Which Metallica song begins with the sound of a bell?

The Metallica song that begins with the sound of a bell is “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”

The track appears on Ride the Lightning, Metallica's second studio album, released in 1984. Its opening atmosphere evokes the title's imagery and the song's subject: soldiers facing death during modern warfare. The lyrics were inspired by Ernest Hemingway's 1940 novel For Whom the Bell Tolls, which is set during the Spanish Civil War.

The famous opening is more unusual than it first sounds. The bell effect was created in the studio using an anvil struck with a metal hammer, combined with a bell taken from a sound-effects reel. Underneath it, Cliff Burton plays a heavily distorted bass introduction with wah-wah effects.

That bass passage is a frequent source of confusion: many listeners initially assume it is a guitar riff. The song was written by James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, and Burton, and it became one of Metallica's most recognizable concert songs. “The Bell” is not a Metallica song title; the correct title includes the phrase “For Whom the Bell Tolls.”