The 7th track on
Metallica's third album
Master of Puppets. The song is totally
instrumental and lasts for about 8 minutes. About 5 of the 8 minutes of the song are solos, which really show
Kirk Hammett's incredible ability as a
guitarist. The song was recorded when Metallica's first
bassist Cliff Burton was still with the band and Orion was mostly his composition.
Orion was Metallica's second instrumental song, the first being
Call of Ktulu, from their album
Ride the Lightning. And the third,
final instrumental song by Metallica is
To Live is to Die, from the album
...And Justice for All.
All instrumental songs by Metallica seem to have something to do with Cliff Burton. Both
Call of Ktulu and Orion were written mostly by Cliff, and To Live is to Die is a
tribute to Cliff Burton by Metallica.
In my
opinion, Orion is the best song from the Master of Puppets album, and one of Metallica's greatest songs.