Ride the Lightning

In Metallica’s early career, they seemed to get better with each coming album. Their angry and hostile debut “Kill ‘Em All” set the stage for what this band would slowly turn into. It had the energy, the thrash, and the talent that they needed. But somehow they managed to get bolder, more thrashy, and more talented as songwriters. With the addition of ballads as well into the mix they get more ambitious during this time. All of these new elements and Metallice becoming stronger musicians is what leads to “Ride the Lighting”. An absolutely amazing and euphoric album to listen to.

Everything gets an upgrade here. From the production to the songwriting and the tight musicianship. This album is an aggressive rager right from the start with “Fight Fire with Fire”. It starts out beautifully but immediately transitions into thrash metal mayhem. Honing in on the production it’s much better than the debut album. The guitars have a more fuzzy, beefy, and crisp sound. The drums sound much better and aren’t as raw as they once were. James Hetfield’s vocals sound more loud and powerful, and Cliff Burton's bass also gets a massive upgrade. All of these upgrades in terms of sound quality make this album bigger and stronger.

This album also gets better in the riff department. Somehow every song on here is even more memorable than the debut album. James and Kirk Hammett are extremely talented musicians who wrote some very catchy songs. Their riffs are hostile, very rhythmic, and can be emotionally draining at times. Every song is filled with very powerful riffage and crushing lead work by Kirk. Each song is composed perfectly and has a good sense of melody. Which is slowly getting brought in more and more.

Kirk's leads and solos also get more melodic. They’re absolutely heavenly to listen to and sound amazing. Having that same blend of soaring energy and energy, with a nice blend of emotion. He is an amazing guitarist who knows how to shred. And can clearly be seen maturing as his career goes on. The same goes for James. His vocals are more punchy and melodic. His riffs are also more mature and better written. Both guitarists have some very heavy riffs that are composed beautifully.

One thing I love about this album more than the debut is how much more they include melody and emotion. “Fade to Black” is a masterpiece of a song that always made me tear up a bit as a child. Everything about this song is depressing. Right from the opening acoustic sections, it sounds dismal as hell. Hetfield’s voice reaches its peak here and they sound so fucking powerful. The song is slow and mid-paced. Yet has its heavy moments here and there. This is a song where I know the music and lyrics by heart. I’ve heard it so many damn times that I instantly recognize it.

This album is filled to the brim with some of Metallic’s biggest hits. And it has a lot of variety to offer. Ranging from a wide array of fast thrashy songs to some of their slower more underrated songs. Especially “Escape” which I don’t understand the hate for that song. I’ve always loved that song. Yes, it’s one of the more tame and simple songs, but the riffs are catchy and Hetfield’s voice sounds really good.

Thrashers like the title track, “Creeping Death”, “Trapped Under Ice”, and “Fight Fire with Fire” beat you relentlessly with fast blistering riffs and drums. While songs like “Escape”, and “For Whom the Bell Tolls” are more epic and slower in pacing. Regardless of how intense or ambitious the music becomes each song is memorable and catchy. Each song I know by heart and will always love. They even throw in an instrumental track entitled “The Call of Ktulu”. Which is another great and well-written song.

When it comes down to Lars Ulrichs drumming he also took it up a notch. His drumming is very tight and well done. His songwriting is a big part of why Metallica is so successful. Yes, he’s not the most flashy drummer but he gets the job done. He still throws in a wide variety of groovy beats along the way. And when he locks into a fast rhythm and thrashy section he sounds aggressive as hell. Cliff’s bass work is groovy and rhythmic as well. There’s no way someone could say they don’t know the classic bass intro to “From Whom the Bell Tolls”. It’s one of his brightest moments and he gets to show off how talented of a bassist he was.

This is a gold-standard heavy metal/ thrash metal album. This album is very tight, mature, and ambitious. Showing hints of what would become the next few albums in the 80s and early 90s. There’s a reason this is hailed as one of the best and most influential metal albums ever. It had everything a heavy metal and thrash fan would love. I would say check this thing out. But you’ve probably heard at least one song from here hundreds of times. So give this classic a listen again. A damn near perfect album.

Somehow, with just a year between their first two full length releases, Metallica had gone from enthusiastic youngsters with tons of promise to full blown genius composers and musicians. Ride the Lightning is just that good—as great as Kill ‘Em All is (near perfect in my opinion), there’s simply no denying the masterful work done on this second LP. Metallica sounded like seasoned veterans before most of their peers had even released a full length debut and it’s no wonder they led the charge in both the thrash metal scene and later on in the mainstream as well.

While Kill ‘Em All saw Metallica at their most raw, fierce, and hungry, and later releases showed them becoming increasingly ambitious, Ride the Lightning displays the correct balance of aggressive thrashing and sophisticated songwriting. This is apparent from the very beginning, with ‘Fight Fire with Fire’ and its absolutely devastating Slayer-ish groundwork laid by James Hetfield’s rhythm playing. Metallica coax the listener into their clutches with the elegant acoustic intro before all hell breaks loose and the furious riffing takes over. Hetfield commands the listener’s attention with both his guitar work and voice, like a drill sergeant barking out orders. It’s probably the heaviest Metallica song ever, and a hell of a way to kick off one of the best metal albums of all time.

But the hits don’t stop coming—the title track follows, and contrary to popular belief, THIS is Metallica’s best title track. Lyrically brilliant, full of catchy yet crushingly heavy riffage, and with some of Kirk Hammett’s best lead work of his career (inspired by Dave Mustaine a bit as well). The bridge of this track is climactic and a highly melodic contrast to the rest of the song’s frantic pace. It’s incredibly well written, and doesn’t ever hit a snag over the course of its six and a half minute runtime.

This mature songwriting takes a different approach on each of the next two tracks, starting with the doom metal inspired ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’. It has a strong sense of grandiosity thanks to Cliff Burton’s sturdy bass and slow gallops of guitars, fit with a memorable chorus and lyrics. It’s irresistibly groovy, unlike ‘Fade to Black’ which is perhaps metal’s best ballad—certainly the best I’ve heard from a thrash metal band. ‘Fade to Black’ is emotive, somber, and still manages to have its heavy moments towards the tail end of things. Yet again, Hammett shows off his lead work at the height of its powers and Hetfield’s delivery along with the lyrical content is genuinely heart-wrenching.

