarium?
Oops I commented before hearing no.3
One is such a beautiful song to play. Especially when it gets to the machine gun 16th note triplet break....LANDMINE!!! HAS TAKEN MY ARMS...
The main riff isn't that impressive but the interlude riffs are beautiful
I always really enjoyed Blackened, the opening riffs to Ride The Lightning (the song), and All Nightmare Long
I think Blackened is the perfect example of it not being fun to play for him (or for me) it's an awesome riff though.
Yes! I'm right there with you on all three. All Nightmare Long is one of the few classics after the Bob Rock desolation.
i love how he mixed the bass pretty loudly (I'm kinda biased to be excited by this at this point as a bassist)
I know that Load and Reload are considered the redheaded stepchildren of Metallica's library, but I think Load has some fantastic songs on it, and the riff at the end of Bleeding Me is one of my favourites.
The one thing I always loved about those two albums, is that they are some of the best audio quality records ever put to wax. They are recorded extremely well, amazing tones.
I'm glad someone else feels the same way. "Bleeding Me" is amazing.
Also outlaw Torn
@@thedancingguy828 there's a live performance of Outlaw Torn on UA-cam that is absolutely bone-chilling.
@@Luis-st4gq the 2019 is my favorite performance
Agree on all. blackened… absolute killer riff for me. Missing here. I would take off one from the black album. But that’s personal preference. Metallica riffs are absolutely insane 🤘🤘
Agree, I miss this one too.
Hell no black album is when metallica sold out only the fan boys like black album and they aren't true metal heads
@@DylanL69 he said blackened from ajfa not black album
@@Cheddar_Wizard I bet you're not you listen to the black that's the 2nd worse metallica album ever their first 4 are the best always have been btw I listen to death metal I bet you dont
I would’ve added Blackened and dropped Sad But True. That one was forever tainted when Kid Rock sampled it.
Great list!
As you say, there are so many great riffs.
Here are some other riffs I love to play :D
Kill 'Em All:
The Four Horsemen - 17 seconds
Phantom Lord - 32 seconds
No Remorse - 2 minutes 57 seconds
Ride The Lightning:
Fade To Black - 5 minutes 5 seconds
The Call Of Ktulu - 33 seconds
Master of Puppets:
Battery - 1 minute 06 seconds
Master of Puppets - 3 minutes 34 seconds
Welcome Home (Sanitarium) - 4 minutes 49 seconds
Disposable Heroes - 32 seconds
Leper Messiah - 3 minutes 13 seconds
Damge, Inc. - 3 minutes 14 seconds
...And Justice For All:
Blackened - 38 seconds
One - 4 minutes 35 seconds
To Live Is To Die - 4 minutes 58 seconds
Dyers Eve - 3 minutes 3 seconds
Metallica:
The Unforgiven - 34 seconds
Through The Never - 2 minutes 52 seconds
Load:
Bleeding Me - 0 seconds
Thorn Within - 44 seconds
The Outlaw Torn - 29 seconds
Reload:
Fuel - 14 seconds
The Memory Remains - 6 seconds
Fixxxer - 1 minute 9 seconds
S&M:
- Human - 36 seconds
Death Magnetic:
Broken, Beat & Scarred - 59 seconds
Hardwired...To Self-Destruct:
Confusion - 59 seconds
Top 10 lists can be crazy hard. But regardless of mood, there's at least one riff above I'll always enjoy playing.
The rythm guitar during the solos in songs like Ride The Lightning, Fight Fire with Fire, The Frayed ends of Sanity, Battery, Disposable Heroes is amazing. IMO Metallica is unique when it comes to making the parts in their songs build up into epic solos.
Was hoping someone would mention Frayed Ends riff under the solo. When I first heard that isolated it blew my mind. An amazing riff, really wish it'd gotten a chance to shine outside the solo.
