Can you explain why the Enter Sandman riff sounds 'sleepy' ?

[zabrak]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=5HVy6U0gkS8#t=03s

Listen to that riff, man. Doesn't it sound very...'sleepy' ? It fits the mood of the song, but I don't know what makes it sound very...'sleepy', you know?

Are the notes he's playing associated with lullabies or something? or is it the trance-like hypnotic riff that makes it like that?

Can anybody help me break it down what makes it sound very 'sleepy' or whatever?

Thanks

 

[Necroraven]

Because it's so boring.

 

[zabrak]

Also i'm talking about the intro riff that appears right away

NOT the distorted riff that appears soon after.

 

[arg]

it's the note tone and progression which gives a sense of dozing off. personally i don't really like that song at all.

 

[zabrak]

it's the note tone and progression which gives a sense of dozing off. personally i don't really like that song at all.

hmm I see, thanks

And oh please, people still try to pretend that the black album was bad?


Enter Sandman was a well written song.

 

[Spiderchrist]

hmm I see, thanks

And oh please, people still try to pretend that the black album was bad?


Enter Sandman was a well written song.

Yeah, because it's a single. It's well written, it has hooks, it's catchy...but it isn't a genuine good song.

 

[zabrak]

Yeah, because it's a single. It's well written, it has hooks, it's catchy...but it isn't a genuine good song.

Memorable riff. Good vocal delivery. Great rhythm section. Memorable lyrics. C'mon.

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

What has ever been good about James vocals? C'mon. Be objective.

 

[HamburgerBoy]

What has ever been good about James vocals? C'mon. Be objective.

How do you objectively evaluate the goodness of his vocals?

 

[J.]

this band died with cliff. move on, nothing to see here

 

[PhlegethonVeins]

How do you objectively evaluate the goodness of his vocals?

How do you objectively evaluate vocal performance? You're serious, aren't you?

 

[HamburgerBoy]

How do you objectively evaluate vocal performance? You're serious, aren't you?

In general, yeah, you COULD, but then a million Bathory fans would be objectively wrong to prefer Quorthon's vocals to a plethora of classically trained power/prog singers, so I don't see the point in bringing the term up. Maybe I should rephrase my question to "How did you..."

 

[Kreated]

A mixture of the pause after the first note to keep the pace slow, and the lack of any sort of resolution in the intro leitmotif? I don't know, just guessing

 

[Avigrus]

The song isn't bad - any hope of it being interesting was killed by it being played 47 million times on radio.

 

[CF87]

The Black Album rules and has some of Metallica's best songs imo, I don't listen to it much anymore though. Enter Sandman was actually the last song written for the album.

 

[arg]

they completely lost their thrash sound in the black album and that makes it suck.

James' voice was great in the first 3. after that it became just average. however today it sucks, especially live. the band still deserves respect for what they brought to metal tho.

 

[SomeGuyDude]

A mixture of the pause after the first note to keep the pace slow, and the lack of any sort of resolution in the intro leitmotif? I don't know, just guessing

Plus the way the notes are emphasized. The way it's played is kind of a simple salsa rhythm, playing on a 3-3-2 structure. That brings the effective tempo down a good bit and having the droning notes under the "main" ones gets that kind of "lullaby" effect.

For another good example of this, System of a Down's "Spiders".

 

[CF87]

they completely lost their thrash sound in the black album and that makes it suck.

James' voice was great in the first 3. after that it became just average. however today it sucks, especially live. the band still deserves respect for what they brought to metal tho.

Metallica's only full on Thrash metal album was Kill' em All. It was only a matter of time before they abandoned it completely. You might aswell say Testament -the ritual is not a cool album because it was not Thrash metal. People seem to like Megadeth -Countdown to Extinction which is not Thrash metal either. I mention this stuff because it is early 90's and the beginning of a more modern regular paced heavy metal sound.