Side two is less varied, but equally strong with powerful thrash anthems like ‘Trapped Under Ice’ and ‘Creeping Death’; the latter is perhaps Metallica’s best pure thrash metal song and yet again exceeds the six and a half minute mark, proving once again that this band thrives when it comes to lengthy compositions. ‘Escape’ sits in between these epic thrashers, and it’s often thought of as the runt of Ride the Lightning. However, I feel that ‘Escape’ boasts one of the best choruses on the album to sing along to and it’s still packed with a surprising amount of melody. Even if it is the worst song on the album it’s still an excellent mid paced thrash song with a bit more heavy metal influence. And of course, you can’t forget ‘The Call of Ktulu’ (clocking in at almost nine minutes) which is undoubtedly the best instrumental Metallica ever wrote. Sorry ‘Orion’ fans, but the compositions here are just stronger and more creative and it serves as an epic conclusion to the record, whereas ‘Orion’ always gets overshadowed to me due to being followed by the intensity of ‘Damage, Inc.’

Hetfield and Lars Ulrich are given songwriting credits on every single one of the eight tracks featured on Ride the Lightning, but now both Hammett and Burton are given multiple credits as well, unlike on Kill ‘Em All (although Hammett came in a bit late to contribute much other than recording). Ride the Lightning is truly a team effort; a group of four incredibly talented young men that were still yet to hit their commercial peak were already making waves and being hailed as musical geniuses as a bunch of 20-year-olds. There’s something special, uniting about their music. It’s undoubtedly heavy and aggressive but even before the sellout happened, Metallica could write music that a wide range of listeners could identify with. It’s a special gift, and a combination of extreme talent and maturity at very young ages. This iconic band would go on to chase success far greater than what they were rewarded with for this effort, but there’s no doubt in my mind that Ride the Lightning is the most well rounded and brilliant Metallica album to date and one of the best metal albums ever written.

The follow-up album from metal maestros Metallica, 'Ride The Lightning', is, in my view, the epitome of overrated and barely above average. While it reaches higher peaks than 'Kill 'Em All', they are infrequent and overshadowed by tracks that are either downright trash or excessively lengthy, hindering the overall enjoyability. When a substantial portion of your songs resemble the lackluster 'Metal Militia', a significant issue is evident.

To highlight the positives, 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', 'Creeping Death', and 'Escape' stand out as the best tracks on the album. 'Escape' deviates from the album's typical sound, resembling more of an Iron Maiden song than a Metallica one. This diversion works to its advantage as the distinctive "Metallica Sound" is notably absent on this album. 'Creeping Death' and 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' are Metallica staples for good reason; they're catchy and headbang-worthy, with the former being the only tolerable song exceeding five minutes.

Now, onto the rest of the album. Let's address the less favorable tracks, starting with 'Fight Fire With Fire' and 'Trapped Under Ice'. 'Fight Fire With Fire' is frankly atrocious—lacking in vocals, a forgettable chorus, and insipid in terms of music. 'Trapped Under Ice' isn't as terrible; its verses and music are commendable, but the chorus makes me yearn for Anthrax—which is never a positive sign. Other songs like 'Fade To Black' and the title track are passable but suffer from being a minute too long, making them tedious to listen to. However, they pale in comparison to the worst track on the album: 'The Call of Ktulu'. This song not only needed to be halved but trimmed by two-thirds of its length. Its monotonous riff plays for an excruciating five minutes straight, rendering it exceptionally dull.

This review may irk many Metallica fanboys, but I remain indifferent. 'Ride The Lightning', Metallica's second album, is, truthfully, a mediocre thrash metal album. Only three songs truly merit attention—unlike 'Kill 'Em All', which suffered from only one weak track and length issues, now exacerbated in this album. This disappointment is compounded by the seemingly universal acclaim among so-called "true" Metallica fans, leaving me underwhelmed, thinking, "This isn't even half as good as Kill 'Em All."

There's a rare point in music when everything on the album flows with a relative sort of perfection, like all the blocks fit right into their spots. It feels like the tracks were almost "always there", as if they weren't assembled at any point but just existed in some imaginary archetypal form. It would be safe to say, surely, that in 1984, a record that started with the totally unexpected and colorful clean guitar intro on this, followed by the barbaric and threatening near death metal heard in the rest of 'Fight Fire with Fire', chained straight up with the anthemic twin-lead intro in the title-track leading up to the raging fury of the verse riff before Hetfield's epically defiant vocals come storming onto the scene... all that constituted something of a metal miracle, or at least some sort of offering from the metal gods. Brimming with outstanding creativity and excellence, as if produced by superior musicians to all the ones around.

As an introduction to the solo in 'Ride', Hammett's graceful slew of tapped notes fall on the song like rain pouring from above, and we're now sure of it: we're riding the lightning. This track is electric. Now, the iconic overdriven bass riff at the start of 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', a section that perfectly plugs into the show of force that is that muffled chug in a climactic descending chromatic stomp, 4-3-2-1, 4-3-2-1, and then, a somber scenery with a palm-muted lead motif over suspended power chords in the background. "Take a look to the sky, right before you die. It's the last time you will!". The music is so vivid, it tells the story and with ever so little effort from our part, we're there. It's so conducive.

'Fade to Black' may be the most cliché and overplayed Metallica track of all time, now become almost a musical meme, but the intro remains one of the most remarkable moments in the entire genre, between the choice of a 12-string crystalline guitar picking and the elegantly constructed solo on top, the transition into the verse, and the inversion of a clean verse with a heavy (and instrumental) chorus, when it's usually a heavy verse with the clean chorus at the back of it. Now, everybody knows about 'Trapped Under Ice' and 'Escape' being the two most lackluster tracks on this, which also presumably sound the most dated, although still fun in context of the full record, acting like a midpoint bridge connecting the album's starting classic four-piece with the final pair (namely, two genre heavy-weights).

