Welcome Home (Sanitarium)

Metallica, 1986, from Master of Puppets. Solo by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield.

Clean verses give way to harmonised leads and a heavy final section with some of Hammett's most melodic work.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) moves from quiet, clean arpeggios to crushing heaviness, and its guitar work follows that arc. The verses float on a haunting clean pattern, with Kirk Hammett's early melodic lines sounding fragile and sad. As the song builds, harmonised leads from Hammett and James Hetfield add weight and drama, and the final section breaks into a fast, heavy charge where Hammett's solos grow more intense and aggressive. It shows the band's gift for dynamics and storytelling through arrangement. Listen for the harmony lines that bridge the calm and heavy sections, and notice how the melodic phrases in the quiet parts return, transformed, in the song's furious final minutes.

Welcome Home (Sanitarium) by Metallica is ranked #368 in our consensus of 79 guitar-solo lists. The solo is played by Kirk Hammett, James Hetfield and the song was released in 1986. It appears on 1 lists, placing as high as #220 (Digital Dream Door).

In our lists

• The 25 Greatest Thrash Guitar Solos — #12
• The Best Kirk Hammett Guitar Solos — #7
• The Best Metallica Guitar Solos — #8

Sources

• Digital Dream Door: 250 Greatest Rock Guitar Solos — #220