Orion (song)
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"Orion" is an instrumental song by Metallica. It was the seventh track featured on their Master of Puppets album. It was composed by Cliff Burton, James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. The title is in reference to the cosmic or space-like sounds heard during the transitional point of the song.
The song varies in tempo and melody throughout. The first part of the song is very heavy sounding. It played at a moderate tempo, and has several rhythm changes. About midway through the song it changes key, meter and becomes more melodic, and is driven by the bass. There are several sections within the melodic part that includes two guitar solos, and a bass solo. Then the songs ends with a heavy sound and moderate tempo and fades over a rhythm that is similar to one played in the first part of the song.
The song was played at Cliff Burton's funeral due to the song largely being his composition. The bass solo is often mistaken for a guitar solo, due to its distorted sound and level of skill rarely demonstrated by a bass player.
This song is widely considered the greatest work of Cliff Burton and the greatest work on a bass guitar. The song is considered so good James Bentley called it "the best instrumental song of all time"Template:Song-stub