At the end, some would argue is the greatest single instrumental in metal history: these superlatives always feel a tad silly, but in all seriousness, which instrumental could claim being clearly above this one? How many tracks, instrumental or otherwise, could compare with the sheer size of 'The Call of Ktulu'? Taken from the Lovecraft universe, it eminently feels like it depicts some giant deity, menacing with its full cosmic breadth and weight. It feels perilous, even, like we're right in the middle of a titanic storm far in the middle of a furious ocean, and still the tearing lightning in the sky, as the overdriven wah bass growls with animalistic rage. It's like nature's primitive force itself, its essence captured in a 9-minute odyssey for the ages. And nobody - no one - could've imagined what was lurking at the end of this record back in 1984, and to be fair, it's still difficult to fathom, so many decades later.

Metallica took a genre in its infancy (and not always terribly convincing) and instantly made it into greatness. Very little here (if anything, at all) feels generic or boring. They're a band that, in their prime during the eighties, could not come up with filler material if they tried. They were the alchemists of the metal world. Everything they touched, turned into gold; that is, turned special, different, exhilarating, captivating. There was an undeniable allure to their music, and they were thrash but they were special thrash, just the way if they'd been anything else, say, pop, they would've been special pop.

If you're going to see any shirts of a Metallica album, it's going to be this one. It's got an awesome cover art and I think putting it to a shirt design is a no-brainer. Take a shot every time you see this in public, and you'd be dead within a few hours. I'd almost call it poseur-bait if Metallica wasn't the most basic-bitch metal band you could get, but I digress.

As for the actual music, Ride the Lightning is a fair bit of a development from Kill 'Em All, especially given the short gap between the two albums. It's significantly less punky and more melodic with more variation in songwriting ideas. It's instantly more recognizable and dare I say more memorable in that department, given that Kill 'Em All reused a lot of riffing tropes throughout the runtime. There are still vestiges of punk left, but through and through this is a pretty solidly more "metal" experience. Every song has its own identity, less keen on developing moshpits and more keen on giving quality, memorable riffing with more focus on songwriting.

So how do they do?

The results here are fairly mixed overall. Opener "Fight Fire With Fire" is on the short list for title of Metallica's best song. The aggression from Kill 'Em All has been turned up to 12, bringing Metallica's fastest song yet that's kept tight by a deceptively simple yet heavy riff. And it's not one-dimensional either, there's a crazy solo that still has little bursts of melody shining through before being taken and dragged under the riffage on display here. Then the title track comes on and something is made clear very quickly: Metallica don't really know how to write slower songs. It's not out of complacency like it would be in their later years, it's more a sense of naivety and inexperience. These riffs are supposed to hit hard and heavy but just...fall flat. Even in the melody department, while there's no shortage there, most of the riffs are still missing that final little je ne sais quoi to push them over to greatness. They lack a certain type of energy that thrash or even just metal of this variety requires, not working on the record nor do they work live. The same goes for the eternally hailed "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and the divisive "Escape". The title track definitely fares the best out of those three: "For Whom the Bell Tolls" content to plod along on the same riff for 5 minutes and "Escape" seeing Metallica veer to the wrong side of pop metal, like the worst trendhopping of Judas Priest.

"Fade to Black" is almost comical. This is Metallica's first ballad, and while they would eventually produce a classic in that department (if you're curious, it's "One"), they still have to hone that skill in. As such, this song is rough. It's communicated with all the subtlety of a brick wall: acoustic guitars overwrought and sappy with actual riffs underwritten and overstretched. Above all, the whole performance comes off as pretentious. Somehow even the lyrics are communicated in a way that just feels off, mostly appearing to come from a background of someone who actually hasn't been down that pathway. As such these lyrics seem excessively direct and even derogatory at times, failing to give respect to the subject at hand.

Thankfully the rest of the album fares a quite bit better, each of the three remaining tracks doing something different. The aforementioned "Trapped Under Ice" shows the last vestiges of punk and speed metal that Metallica would really write. It's a decent albeit unremarkable thrasher made for the pit. The final two tracks show perhaps the most potential of any of the tracks on the album, "Creeping Death" for its heaviness and "The Call of Ktulu" for its melodies. Both are stretched long (especially "Ktulu"), but they do contain the best examples of what Metallica would expand upon. In some ways you could even describe these tracks as "what ifs", seeing as Metallica do heavy and melody right here but are for the most part unable to capture that magic for the rest of the album.

The production is fine. It's fairly treble-heavy but I still think everything has room to shine. Because of this and the bass tone, the high bass parts can get buried but for the most part it's acceptable. For performances...aside from Lars they're quite tight: Hetfield having the right arm of the century, Burton providing plenty of complex low end, and Kirk providing good leads that compliment the riffage. But Lars really is and will always be the albatross around the band's neck. He is a fucking dismal drummer, seeming to barely keep up with any variations in the song and when he isn't his drumming just plods away endlessly with no variation. I'd say it lets the riffing breathe Ken Owens-style, but with Lars' technical inexperience and overall pedestrian arrangement it's less like he's letting the riffs breathe and more like he's leaving them out high and dry with no support for a thousand miles.

This review seems complicated because my view of Ride the Lightning is complicated. I commend Metallica for making such a huge stylistic change in such a short timeframe, but the execution of everything is still quite spotty, and Metallica would also develop some very nasty habits here that still dog them to this day. At the end of the day, Ride the Lightning really isn't a good album, but you still can get some enjoyment of the standout tracks "Creeping Death" and "Fight Fire With Fire". At the very least if you consider this a gem, you're in for a real treat when you get exposed to the true world of heavy metal.

Ride the Lightning is quite the album, to say the least. Kill Em All was already a game changer through virtue of basically creating thrash metal by playing Diamond Head tracks harder and faster. Not literally, but you know what I mean. But then here comes Ride the Lightning further characterizing thrash through quite a lot of what it does and – more importantly – what it accomplishes. Cliff Burton’s gotten the boys looking more into music theory and applying that to what they were doing before… and boy, does it show here! Immediately, the youthful vigor of their debut album is channelled into a tighter, more robust package. “Fight Fire with Fire” focuses a lot of it into some right hard and heavy riffing, coupled with James Hetfield laser-focusing his vocals into a gruffer, angrier affectation. Fits like a glove alongside the pummelling riffs, which take some speed metal riffs and amp up the aggression with more aggressive picking. Though having said that, James hasn’t quite filled out into the vocal stylings we’ve known and loved for over 35 years now. Sure, “Fight Fire with Fire” may have him shouting with conviction, but “Ride the Lightning” still shows those kinda voice cracked highs. Even then, it does provide the verses with more emotional conviction. Still, there’s no getting that chorus out of your head. Nothing at all. The relatively less emotionally charged vocals convey the chorus’ lyrics in a hypnotically mesmerizing way that’s been stuck in my head for god knows how long now.

