"Orion" is an instrumental by American thrash metal band Metallica from their third studio album, Master of Puppets, released on March 3, 1986, by Elektra Records.[2] There the song features as track seven, and is entirely instrumental. "Orion" was written primarily by bassist Cliff Burton. The song was named after the constellation of the same name, Orion, due to its "spacey sounding" bridge.[3]
On September 27, 1986, while touring in 1986 to support Master of Puppets, the band's tour bus crashed, killing Burton. "Orion" was played over speakers during his funeral.[4] After his death, Metallica frontman James Hetfield had the notes from the bridge of the song tattooed on his left arm.[4][5]
Background and writing
"Orion" is a multipart instrumental highlighting Burton's bass playing. A majority of the song was written by Burton, including the guitar solos.[4] It opens with a fade-in bass section, heavily processed to resemble an orchestra. It continues with mid-tempo riffing, followed by a bass riff at half-tempo. The tempo accelerates during the latter part, and ends with music fading out.[6] Burton arranged each part of the middle section, which features a moody bass line and multipart guitar harmonies.[7] "Orion" contains two solos from Burton,[8] one from Hetfield, and three from the group's lead guitarist, Kirk Hammett.[9] Burton had originally intended to play all the solos on bass, but reluctantly gave up some to the band's two guitarists.
While demoing songs for Master of Puppets, "Orion" and "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" had been one song, titled "Only Thing"; between the demo sessions and the album recording sessions, the two songs were split apart.[10] However, this meant that the song hadn't been fully written before the band arrived to the studio in Copenhagen.[7] While working on finishing the track, the band made the decision to keep it as an instrumental.[11]
Live
"Orion" is the least-performed song from the album.[12] Its first full live performance was during the Escape from the Studio '06 tour, when the band performed the album in its entirety, honoring the 20th anniversary of its release.[13][14] The song had previously only been played as a part of medleys, jams, or in an abridged form.[13][15] On February 10, 2018, what would have been Cliff's 56th birthday, the group played the song. Lars Ulrich called the performance “a very special moment.”[16] On the first date of the band's tour in support of their 11th studio album, 72 Seasons, they opened the show with a performance of "Orion".[17]
Reception and legacy
"Orion" has been widely praised by fans and critics alike.
The song has been covered by numerous different bands and artists, including Dream Theater[18] and Mastodon.[19]
The song was featured in the film Metallica: Through the Never[20] as well as the film's soundtrack.[21] Unlike the other songs from the project, "Orion" wasn't recorded live, instead recorded at a soundcheck prior to the show where the other tracks were recorded.
After the death of Cliff Burton, the song became one of Lars Ulrich's favourite Metallica songs. "Obviously, the emotional component of 'Orion' with the Cliff element... and that whole middle piece obviously is… it's beautiful and so unique, unlike anything that obviously we had ever done before or pretty much done ever since".[22]
^Ustaer, Feyyaz (6 December 2017). "METALLICA REVEALS A FACT YOU PROBABLY DIDN'T KNOW ABOUT "ORION"". Metalhead Zone. Retrieved 1 August 2023. I think the genesis of 'Orion' was Cliff Burton's kind of middle bass part thing with the harmonies and those melodies. And we felt that probably should be an instrumental piece. And there was, I think, that main riff that's at the front half of the song. And somehow we married those together and whatever…
^"Songs". Metallica.com. Archived from the original on March 15, 2012. Retrieved May 21, 2012.
