“Bro is a living breathing ‘Hell yeah’”: Bass player rips Cliff Burton’s iconic (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth solo while squatting 225lbs

The internet is full of weird and wonderful things – and now Alexander Mercieca has added his own brand of muscular bass guitar insanity to the mix. 

The bass-playing CrossFit trainer has gone viral on social media for tearing through Cliff Burton’s (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth bass solo while, erm, squatting 225lbs – and making it look effortless.

Crowned the best bass solo of all time for its highly distorted, classically inspired motifs, the song saw Burton stamp his identity firmly on the emerging thrash metal movement. Now, Mercieca has literally taken its heaviness to a whole new level. 

At the time of writing, his Instagram post has garnered nearly 70,000 likes in just three days. It follows similar videos, which capture Mercieca playing Slayer while squatting 315lbs, and deadlifting while playing Victor Wooten. Talk about multi-tasking.

One commenter said: “Bro is a living breathing hell yeah”, and we don't disagree – having said that, we'd be too scared to, even if we did.

His posts have won him many admirers, including Neural DSP, Sophie Burrell, and Enterprise Earth's Gabe Mangold.

In Guitar World’s list of the world’s greatest bass solos, the Metallica barnstormer pipped the likes of John Entwistle, Flea, and Jaco Pastorius to the finish line.

It was a song that not only delivered aggression and elegance in equal measure, but also changed the sound of metal bass guitar forever.

Cliff Burton's legacy has been honored in numerous ways, including a signature Morley wah, relaunched earlier this year, an action figure, and even an IPA. Mind you, we don't think we've ever seen a tribute quite like the one offered by Mercieca.

Mercieca’s other videos have showcased other standout multi-tasking feats, such as playing Thunderstruck on the drums and two bass guitars simultaneously.