Flash before my eyes
Now it’s time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flames

Couple that with the thumping mid-paced riffs packed tighter than Stripperella’s outfit, and boy, do you have yourself a catchy tune.

That’s about the crux of the album. Whether it’s just NWOBHM played harder like “Ride the Lightning”, scorchers like “Trapped Under Ice”, the immortal rousing epic “For Whom the Bell Tolls” or what would become one of the greatest thrash songs ever written in “Creeping Death”, everything is rich with melody. Lots of catchy moments that make their impact hard and heavy, which was the style at the time. This is especially the case behind the ballad, “Fade to Black”. Amidst the hard and heavy riff-heavy material are these soft acoustic guitars still belting out this smooth line like it’s nothing, and James toning the aggression down a bit to fit with the lighter composition. Frankly, it’s easy to see how this would’ve gotten a ton of radio time, especially during the mid-80s where power ballads served as one of the pillars of the radio. Though having the fantastic “For Whom the Bell Tolls as the promotional single is a smarter decision, especially given its powerful rhythms signalling that Metallica were back – only bigger, longer and uncut! Seriously, the bells signal the arrival of some right stomping riffs and quite possibly some of the tightest rhythms that they’ve ever written. From there, they unleash more and more high-impact mid-paced affair eventually transitioning to more upbeat riffs with a bit of a gallop. All of which are riddled with absolutely rich melodicism – the sort that immediately enter your headspace and live there rent-free for decades to come. If there’s one thing this album nails on the whole, it’s basically that.

Though yeah, there’s no denying how much “Fight Fire with Fire”, “Trapped Under Ice” and especially “Creeping Fucking Death” tear it up with their galloping if not flat-out machine gun riffs, nor is there any room to deny that “Ride the Lightning”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Fade to Black” are flat-out winter sniffles levels of catchy with more hooks than a bait and tackle mega store. These songs definitely got the attention of many up-and-coming thrash bands back in 1984, even the ones who were already releasing demos like Exodus and Overkill. “Escape” gets some flack here and there... and yeah, it is the weakest cut on the album; still, all it is, is a slightly weaker “Ride the Lightning”. It’s got similarly striking verses and a damn catchy chorus, nonetheless.

Though if anything is undeniable in any regard, it’s the ever-encompassing instrumental “The Call of Ktulu”. This is especially where everything they’ve learned since the debut comes to form. It’s one thing to build tension with a slightly unsettling clean guitar before dropping this meaty riff. It’s one thing to feature a bunch of motifs throughout that keep things fresh while many subtle sonic variations of that riff play throughout. It’s another to arrange them all in a such a masterful way as to perfectly ride the tension built in the beginning with the other sounds and guitar techniques in the background before ending the second act with Kirk Hammett soloing your face off. This is before it all comes crashing down with a more… well, crashing rendition of the main riff before gracefully bowing us out with a refrain of the intro. It strikes a righteous thunder before ending in a rather contemplative manner, leaving a hell of a final impression.

Not only does Ride the Lightning further define what it means to thrash, but it even further expands upon it by adding more of a metallic edge to it. Like injecting 50CCs of NWOBHM into your Motorhead tracks. The Ramones but more consistently metal. “Waiter, there’s some punk in my Judas Priest!” But even beyond the huge amount of influence it had, Ride the Lightning stands tall as a positively electrifying album from start to finish. Strong rhythms creating thunderous melodies, whether they’re thrashing or going about it with more mid-paced fare. Ride the lightning, indeed!

With the passage of time Ride the Lightning has acquired new perspectives and it doesn't sound too crazy to point it out as the best album made by Metallica, and the truth is that it doesn't lack arguments for it, this album has a stellar song writing and shows an evolution in Metallica's sound with respect to their debut album that would fit much more with what they were about to show in the years to come, also the influence this album has had on the development of extreme metal is unquestionable, one can play through Bathory's discography while finding totally identical segments of this album in their music to give an illustration of his influence. And even with all this being true there are several aspects I can't stand about this album that have to do from a musical and personal point of view, how nostalgia affects classic albums like this one and how historical perspective also matters when it comes to pointing out certain facts.

And speaking about nostalgia, it had been easily seven or eight years since the last time I had listened to this album and when I did it again quite recently I was amazed by the fact that I remembered the first three tracks perfectly, and I think that speaks volumes about how powerful and impactful the first steps of this album are, "Fight Fire with Fire" is a sample of the band's speed metal side and works both as an opener that engages the audience and as a continuation of the band's sound, I feel this song is a similar and improved version of "Whiplash". But then the tone changes, the title track is slower (compared to the opener of course) but still radiates strength, yet there is more detail in the songwriting, following a classic composing style it manages to be precise and engaging in all its fragments from the chorus to the solo through all the riffs. And then there is "For Whom the Bell Tolls" which is for me Metallica's peak in terms of songwriting, I knew it was a good song but I didn't remember how incredibly good it is, just the intro alone leaves you breathless, everything fits perfectly, the guitar breaks happen at the right time making the song totally dynamic but letting each section last long enough so you can immerse yourself in it and remain in your mind forever. And the rest of the song is just as iconic, and the moment between when the first chorus ends and they resume the main riff doing a build up that is reinforced twice by two different rhythm patterns by the drums seems to me a supreme detail that adds at the same time complexity and memorability and all this without mentioning the epic ending that lengthens and recreates like a flame refusing to extinguish, just beautiful.

