10 Greatest Hard Rock Basslines
4. Orion - Metallica
Out of all the great musicians in Metallica during their glory years, Cliff Burton was the definition of a true musical beast. While James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich were very much born and bred in metal, Burton's musical palette extended everywhere from country to rock to prog to classical. Though any track from the band's early period contains a great Burton riff, "Orion" is truly the man's masterpiece.
The beginning is nothing but slow drawn-out bass chords, but the tone is already set for this gargantuan musical journey we're about to endure. From there, the guitars come in and become a traditional thrash metal affair, but by the middle section, it's showtime.
Instead of sticking with the thrashy sounds, Burton's bass performance in the back half seems to ripped straight out of the classical playbook, with him channeling someone like Bach or Mozart rather than...say...Geezer Butler. The whole section has a certain amount of grandeur to it, but it's taken to a completely different level once the guitars go into power chords. From there, Burton lays down one of the most astounding runs in metal history, as he solos across the four-string and even plays in harmony with himself. This performance was so much a part of Burton's identity that it was played at his funeral service. And let's face it: no metalheads would have had it any other way.