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One of my favourites is Symptom of the universe by Black Sabbath.

It's a classic Sabbath style tune with a hard hitting riff, solid drums, vocals and all that. The song seems to be winding down after the 4 minute mark with a standard fade out.

But then something magical starts at 4:23.

Gives me the chills every single time.

https://youtu.be/4qDYa2aIBxw



It feels like this is an example of a song structure that frequently leads to frisson, where you have a standard pop song (verse-chorus, repeated about 3x, maybe a solo), a long instrumental part that feels like an outtro and often has irregular rhythms or key changes...and then the song reconvenes with a vocal part that's either a small variation on the original pop song or something totally different. Other examples of this pattern:

Queen, Bohemian Rhapsody @ 3:05

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ9rUzIMcZQ&t=150

Pink Floyd, Echoes @ 19:12

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KBca3xf-j3o&t=840

Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother @ 19:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fku7hi5kI-c&t=1080s

Ozzy Osbourne, No More Tears @ 4:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CprfjfN5PRs&t=220

Styx, Come Sail Away @ 2:30

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e5MAg_yWsq8&t=140s

Metallica, Master of Puppets @ 4:50 (mentioned in the article)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0obBdrfUMzU&t=270s

Meatloaf, Bat out of Hell @ 7:38

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x7ES7ueI7p0&t=420s

Eric Clapton, Layla (original version) @ 3:10

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0WUdlaLWSVM&t=170s

Piano Guys ft. Taylor Swift & Coldplay, Love Story Meets Viva La Vida @ 3:43

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXtVBJDPs6k&t=185s


This is a common thing in the Metalcore scene at least around 2005 - 2010. All That Remains, Shadows Fall, Killswitch Engage, etc. It's still pretty common though. Very heavy music followed by super melodic choruses. Some songs even feature acoustic bridges and instrumentals. The contrast between verse and chorus really pays off the listener.


>Piano Guys ft. Taylor Swift & Coldplay, Love Story Meets Viva La Vida @ 3:43

I got an unskippable YT double ad at exactly 3:42. I hate YT so freaking much.




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