Absolutely. Glad someone pointed this out, Hetfields solo rhythm riffs are awesome
Glad Master of Puppets was at the top of the list. The Middle Riff in Damage Inc. is also killer.
damage inc is what I immediately thought of when I saw this vid in my notifications lol
Yeah! I remember when the Master of Puppets album came out and whenever my friends and I heard that main riff off of Damage Inc. we'd instantly go into a wild frenzied slam dance.
@@EliahHoliday Samesies brah
That middle riff is pure adrenaline. Their most ferocious riff they've ever done
One of my favorite Metallica riffs to play is “The Shortest Straw”
Blackened is one of my favorites from the Justice for All album.
I enjoyed this. I'd love to see a best 10 riffs by Alice in Chains, and by Black Sabbath.
agreed, both could be killer
Agree with this 100% ☝️ Please do either of these bands Rick!!
1. Blackened
2. And Justice For All
3. Eye of the Beholder
4. One
5. The Shortest Straw
6. Harvester of Sorrow
7. Frayed Ends of Sanity
8. To Live is to Die
9. Dyer's Eve
10. And Justice For All (seriously so many killer riffs)
The chromatic riff before the first verse of For Whom the Bell Tolls is such a blast.
yes!! one of my faves
Hearing that blast out of the stereo for the first time was definitely a top 3 formative moment in terms of my musical taste.
Master of Puppets is what got me hooked on Metallica. I find it interesting no song beyond Black made the list. Loved the old school list.
I kept thinking of "King Nothing." My honorable mention.
Me too. First time I heard that song I knew Metallica was for me.
That was just your life was pretty solid
Was there an album after Black?
@@asmith3846 i am one of the weird ones who really liked St Anger
10- Jump in the fire
9- holier than thou
8- fuel
7- master of puppets
6- disposable Hero’s
5- Damage Inc
4- The Frayed ends of Sanity
3- Fade To Black
2- One
1- Spit out the bone
Just FYI: you create joy Beato. (An astonishing achievement, particularly at present).
Completely agree.
Fade to black, the no one but me riff, is by far my favorite distorted riff of all time, the amount of emotion in it is UNREAL!!!
Great choice. Personally I find nice to listen and to play the main riff of King Nothing. Pretty groovy and pretty heavy. There are plenty of nice ideas in the Load/Reload sessions, often missed by the fans of "true metal".
I would’ve had:
-Orion ending riff
-Of Wolf and Man
-Blackened
-Ride the Lightning
-One machine gun riff
Rick CAN METAL!!!!
Totally underrated songs: "to live is do die" and outlaw torn" - those are such great songs with so fun to play riffs in it
Kirk Hammett's solo in Blackened was legit the best 60 seconds of his whole career.
My personal favorite is his Disposable Heroes solo, but definitely a strong argument could be made for Blackened
Also Ride the Lightning and Fade to Black. But Blackened and Disposable Heroes for sure too
Eh that solo sucked. Fantastic riff though
his solo in RTL is my personal fav
@@jasonx4008 we cant really know for sure but the second part of that solo is very dave mustaine in my opinion
Wow! the timing of this video, I just started getting into Metallica like a day ago!
good thing to get into.
Enjoy your journey into Metallica.
I'm jealous that you get to experience their music for the first time. And they're still touring!
Welcome, friend 🤘
Did we just become best friends?
1 MASTER OF PUPPETS ("come crawling faster" Pre Chorus)
2 TRAPPED UNDER ICE (Middle Section from 1:47 such a sick riff)
3 LEPER MESSIAH (2nd Half tempo change 3:14)
4 CREEPING DEATH ("Die by my hand" bridge)
5 THE THING THAT SHOULD NOT BE ("Fearless wretch" Chorus riff 1:30)
6 DAMAGE INC ("We chew and spit you out" 3:14)
7 SPIT OUT THE BONE (Heavy middle section riff 5:02)
8 BLACKENED ("Opposition" Middle Section 2:36)
9 WHEREVER I MAY ROAM (main riff)
10 SOME KIND OF MONSTER (main riff)
Imo.
