Mechanix - The Four Horsemen

The Four Horsemen

Released as the second track on Kill 'Em All, the remaining members of Metallica changed the lyrics of "The Mechanix" and added a bridge section and a new guitar solo that is played over melodic section, and released it on the album, retitling it "The Four Horsemen". Mustaine was still given credit for the song, although Mustaine claims he asked the band not to use his material, a statement Metallica disputes. The new lyrics refer to the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. "The Four Horsemen" is a fan-favorite song of Metallica. The title also served as a source for one of the band's nicknames.

The lyrics, as the title suggests, are about the end of the world and the apocalypse, referring to the Biblical text about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. However, many believe the song is about Metallica themselves as the "horsemen".

The lyrics refer to the horsemen as Time, Famine, Pestilence and Death. This is a revision upon an already non-canonical misinterpretation of the Biblical passages. In the Bible, the four horsemen are actually Conquest, War, Famine and Death. In other popular culture they are known as Pestilence, War, Famine and Death.

During the bridge of the song, bassist Cliff Burton's voice can be heard providing the backing vocals.

The iTunes bonus track of the song can be watched on the Live Shit: Binge & Purge box set. The song was performed in Seattle on August 29, 1989.

An excerpt of "The Four Horsemen" is used in the queue video for the Zombiegeddon house in Universal Orlando's Halloween Horror Nights XX: Twenty Years of Fear. On November 14, 2009, the song accompanied the New Zealand rugby union national team (the acclaimed All Blacks) while entering the pitch for their historical sold-out test-match at the San Siro Meazza stadium of Milan, Italy, against the local Italian team.

Mustaine has publicly admitted that the bridge to the song The Four Horsemen is a direct copy of the main riff in the Lynyrd Skynyrd song Sweet Home Alabama.