Metallica's Orion Inspired Mastodon

10/25/2011
. (Gibson) The guys in Mastodon recently sat down with Premier Guitar's Chris Kies to talk about guitars, gear and their new album, The Hunter. Guitarist Bill Kelliher shared some insight on how he used an Explorer for the solo on "Black Tongue," the metal behemoths'current single.

"The second part of the solo was done in the studio before that European tour, and I really like it because it has that 'Orion' [from Metallica's Master of Puppets] feel and groove," he said. "I used this new Gibson Explorer with EMG X Series 81 and 85 humbuckers. It's a metal-shredding beast that doesn't sound phony � it's quickly become my go-to super-heavy guitar.

"I plug straight into the amp for the majority of my recordings, so when I need something gargantuan, I have that in my back pocket. I used to hate active pickups and thought they sounded brittle and stale, but I totally dig their tone with my Explorer � it's a clear, concise, unique distortion. I use that guitar a lot on 'All the Heavy Lifting' and some of the harmonies on 'Curl of the Burl.'" more on this story

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