Battery (song)

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"Battery"

Cover of Master of Puppets
Song by Metallica
from the album Master of Puppets
Released	February 21, 1986
Recorded	Sweet Silence Studios Copenhagen, Denmark September-December, 1985
Genre	Thrash metal
Length	5:12
Label	Elektra Records
Producer(s)	Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen
Master of Puppets track listing
"Battery" "Master of Puppets" "The Thing That Should Not Be" "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)" "Disposable Heroes" "Leper Messiah" "Orion" "Damage, Inc."

"Battery" is the opening track of Metallica's 1986 album Master of Puppets. As with the opening track from Ride The Lightning, Battery begins with a slow, clean guitar part. In this case, as many as four acoustic guitars are layered harmonically before the drums and bass come in with distorted guitars playing a more melodic version of the acoustic part. This lasts until 1:06, when the guitars cut into a very fast minimalist thrash metal riff that is the basis for the rest of the song. In live concerts, the beginning is not played by the band but instead the actual recording is used (recently dropped 1/2 step in key, since the band tunes 1/2 step down).

In keeping with the general "control" theme of Master of Puppets, the lyrics of "Battery" discuss the control that anger can have over one's behavior. The title refers to "battery" in the sense of "assault and battery", as shown by these lyrics: "Smashing through the boundaries / Lunacy has found me / Cannot stop the battery". The song is an indirect tribute to the Old Waldorf Club in San Francisco on Battery street.^[1]

"Battery" is still an almost constant part of the band's live set list, frequently as the opening or closing song. In some cases, it is also used as a song before the intermission. When played, the song may stop before the interlude, and James asks the crowd "Are you alive?... How does it feel to be alive?" and followed by the solo played by Kirk.

[edit] Covers

This song was covered by the band Machine Head for Kerrang!'s Master of Puppets: Remastered, and is also included as a bonus track on some versions of their album The Blackening.
This song was adapted for Metallica's 1999 S&M concert; it was used as the second encore after "Enter Sandman." The opening guitar melody is here arranged and performed solely by the orchestra, incorporating string plucking for the lead.
On "Animetal Rebirth Heroes", Animetal uses the riff for "Battery" throughout the entire song "Touch" with some changes in between.
This song was covered by the band Ensiferum for EvIL Ultimate Metal Covers No. 55. It was also featured on the single Tale of Revenge.
This song was covered by Eric AK (Flotsam & Jetsam), Dave Lombardo, Mike Clark, and Robert Trujillo for Metallic Assault: A Tribute to Metallica. Dave Lombardo would play the song with Metallica on stage when Lars Ulrich missed the 2004 Download Festival, and Robert Trujillo would become a member of Metallica in 2003.
The song "Bitter End" by Sum 41 follows the same structure & style of Battery.