10 Greatest Album Intros In Rock History

Going into And Justice For All, a lot of Metallica fans were proceeding with caution. Though the riff machine James Hetfield was still firing on all cylinders, the idea of these trash legends continuing on without bassist Cliff Burton seemed both daunting and nearly-impossible. In the first few seconds though, Metallica made a beautiful piece that was both forward-looking and respectful to their past glory.

As opposed to the epic openings of other albums like Battery and Fight Fire With Fire, Blackened begins with the sound of guitars being reversed. While plenty of bands have tried using this kind of studio trick, it's actually a lot more poignant when you realize the context. Given that Cliff was responsible for more of the classical harmonies in the group, this serves as both a tribute to their fallen friend as well as a catharsis for the fans and musicians to come to terms with what has happened.

Now is not the time to mourn though. Before you can even get your bearings, Blackened's opening riff hits you over the head right out of the gate, with a strange time signature and a sonic bite that's able to tear through steel. Whereas other bands would have been dead in the water after losing a dear friend, Metallica showed us that they were ready to reinvent themselves from the ground up with this one track.