Everything I've just covered is almost the entirety of side A, but when we get into the same type of songs on side B, the brilliance previously present starts to dissipate, "Trapped Under Ice" is another song that sounds very much in the vein of "Kill 'Em All" but sounds dull and lazy, almost as if they've activated the autopilot thus making it a song true to their early style with the most generic sound possible causing me to become totally abstracted. "Escape" also feels like it walks the same path, it feels incredibly simple and doesn't stimulate me in any way, although I have to admit it has a very catchy chorus that I would probably be more attached to if this album was part of my teenage years as it was for many, but like the song I mentioned previously it lacks the songwriting and punch that the beginning of the album has, and it's no surprise that they are the least discussed songs on this work by far. And then there's "Creeping Death" which recovers much of that essence that I've been missing since the end of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" but I have to say that over time it's a song that I appreciate more live than in its studio format, I think it's in that kind of occasions where it really shines and when they manage to fit more brilliantly than in the studio, probably because of the way it fits so well the change of rhythm with the chants of "Die!" in the background in a concert.

But of course one can't talk about Ride the Lightning without mentioning "that" song, hated by many fans when the album came out but with time it gained popularity and would become one of Metallica's most remembered songs, and if it wasn't for the fact that they would continue this dynamic with songs like "One" or "Nothing Else Matters" where they raised the bar for ballads, the infamous "Fade to Black" would be today THE power ballad of the band without a doubt. And I absolutely hate this song, not because of the song itself, but because its existence is abhorrent and has no reason to exist. This is arguably the fourth thrash metal album in history, the genre has just been born and is taking its first steps, to the point where we still don't really talk about the thrash genre, but what was clear at that point was the tendency of the music, to take it towards more extreme terrains, making speed metal influenced by the NWOBHM and hardcore punk scene. So taking this into account I am unable to understand what the hell they wanted to achieve with a mellow and disgusting power ballad, we are not yet at the peak of the genre where it was necessary to bring it closer to a mainstream audience, thrash metal was born and marks an underground trend, a necessary step for the development of extreme metal, and "Fade to Black" represents the opposite, it is the approach to the mainstream, to the radio friendly formula, it is the opposite of what thrash metal represents. I don't want this to seem like a set up for an absurd commentary as if it were 2010 but I'm not surprised that there are videos of Justin Bieber singing this song, because it does the same thing that "The Black Album" did, bringing a decaffeinated and poor version of what metal is to the mainstream public so that later artists like Shakira or Miley Cyrus can cover "Nothing Else Matters" with the applause of the audience. That's why I hate "Fade to Black", the first black mark on an album that started out perfectly and didn't know how to bounce back.

By now, everybody and their brother is familiar with the thrash giants that put the genre on the map. With controversial takes existing everywhere on every spot of Metallica’s discography, it’s sometimes nice to just peel back the layers and taste the core of a classic’s excellence. Being only the band’s second record, Ride The Lightning signals the hint of constant change as they progress forward, a stunt that would stick for every record in the band’s career. Stylistically, is it that different from the explosive debut? Nah, but writing wise, this may already be one of the biggest shifts in tone.

The obvious part is how clean of a leap James and co. made only one year later. While this is important in the context of the early ‘80s, it’s even more compelling when you figure Ride The Lightning’s title track and opener “Fight Fire With Fire” are two of the heaviest songs the band has ever written. The bridge following the chorus in “Ride The Lightning” leading into that chaotic windstorm of a solo absolutely smolders the listener with burning intensity under an umbrella meant to invoke colder feelings. That’s beyond incredible in and of itself before you even consider how cleanly this is pulled off.

Moreover, Metallica did what I think advanced the thrash genre to another step. While early output may warrant a tough time splitting the hairs of speed and thrash metal, they managed to give that a heavier definition here. By that, I mean they nailed the “thrash but not necessarily fast” style that many bands would take and run with before. I’m not saying it hadn’t been done before 1984, I’m saying the line was sharpened substantially. The instrumental closing masterpiece “The Call Of Ktulu” shows this in some of the finest progression of its time, coating itself in the aggressive attitude and harder punch without the need for constant speed. The classic hit “For Whom The Bell Tolls” is a more obvious example of this, keeping the same steady but heavy pace the entire run, not sidestepping the style at all. Catchy choruses and melodic verses all over the record can't cause that to happen.

Few are gonna deny the excellence of the sophomore masterpiece that is Ride The Lightning. But I can’t help feeling that it gets unfairly underpraised, sandwiched between the monumental titan Master Of Puppets and the sweaty and sticky energy of Kill ‘Em All. Even the weakest moments on this (see “Trapped Under Ice”) are still incredible. It being one of the fastest songs, yet one of the most overlooked speaks volumes about the tighter cementation of the direction they took. When the ballad “Fade To Black” gets more recognition than a speed metal gunshot, it’s pretty telling where the important factors are, even if this didn’t land with some fans right away.

I go back and forth between Ride the Lightning and Kill 'Em All, the two albums that in my eyes revolutionized heavy metal. Metallica's debut brought a punk edge to metal, combining a bunch of different influences into one streamlined genre of music. The band's second effort is a fantastic leap forward in just about every way; the band makes major strides in songwriting and musicianship, the production is a little bit cleaner, the track list is more diverse, and the band is truly forging their own path here, mostly shedding the Motörhead and Minor Threat influences. This record encapsulates everything about Metallica's youthful energy, puts it in a time machine, and catapults it ten years into the future in terms of maturity. There are hints of Rush and early Slayer, but the band still retains some of their edgy rage.

The A-side of this record is absolutely flawless. "Fight Fire with Fire" opens with an acoustic intro followed by one of the heaviest, fastest, most intense riffs that Hetfield ever wrote. But this song is more than just a straightforward scorcher, there are different instrumental changeups and James's vocal performance is more of a bark to throw the song forward. The title track follows with just as much aggression but an even more complex song structure, and Kirk's solo (even if it borrows from Mustaine) is astonishing. This mammoth endeavor of guitar wizardry spans ninety minutes and numerous rhythms, climaxing in the return of the main riff to close the song out. Two tracks and about ten minutes is all that's needed to understand that Metallica would do much more than build on their seminal debut- they best-metal-band-of-all-time potential.

The controversy of this record mostly comes in the form of three songs, "For Whom the Bell Tolls," "Fade to Black," and "Escape." The perceived problems with these three songs are different, but all plights are manufactured. "Escape" is bookended by "Trapped Under Ice," a high-octane thrasher that reeks of the 'eighties, and "Creeping Death," a speedy track with a chanted vocal bridge and one of the catchiest hooks and riffs the band ever wrote. "Escape" feels tame in comparison, but as these three tracks rip through your ears, it will feel like more like a well-timed, slower-paced interlude between two of thrash's most unrelenting songs.

