View the full lesson at The Phrygian Mode | JustinGuitar
Like Justin I’ve also read that Metallica uses the Phrygian scale a lot, but I’m not sure that’s the whole truth. A lot of their songs are based on the E minor tonal center, and you’ll often see both the F and the F# chords/notes. My interpretation is that they use different minor scales/modes within the same song, together with many chromatic runs.
E.g. the intro to Battery is in E Phrygian, but from the verse on I’d say it’s E natural minor with the occasional F5 chord that gets borrowed. TBH, a lot of this is up to personal interpretation.
I believe Wherever I May Roam has a Phrygian vibe going on throughout most of the song.
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There are not many instances of songs whose entire structure - intro, verses, chorus, instrumental, bridge, outro etc. are strictly modal.
Modal harmony and melody tends to be used as a condiment to spice things up or as a short burst within a larger musical movement.
Part of this is that modal music tends to work as modal music when based around just two or three chords. Fuller chord progressions tend to pull back to either major or minor tonality (which are, or course, Ionian and Aeolian in the set of modes).
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