Tournament of Instrumentals (r1): 77 vs 78 + 79 vs 80

Vote for your FAVOURITE instrumental track: 1 vote per battle

  • Total voters
    13
  • Poll closed .
Honestly, I find Orion to be pretty overrated. I love Call of Ktulu and To Live Is To Die, and both Suicide and Redemption and Pulling Teeth are about as good as Orion, but the difference between those two and Orion is that they don't get anywhere as close to the amount of praise it gets. I respect that it's used as a tribute to Cliff, but I feel Cliff delivered far more in other songs with the band, and had Cliff not tragically passed away during the Damage Inc tour, I reckon it would be nowhere near as revered.

77 took a while to get going with an average build-up, but the atmospheric parts in the middle are great as well as the conclusion.

78 is most famous with its inclusion in the Exorcist, and the atmosphere and ethos it creates is still evident to this very day. It's a chilling track used to create tension and it fulfils its role perfectly.

79 sounds like something off a Sega Megadrive side-scrolling beat-em-up. I like it. It's a swanky song that's a lot of fun to listen to and doesn't take itself as seriously as the others in its heat. That's something I respect.

80 was discussed above, but with all that said, it's still a good song by Metallica, just nowhere near as good as two of their other instrumentals. I don't find it as atmospheric as their other instrumentals though, as it seems they're going through the motions with the track here, as opposed to focusing on a specific emotion (With Ktulu, it's chaos, with TLITD it's sorrow).

I feel bad for 77 for getting such a nasty draw but the application of 78 alone makes it the superior song due to its atmospheric use and impact in film.

At the end of the day, 80 is a good Metallica track, but far from their best instrumental work. 79 on the other hand set itself a target to be simply a fun, enjoyable song to get into, and they nailed it for me.

78 and 79 for me.
 
77 took awhile, but ended up quite good. Haunting with a nice build and feel.
The main hook to 78 is unforgettable and that doesn't get enough respect sometimes (see Eruption debate in the earlier thread).
From a purely critical perspective, I should vote 78, but it's too long for this game. 77

79 has a nice groove, but... can something be fun and dull at the same time?
There's great drama in 80, an ominous feel. 80
 
Bells: The theme is very short when you look at what else happens in the track. For me the highlight is the first guitar harmony (3:38 - 4:03) but for the rest there's also a large chunk of uninteresting plodding going on. Lengthy or not, for me it really matters what is going on. Legendary track or not; I dare to say that at times, the acoustic playing is crappy (bad timing and feeling).
 
Forostar said:
Bells: The theme is very short when you look at what else happens in the track. For me the highlight is the first guitar harmony (3:38 - 4:03) but for the rest there's also a large chunk of uninteresting plodding going on. Lengthy or not, for me it really matters what is going on. Legendary track or not; I dare to say that at times, the acoustic playing is crappy (bad timing and feeling).
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Eh, whatever but it still wins vs that windpipe that my local Aztecan plays better on my local square!
 
Yeah, some guy with a buzzcut wanks all over himself on the guitar. 78 wins easily and I hope people check out the first 4 Camel records, classic!!!
 
Wanks? This is sensitive playing. Very good playing.

Oldfield wanked a bit too much when he wrote this song.
(I hope this comment won't be taken too seriously, I am just staying in line with the previous poster :D)
 
Tubular Bells is my suggestion but I love Camel as well. I suggested a song from them as well, IIRC.
 
RTC said:
Can you explain it? I'm interested in hearing a varying viewpoint.
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Everything played in this song is pure genius. How to explain genius? I play both bass and guitar, I know what I'm talking about. I get a real kick out of listening or playing that song. That's enough for me to put it on pole position.
 
Cosmiceddie said:
Everything played in this song is pure genius. How to explain genius? I play both bass and guitar, I know what I'm talking about. I get a real kick out of listening or playing that song. That's enough for me to put it on pole position.
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I'm talking more technicalities. What makes Orion a better instrumental than Call Of Ktulu or To Live Is To Die?
 
Cosmiceddie said:
I'm afraid I don't get what you're driving at.
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Why is Orion a better instrumental than TCOK and TLITD? I want you to justify why so I can see it from your point of view. Saying it's simply a better instrumental won't convince me because I currently think TCOK and TLITD are better instrumentals. I simply want to know your train of thought.
 
'To Live Is To Die' bores me somehow. 'The Call Of Ctulu' is way better. But 'Orion' is more varied and has the better guitar riffs. I dig the slow bass intro of the song and the following heaviness of the first riff. The second riff with the amazing drumming just keeps blowing me away. Then there's that divine slow middle section with the wicked guitar harmony section. Cliff's distorted bass solo is a winner, too. Again there's the outro with the monster riffing closing my favourite (Metallica) instrumental (song) ever.

Are you happy now?
 
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78 and 80.

I actually enjoyed 77 quite a bit, but 78 is simply so expansive and impressive. It gets a little monotonous in the intro, but overall it's a masterpiece.

I also find Orion to be a bit overrated, but I really prefer it to the Dregs tune. I find The Call of Ktulu to be Metallica's best instrumental, by a wide margin. Other than Ktulu, Metallica's instrumentals tend to sound like songs for which James just didn't want to write lyrics. Orion is better than TLITD or S&R, though.
 
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