Similarly, put together, the third and fourth tracks are slower and more bass-driven, but add just as much to the record as anything else here. The doom-laden, chunky riff that "Bell Tolls" is centered around is absolutely colossal, works incredibly well as James hauntingly yells with an icy tone about the apathy and loss of spirit that plagues soldiers who are sold off to war. This song is my personal favorite, but it serves a greater purpose to the album as a whole than on its own. It paves the road for "Fade to Black," the climax of the record, to come in with precise execution. The acoustics in the intro and the chilling electric guitar solo that contrasts it nicely give way to the slow buildup of instrumentation and harmony that this song presents. Preceding an onslaught of thrashy, percussion-driven songs, "Fade to Black" is a thrash ballad that was truly the first of its kind for metal, combining a number of different influences in its sound and performance.

There are not many albums that sound as complete and as well-written as Ride the Lightning. Kill 'Em All may have been more influential, but it is not as conceptual as this record is, which to some may give Ride the Lightning the edge. Others may see the untapped energy of the debut to be superior to the more matured and cold sound of this sophomore LP. In my view, the two records are for all intents and purposes equal, two sides of the same coin, and the two most important albums in thrash metal history.

As I am getting back my euthanism and feeling a sense of obligation to continue creating reviews, I thought the best way to get myself back into a serious mood was by pressing myself into a formidable record that everyone and their mother has reviewed already; Metallica`s Magnum Opus, “Ride The Lightning”. Arguably one of the best, if not the best in many metal kins minds, thrash metal records to ever exist. I`m not really sure how I want to start this off so I'll drop the formalities and express that I believe “Ride The Lightning'' is Metallica`s finest moment, and only goes downhill from here. Yes, there are plenty of debates and conversation pieces regarding the question, "what is Metallica's best record?” but I feel very certain of my opinion that I am indeed correct. As I go down the Metallica iceberg, diving deeper and deeper in the already explored waters, you`ll understand my point of view. The only way to even begin this trip is to start from the very beginning.

Piggy backing off the considerable success of their debut, “Kill `Em All”, “Ride The Lightning” employs a better sense of variety in terms of tempo, song / rhythmic structure, and performances compared to their debut. That is not to say that their debut had poor writing or performances, merely it takes the best of what “Kill `Em All” has, refines it, mixes in new ideas that are also fairly refined, and creates this concoction. Not one ounce of aggression and speed is lost on this sophomore outing as songs such as the apocalyptic “Fight Fire With Fire” and the relentless “Trapped Under Ice” still deliver thrashy energy we are all accustomed too but not every song follows the “balls to the wall thrash” approach the last record mostly dwelled in. No, Metallica got to toy around more with tempo and rhythmic changes, offering the listener more musical avenues that weren't already present. “Fade To Black” is probably the most notable as it was Metallica's first, and certainly not the last, dabble in ballads yet it is adequately made utilizing the use of the acoustic guitar sections and a slower tempo to create a sorrowful feeling all throughout it. Noticeably, the rest of the record is surrounded in mid-tempo thrashers like “Creeping Death”, “For Whom The Bell Tolls”, and well you know the others, which allows the band to showcase their skill behind both the instrument and the pen and paper, offering the listener intricate back and forth riffing while keeping a catchy cohesiveness to the song's structure. Yet again the band manages another instrumental with “The Call Of Ktulu” that is also another song that is placed in a mid-paced tempo but fully employs its long eight minute and fifty-three second run time by superbly interchanging between riff to riff acting as a fantastic closer to the album. On top of the bands refinements in the instrumental department, the lyrical content is considerably grown up from the previous record as songs are sung about the horrors of nuclear warfare and war in general, capital punishment, the ten plagues brought upon Egypt, suicide, and other topics that may be left up the listener.

Speaking of songs being sung, James Hetfield has really come out of his shell here and put on one of his most memorable performances, and my personal favorite. James employs more melody and technique than his outright screeches and yells found on the debut but still has that same snarl and aggression that he became well known for. It is balanced in all intended purposes, as songs like “Ride The Lightning” and “Fade To Black” is a fantastic showcase as he juggles both hand in hand, never missing a catch. Lars is at the top of his game, offering a varied performance helping keep the flow of the song's rhythmic structure while giving us some interesting fills. Kirk is a great counterpart to James rhythm guitar playing, providing intricate dual harmonies and busting out solos left and right with precision and skill. The application of harmony that Kirk employs, in the solo sections like in the title track “Ride The Lightning”, help elevate the rest of the music as it progresses and those solos are really top tier in themselves. All this focus on harmony, melody, and tempo structure has major thanks to Cliff Burton who taught the rest of the band, though Kirk had some knowledge thanks to his teachings with Joe Satriani, about the importance of learning music theory. Cliff`s style of bass playing always came off more like him playing the part of a third guitarist than a bassist, with songs like “Escape” and “The Call Of Ktulu” being prime examples; or really just the whole album in general.

Production wise I'm fairly certain is near perfect. Sure, someone random joe could take some issues that don't really amount to much but I don't hear the possible criticisms when I listen to the record. There's just a weight surrounding the mix, as the guitars are fairly heavy and punchy and the bass has a nice crunch to it. Lars drumming isn't over burdening and the same can be said about James vocals in the mix. Everything is audible and dynamic, allowing us to take every inch of the instrumentation and vocal performance without missing a beat. I can’t at all find any issues with the production and I have yet to read a good case saying so.

