“For Whom the Bell Tolls” appears on Metallica’s ambitious 1984 album Ride the Lightning. Growing restless with the burgeoning Bay Area thrash metal scene, Metallica were growing into more of a musically complex mindset. The thrashing tempos of their first album, Kill ’Em All, weren’t totally abandoned. But the band incorporated more sophisticated harmony, acoustic instrumentation, and classical influences into their songwriting.
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By this time, bassist Cliff Burton introduced the rest of the band to fundamental music theory, involving him much more in the songwriting. And for the first time, lead guitarist Kirk Hammett, who had replaced Dave Mustaine (who in turn founded Megadeth), was contributing to the songwriting as well. For his part, guitarist and vocalist James Hetfield was writing intellectual lyrics based more on world history than machismo or the purely macabre. This was uncommon in the heavy metal scene at the time. Metallica’s co-founder and drummer, Lars Ulrich, was developing his own drumming style, too, one rooted not only in power, but occasionally off-kilter, disjointed beats.
With Ride the Lightning, Metallica was beginning to separate themselves from the heavy metal pack. There was something different about this band. Where other so-called “thrash metal” bands focused solely on volume and speed, Metallica were writing Wagner-like compositions. The musical growth they showed between the first two studio albums was impressive, and noted by both critics and fans. It was the official start to a spectacular rise; Metallica would eventually become one of the most commercially successful bands of all time—not commercially successful thrash bands, or metal bands, or rock bands—just bands, period. And “For Whom the Bell Tolls” might be the best signifier of the domination that was to come; it’s now a Metallica standard, on Spotify and at shows.
Fathers of Mainstream Metal, Meet Papa Hemingway
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is based on Ernest Hemingway’s 1940 war novel of the same name. The novel follows an American soldier named Robert Jordan who’s fighting against Franco’s army in the Spanish Civil War. In the song, Hetfield addresses death in war while referencing Hemingway’s book:
Men of five still alive through the raging glow
Gone insane from the pain that they surely know
For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls
The Spanish Civil War (1936–1939) had global implications. The world was watching the battle of left-leaning socialists and communists against the right-leaning Nationalist forces aligned with fascists. World War II was lurking.
Take a look to the sky just before you die
It’s the last time you will
Blackened roar, massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry
Stranger now are his eyes to this mystery
Hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see what will be, blinded eyes to see
For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls
Cliff ‘Em All
Cliff Burton had written the intro bass riff before joining Metallica. The quirky riff followed him through multiple bands before finding its way to “Tolls.” Writing with James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich, Burton’s theme ended up as one of the band’s most recognizable song intros.
Kirk Hammett told Rolling Stone how Burton would play the bass riff on a classical guitar in their hotel room while on tour. Burton then brought it to Hetfield who added the accented power chords. The bell heard during the intro was taken from a sound effects reel. The band’s engineer, Flemming Rasmussen, copied and cut it on tape to sync with the song’s tempo. Syncing the bell with the tempo required the band to record using a click track—something very new to them, and, most crucially, to drummer Ulrich, at the time. Rasmussen would continue to work with the band on future classic albums Master of Puppets and …And Justice for All.
[RELATED: The 1984 Metallica Song That Metallica Doesn’t Like to Play]
Positive Critical Reception…for a Thrash Band?
Ride the Lightning reached No. 10 on Billboard’s Top Rock Albums chart. The album is certified 6x Platinum in the United States. It not only changed the trajectory of Metallica’s career, but truly redefined heavy metal music.
Further, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” went Top 20 on Billboard’s Hot Rock & Alternative Songs chart. The band re-recorded the song with the San Francisco Symphony for two live albums, S&M (1999) and S&M 2 (2019).
Metal Changed Forever
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the sound of heavy metal becoming art. Combining literary allusions with classical music theory, Metallica broke the limitations of the music scene they were a part of. In redefining what was expected of a heavy metal band, Metallica would change music forever.
“For Whom the Bell Tolls” is one of Hemingway’s great works. Metallica borrowed the title, and produced the tome’s musical equivalent.
Photo by Pete Cronin/Redferns
