Metallica: ONE Overlooked Song On Every Album

When combing through the pure thrash years of Metallica, there's something that seems just a bit lackluster when sifting through And Justice For All. Cliff Burton's loss had left a pretty significant void, and long before St. Anger's reign of terror, this was by far the worst production job on any Metallica record. As much as people have clowned on Jason Newsted's bass being muted in the mix, that might be because the band weren't ready to let go of their fallen friend just yet.

Keeping in the grand tradition of Metallica instrumentals, To Live is To Die was meant to be a sort of homage to Cliff, with the only spoken word in the song being taken from a poem that he wrote shortly before he died. Although the makings of a classic Metallica track are all here though, this might be their greatest way of telling a story using only their instruments.

Starting with the melodic interlude, it's almost like you're seeing the loss of Burton being played out in real time, with the subtle clean guitar being like the news coverage of the incident and the solo (played by James, by the way) representing the feeling of coming to terms with losing one of the most important people in your life. Cliff may not have been around to see something like this play out, but he would have been proud to see his brothers carry on like this.