Even with those detractors complaining about songs like “Fade To Black” being a ballad on a thrash record or “Escape” as it was a last minute song after requests from the record company wanting a single that was more “radio friendly”, “Ride The Lightning” stands as a tall achievement in the thrash metal genre. The album flows almost perfectly and every song fits as if each were a piece to a puzzle, especially “Escape” as I don't really see any issues with it at all. People like to throw words such as iconic, memorable, quintessential, masterpiece, and a plethora of words that act as synonyms to one another without any real critical thought or understanding when using those words but in this case with “Ride The Lightning”, it is wholeheartedly true. So why do I believe that “Ride The Lightning” is the best record Metallica has put out, even in the face of albums like “Master Of Puppets” and “...And Justice For All”? The thing about “Ride The Lightning” is that it isn't bogged down by simple repetitive riffs with track run times running much longer than they should, something I like to call, “musical fluff”. “Ride The Lightning” is technical, progressive, emotional, and to the point and never overstays its welcome, unlike parts of “Master Of Puppets” and a large portion of “...And Justice For All” (which I will talk about in their respective reviews). Sure, “MOP” and “AJFA'' might have songs that are just a bit more technical and progressive but they are surrounded by a layer of repetitiveness that can feel like a chore, especially with “AJFA”. No, “Ride The Lightning” doesn't have that issue nor anything that I can view as major. “Ride The Lightning” is everything that Metallica was doing right at the time, and as a high, it's something they could never reach again.

Metallica has gotten a lot of beating from metal fans ever since 'Black Album' came out, and still does. I have to admit, I'm a bit guilty of it myself. They're just such an easy target nowadays that we keep forgetting how much of an cultural and influential phenomenon they were back in the glory days. When 'Kill 'Em All' first came out, no one knew what even was this thing. But it was clear to everyone this is where metal should go next - aggressive, wild and relentless whiplash. Their next big release, 'Ride the Lightning', display a lot of maturity the band have gained, and in just a matter of year.

However, unlike any other RTL review out there, I'm not gonna elaborate on tight musician relationship, brilliant songwriting, or lyrical themes. You know it, I know it, everyone and their mom know it. Here I'll focus on a very overlooked aspect of 'Ride The Lightning' that makes this album truly stand out from the rest of the genre - its structure. What do I mean by that? It'll be perfectly clear once I explain this.

So we start out 'Ride The Lightning' with a classic thrasher called 'Fight Fire With Fire'. 40 seconds of acoustic guitar is then interrupted by a massive explosion in the form of straightforward main riff. The song itself keeps the pace fast through entire song, which really gives it this "take-no-prisoners" vibe to it. The next song is the title track, and it's far more different than what Metallica had done back then - it starts off much slower, builds the momentum until the pace picks up after second chorus, and then it slows down for first lead, it speeds up for the rest of solo, but before final verse it comes back to it's beginning tempo. All the changes in tempo are very welcome, even 'No Remorse' felt rather standard in that regard.

Then we receive a much slower and even dramatic 'For Whom The Bell Tolls', with another iconic input from Burton's bass guitar. 'Fade To Black' was a novelty even for Metallica back in 84', due to it being a straight-up ballad. Soft verse-heavy chorus structure became kind of this band's ballads standard, broke in the middle by very much 'A National Acrobat' type of riff, staying attached to the song to its very end.

We break the mood from overly dramatic atmosphere this album builded so far with another straightforward classic, 'Trapped Under Ice'. Unto the next, we have a rather typical heavy metal song called 'Escape', which seems to be the weakest link of this record. Aaaaaand... I am not disproving that saying the song is an misunderstood masterpiece, but it's not out of place either.

After that one, the album's thrash vibe goes back with 'Creeping Death', as well as dramatic atmosphere we broke from two song ago. 'Ride The Lightning' closes on the same big note as it started, with massive instrumental 'The Call of Cthulhu', referencing a classic H.P. Lovecraft novel. It's one of two RTL's songs (including title track) which still has Dave Mustaine's song-writing influence. Not that it's really important, just a little fun fact.

So what all this means in the end? I'll ask in a different way. Would you love 'Ride The Lightning' as the same if it started with 'Escape', if the title track was closing this album, or if 'Fight Fire With Fire' was put somewhere in the middle? Well, I'll leave the answers up to you. But for me, 'Ride The Lightning' stands among the best thrash metal releases, along side Metallica's next album, 'Coma of Souls', 'The Ultra-Violence', 'The New Order', 'Eternal Nightmare' etc. because the album structure is as well-thoughtout as it is. It may be due to time limit constraints of vinyls etc., but I like to think it was a creative decision. The way the songs are put along each other keeps the momentum going, and complements them in a way that every song feel like their at the right place, even if not every one of them is straight-up awesome or brilliant.

I think people don't notice how much of an impact a tracklist of a metal album can have on listeners. When done right, like here or 'The Number of the Beast' (original release, not any other that insist on putting 'Total Eclipse' to the main CD), it creates a truly incredible experience and it's a damn good reason why many people are calling them "the best metal albums of all time". Or it can trick you into believing that a not-so-stellar album is much better than it seems. Case in point - 'Heroes of Origin' by Hatriot. Most of its content is either decent or even good, but 'Heroes (...)' structure at first did made me think this album is pure awesomeness. Not that it's wrong or anything, I still like Hatriot a lot.

When done poorly, like basically everything nowadays, it still has the potential for great albums, but it shows also bands' laziness in that regard, that they didn't bother structing the album properly, so the songs would complement each other. This thing separates the true masterpieces from good but flawed albums. And it's a shame, because no one even realized how powerful of a tool album's tracklist can be. Go listen to 'Ride the Lightning' people. And take notes on how to make truly awesome metal albums.

Metallica is one of those bands that comes around in their early years, makes some killer music, and then as the years pass by the band gets older and older and loses their sense of touch. Since the mid-1990s the band has steadily declined, first abandoning their roots in Load, ReLoad, and St. Anger, then having an “Oh Shit” moment in the early 2000s, and now they’re a dad band. Despite all this, the early classics, the “original trilogy” of Metallica albums holds up better than ever even in the modern sense.

Thus bringing us to Ride the Lightning, the sophomore effort of the titan of heavy metal. Stylistically as one might expect, there’s still quite a sizable influence from the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, albeit its a lot less present than on Kill ‘Em All. Every once in a while it will hit you in the face (and, usually, kick your ass while doing it) such as in the famous “DIE!” section of Creeping Death, Metallica striking the perfect balance between their roots and inspirations, as well as making great strides in the genre.

The overall sound of the album certainly has that older feel to it, though I can’t understand the choice of so much reverb. On everything. While that might seem like a con, it has its ups and downs. It does absolutely help on some songs like For Whom the Bell Tolls, Creeping Death and Ride the Lightning, while dragging parts of others down, like the acoustic section of Fade to Black and Fight Fire with Fire. Hetfield’s vocals feel bigger, but Kirk Hammett’s solo chops are almost drowned out at times, which drains from the performance. When you look at other albums to come out around the same time, such as Helloween’s Keeper of the Seven Keys, you know it’s not impossible to have a lot going on and still keep the integrity of a good solo present in the sound.

