10 Most Badass Songs Of All Time
1. Metallica - Creeping Death
The opening riff mirrors the last, mirroring the eternal nature of the subject. There's a real elegance to the craft of 'Creeping Death' that is indebted to the genius of Cliff Burton.
Then, the race of thrash at its most refined powers the verses, conjuring images of death sweeping the land with the pace and effectiveness of a plague. Kirk Hammett's first solo accelerates the death count; the histrionic quality to it reflects the stakes of escape and the increasing futility of it. The breakdown, at 3:38, is stunning.
The four deeply influential legends, operating at the peak of a craft they changed forever, manage to aurally translate the arrival of death itself, if death took the form of a cool monster, or some sh*t. It is a stunningly powerful transition that commands attention like a blood-red sky.
It could easily herald the arrival of the final boss in a video game, or the entrance of an MMA fighter: it's a passage of music that genuinely warrants the most over-used word to describe a lengthy, heavy piece of music: epic.