DAMN your mix, especially the bass & drums, sounded GREAT on For Whom The Bell Tolls!
The Damage inc riff, after the chorus and before the solo, is probably my favorite riff right now
Great article and love the refreshing jokey honesty about the down picking. Particularly on the Creeping Death demo it just shows how James' stunning down picking takes the riff to another level.
Ha-because of that I'm willing to give him a pass on the lack of proper downpicking. As James has been saying for decades-it the key! \m/
Wow, all of this songs are of my favorites, the ones that made me wanted to learn guitar, and the ones that i enjoy playing the most from Metallica...
The main riff to Orion would be near the top of my list. Fun to play, heavy, and a great groove.
3:05 "For Whom the Bell Tolls" has always been particularly fun to play on bass. By the way, that's a pretty Les Paul. Looks like the colors of UNC a little.
I was drving my 8 years old son to his hockey practice, and put my favourite Metallica songs. For one thing he had never really listened any heavy metal songs, his reaction was: OMG dad this is so good who is this new band ?:):):) It's heavy but very melodic !
finally somebody remembers the straight drums of the black album. People think it was Lars being kind of lazy or unskilled, but it was a precise choice, the opposite to AJFA. Great video Rick, but one can tell you missed the entire thrash guitar playing style back in the days. We love you anyway ;-)
He was lazy and unskilled by then
In all fairness people have been criticizing Lars way before the black album. I think he's got some great ideas but he's not very technical. But... that did not stop him
I think Bob Rock really hurt Metallica's identity. He didn't want them to be metal. Think about it, he was the producer from the black album to Stanger. The black album was iconic because they were carrying many of their ideas and momentum from their metal years. It was downhill from there until he left.
@@sklivvz you don't have to be the most skilled musician to create great music.
@@whiplash1903 of course, yet if you are as ambitious as Lars has been (especially between MoP and AJFA) then you need enough technique to express the ideas.
After doing my regular classic guitar lessons, Metallica and Megadeth were my guitar teachers.
There are so many. The main riff of The Four Horsemen, holy moly.
Blackened, Creeping Death, Damage Inc. is sick and tough to play clean.
I totally dig your no.1. Epiccest of them all.
"Four Horseman" is a good one!
I'm pretty good with Rick's entire list but I might have substituted in Four Horsemen or even King Nothing instead of Wherever I May Roam. I'm one of the weirdos that loved the blues-infused jaunt that were Load/Reload. Was it traditional Metallica? No, but it was just part of the journey and there was some legit good stuff in there.
It's a good list. When the black album dropped I thought "Enter Sandman" was the best. I now have the opposite opinion. For black album riffs, "Sad But True" holds the test of time. Binge & Purge has a version that hits so fast and heavy that I wondered for a moment which track it was on Justice and then realized it wasn't on Justice. Rick had a lot of representation from Ride. I probably would have had more from Kill 'Em All.
@@raymondlugo9960
Especially Live ! All these riffs blew my mind. :)
Love your picks but would have loved to see Four Horsemen, Ride The Lightning mid spider riff, and Blackened. Otherwise glad you did a video on them.
I watched Metallica's 40th anniversary concerts live, and I have come to the conclusion that metal keeps one young.
Oh hell yeah it does . Givesme a completely different attitude.
I personally have two number one's: Trapped Under Ice and Blackened. Two of my all time favourite Metallica songs.
Blackened would fall into his category of "Not fun to play." It is but not comfortable by any stretch. That song hurts to play right
@@evanthompson4186 yeah, blackened is tough for guitarists and drummer, I know a number of Metallica-loving drummers who absolutely refuse to do blackened
I'm cool with the not fun to play - that disqualifies many of the great ride, master, justice riffs so I'm not mad that they weren't there. As I roll into middle age my arm tends to cramp up trying to play those. Same goes for playing that riff from master with all downstrokes, too much age and not enough cocaine to tear through that one properly. I play it similarly usually.
