Composition
The song is noted for its extremely fast tempo and aggressive, sixteenth-note machinegun-like riffs, and a length of more than 8 minutes. The song opens aggressively, with an extensive instrumental section, featuring James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett abruptly switching between several complicated fast guitar riffs, complemented by simpler gloomy chords by Cliff Burton and matching drumming by Lars Ulrich. Following this introduction, Hetfield begins to sing, going into the verses and choruses, the riffs behind which are just variations of the aforementioned machine-gun riffs.
The song soon enters a midsection which features a less speedy, yet a heavy and punctuated riff. This short reprieve from the brutality of the fighting allows for an introspective look by the soldier, who asks himself "Why am I dying?". Hammett then begins a lengthy solo with Hetfield joining in a couple of times to harmonize. After the solo, the soldier reaches the realization "I was born for dying", but it is much too late now and the song mercilessly returns to the fast riffs and the battlefield again. After the last verse and a few more repetitions of those riffs, the song seems to have come to an end, but after a short pause, the fast riff is played one final time.
Read more about this topic: Disposable Heroes
Famous quotes containing the word composition:
“The composition of a tragedy requires testicles.”
—Voltaire [François Marie Arouet] (1694–1778)
“Give a scientist a problem and he will probably provide a solution; historians and sociologists, by contrast, can offer only opinions. Ask a dozen chemists the composition of an organic compound such as methane, and within a short time all twelve will have come up with the same solution of CH4. Ask, however, a dozen economists or sociologists to provide policies to reduce unemployment or the level of crime and twelve widely differing opinions are likely to be offered.”
—Derek Gjertsen, British scientist, author. Science and Philosophy: Past and Present, ch. 3, Penguin (1989)
“There is singularly nothing that makes a difference a difference in beginning and in the middle and in ending except that each generation has something different at which they are all looking. By this I mean so simply that anybody knows it that composition is the difference which makes each and all of them then different from other generations and this is what makes everything different otherwise they are all alike and everybody knows it because everybody says it.”
—Gertrude Stein (1874–1946)