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Music Appreciation Essay
Metallica is famous for being one of the longest-lasting and influentialbands in history. It can be argued that all bands change their style to someextent over time; it is unlikely that an artist continues to produce the same-sounding music for over twenty years. Indeed, when Metallica released theiralbum
St. Anger 
in 2003, it was easily discernible in style from their olderworks, such as things from the “Kill ‘Em All” album. The vocal style hasinarguably changed from a raspier, almost-screaming voice to smoother,yelling vocals. That, though, may be inevitable as peoples’ voices changeover time. Therefore, the best way to measure whether or not Metallica’sstyle has changed in over 20 years would be by comparing Instrumentalworks.
St. Anger 
, debuted in 2003, featured
no
guitar solos, something thatMetallica is signature for, and thus received widespread criticism. Therefore,when releasing
Death Magnetic
in September of 2008, Metallica decided togo back to their roots. Indeed,
Dead Magnetic
is chock-full of guitar solos andcomplex, drawn-out instrumentals. In this essay, the song “One” fromMetallica’s 1883
…And Justice for All
album will be compared to “The End of the Line” from
Death Magnetic
to determine how efficient Metallica was inreverting back to their older style. It has been concluded that while Metallicahas certainly made progress to that point, they are still lacking in severalareas, most notably in Dynamic Contrast.Both “One” and “The End of the Line” have complex forms withmultiple guitar solos and introductions. “One” has five Introduction sections
 
Music Appreciation Essay
in a row, followed by a Verse, a Chorus, another Verse, then a Transition,followed by an extended form of the chorus. At that point, there is a Transitional Interlude, followed by the second half of the song which is fairlydistinctive from the first half of the song as it is much heavier. The secondhalf of the song has fewer vocals, but the vocals that it
does
have are muchlouder. The instrumentals, too, are notably louder and faster; what I like tocall the “Death Theme”. The form of the second half of “One” is as follows: ADifferent type of Verse than the earlier verse, much heavier. Following is abrief interlude carrying the melody of the death theme (that melody iscarried on in some form throughout the entire second half of the song).Following that is a continuation of the Verse, and then four incrediblycomplex guitar solos in succession. At that point, there is another interlude,two more awesome solos, and then an abrupt Coda.“The End of the Line” also has a complex form. It begins with fourdifferent Introductry parts with a transition between the second and thirdintroductions. After the fourth Introduction, the Verse begins, followed by a Transition, another Verse, another Transition, and finally the Chorus enters.After the Chorus there is another Transition, yet another Verse, another Transition yet again (Metallica seems to have learned to like them), followedby the Chorus. Here, too, is the second half of the song, just as “One” hadtwo major parts. However, unlike “One,” where the second major part of thesong was very different from the first, the two halves in “The End of the Line”is still very similar. After the aforementioned Chorus, there are two Interludes
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