"There are so many great Metallica riffs. This is a really hard list to make." You said it Rick!
Here's one that maybe wouldn't be as obvious/popular: the Trapped Under Ice pre- and post-bridge riff, played twice (1:49) and four times (2:24) respectively. I believe it's a Hammett riff, characterized mainly by phrygian dominant and the tritone. Awesome, and fun to play!
The House Jack Built, Hit the Lights, Atlas Rise, Blackened, Holier Than Thou, Jump in the Fire, Disposable Heroes, Dyers Eve, Whiplash, and Fight Fire With Fire would make a B-List for me. All are great riffs and fun to play.
Whiplash 🤘🤘
The interlude riffs of The Frayed Ends of Sanity can be difficult but are pretty damn fun
It’s super simple, but I love that opening to One. Dead simple to play, but so much power in those few notes!
Metallica sort of needs a top 20, there's so many killer riffs.
Agreed! How about the magical riff of Four Horsemen?!
Yeah agreed Metallica needs a top 20.
Being a life long Metallica fan from Kill'em All to Hardwired they have a bunch of iconic and fun riffs to play.
Or 100…
I don't care what anyone says there are still some good riffs post Black album
I always play "Wasting My Hate" because it's easy....and fun! Glad to see Fade to Black and For Whom the Bell Tolls on your list.
Rick can u please re-record all their albums. Your production is phenomenal 🙌
Couldn’t agree more, incredible work!
@daniellysohirka4258 Cause a lot of old Metallica records have questionable production (mainly Ajfa abd Kill em all)
@daniellysohirka4258 Bro, I like kill em all, but saying it's got good production is a very big stretch
I've always loved giving myself trauma by attempting Through the Never with 100% downstrokes.
Ronnie's got a great swagger.
It's almost impossible to choose just ten great Metallica songs!
Thank you! It's been almost 30 years and I still think Ronnie is a sorely underappreciated track. Not to merit even one live performance, come on :-D
Love Through the Never and I was lucky enough at a young age to have my guitar teacher teach me how to play it in all downstrokes and it’s probably my favorite of their songs to play. Rock on!
@@jordanspory7633 I've found it easiest to play by using a combo of knuckle, wrist and elbow movement, it makes it feel more fluid, and doesn't wear me out as much as just using the elbow or wrist.
I used to be able to do the down strokes with no issues (even though I'm a finger playing bassist) as I practised 4-6 hours a day back in the day on guitar. Now, as I barely pick up the guitar, I cannot keep it up. One would need a month of practising 4 hours a day, to get it back - muscle memory. So get practising.
Love these kind of videos. You need to play more.
The intro to jump in the fire is so much fun to play I think it deserves a definite spot on the list!
Great job as always, Rick! Always spot on with those riffs.👍🏻
Great list. Sad But True is my number 1. Disposable Heroes and Shortest Straw have really awesome riffs as well.🤘
Shortest Straw 🤘🤘
Damage, Blackened, Fire?
@@StevenironsDefinitely Damage Inc.🤘😖
3:30 I agree with this take about the drumming on the black album I love it
For Whom The Bell Tolls is and always will be my favorite of their songs.
Awesome list! I love playing Sad But True. The first time you hit that D power chord after the slight pause just feels so badass 👿 Proves you don't need to tune down far or play difficult riffs to be heavy as fk! 🤘
I love the first palm muted riff in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Those heavy, low chords in progression with one another are fun for me as a beginner.
"Top 10 times James Hetfield held a vowel sound for a long time."
Wherever I May Roam is my favorite riff of theirs.
Agree!
What non-vowel sounds are held in music?
It's just so epic sounding
@Joshua Jayne Wasn't in contrast to consonants, just an observation
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