Another gripe I would have with the album is that Fade to Black, while an emotionally impactful song and definitely good, just drags on and on and on. It’s very tempting to reach for that skip button after about the first half, and sadly, Metallica seemed to have not learned from this later in their career.

Even with these detractions, this is still a fantastic work of musicianship. Fight Fire with Fire is definitely the most NWOBHM inspired song, would’ve fit in perfectly on the first album. The title track is an absolutely blazing storm of heavy metal, hitting you right in the face for its entirety. And then we come to For Whom the Bell Tolls, a song that highlights just how much Bassist Cliff Burton truly brought to the table. In times when a Bass Solo would’ve been considered blasphemy, Cliff takes the *lead*, and does it pretty damn well. Then of course the iconic outro, which bells ominously ringing in the background.

Songs like Escape and Creeping Death bring true speed to the table, enough to give even the most seasoned headbangers a cramp in their neck. On the latter track in particular, despite the aforementioned fighting he has to do in the mix, Kirk Hammett plays an amazing solo, probably one of Metallica’s best if I’m being quite honest.

Call of Ktulu brings things home as a closer, showing Metallica can write damn good instrumentals. The ominous melodies conjuring images of horrors unimaginable perfectly captures HP Lovecraft’s demented mind, and the song is worth multiple listens over in any occasion.

Overall, despite its flaws, Ride the Lightning is a true classic of Heavy Metal, perfectly capturing the sheer power of the genre while also simultaneously pioneering thrash, building upon the foundation of Kill ‘Em All and essentially throwing the cards on the table for Master of Puppets.

AA more polished production work and a renewed sound characterized Metallica's sound in their sophomore effort. While certain influences from the NWOBHM are still present in this release, the band radically changed not only their musical direction but also how many thrash bands would set their sound. However, this revolutionary formula is not translated into brilliant work. It is average at its best, except for a couple of numbers. Furthermore, a relevant event is the departure of their guitarist and songwriter Dave Mustaine, which would impact the band's creative work, though he's been credited as a composer for a couple of tracks.

Metallica bet for the creation of additional songwriting ideas. For instance, the introduction of a ballad and lengthier numbers seemingly aimed at stepping in the lands of progressive metal. The first two tracks result very promising. The powerful opening represents the album's finest hour; this tremendous thrasher runs in a fast fashion, keeping its pace at all times. The harmonic solos in the middle are also great. Then, the title track goes slower, though the chorus section speeds up a little bit, and there is also another awesome harmonic solo. "Trapped Under Ice" displays the last remains of the band's old sound, as it keeps certain similarities with "Whiplash" it also sounds excellent.

The rest of the album seems to fall down at moments. "Fade to Black" marks the beginning of a usual songwriting habit from this band: overlong ballads. The problem with them is that these ballads are filled with boring passages, and the band never realized how ridiculous they sound when they sing ball. The closing number is acceptable but turns out to be too lengthy, and you know what happens when the band deals with this kind of numbers. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is too dull as well. Five minutes for a song running at this pace is rather torturing, and it's too repetitive.

The offer is good at certain moments, but these guys fail when it comes to putting their new ideas in a trial by fire. This album shows the best version of their new sound, but it is still too short when all is said and done. The most worrying aspect of the allegedly renewed formula is how Metallica exploited the same in the next releases, as they were bringing out watered-down variations and prioritizing their worst ideas. It is widely recommendable to play the vinyl format of this album for a better listening experience.


You can also read this review in: http://antichristmagazine.com/review-metallica-ride-the-lightning-megaforce-records/

After the success of "Kill 'Em All", Metallica released their second album a year later in 1984. While many would find their next album "Master of Puppets" the best album Metallica made, I found MOP a bit of a watered down version of RTL. It's not only Metallica's best album, but I consider this the best thrash metal album of all time.

While I enjoyed "Kill 'Em All", I did found some flaws on the album. RTL takes those flaws and improves them. The guitars have more power in them, the drums have more variety in the kicks and bangs, the bass is more clearer, and the vocals bring more emotions in the songs with more anger and dramatic shouts. Because of this, every single song off the album has their own style that makes them memorable. From the intro song "Fight Fire with Fire" with it's sweet acoustic guitar at the beginning and it's catchy chorus, to "Trapped Under Ice" and it's fast-paced guitars with dramatic lyrics about being trapped. There is a ton of variety in the album, and it's extremely difficult to find any flaws on each song.

One of my favorites from the album is "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Fade to Black". The former starts off with a guitar riff that creates a power atmosphere, but it also brings an unknown feeling that you can't fully understand. Hetfield has one of his strongest vocal performances on this song. His voice is a shout of power, as if he's giving an epic speech. His vocals also match the lyrics of war, and is further executed with the loud bangs of the drums and the long, extreme guitar riffs. Every single second of this song is packed with power and might that empowers the listener on fighting.

The latter song is a ballad that comes with a ton of emotional moments. It opens up with an acoustic guitar as well as another guitar playing a nice riff. However, it then cuts to the acoustic guitar playing a slow, depressed riff. The instruments are all playing in a slow tempo and create a sad atmosphere. Hetfield then sings about losing all hope. His vocals are more depressed, and fit well to the sad tone. The second part, however, is more upbeat. The acoustic guitar is replaced with a more fast, powerful guitar riff, with the rest of the instruments following suit by having a louder, faster, and more upbeat sound. Hetfield's vocals gain more power in this part as he sing about dying. The overall theme of the song is an interpretation of depression and death and remains one of Metallica's most power songs.

The overall quality of this album is a masterpiece. If "Kill 'Em All" revolutionized their sound, then "Ride the Lightning" perfected it. This is the album that truly got Metallica going, and the band would later try to copy it in their future works. It remains a classic album by many today.

Metallica is one of the most common beginner metal bands, and this is definitely true about me. Ride the Lightning was the first metal album I listened to in its entirety and has remained a favorite of mine since. I have been listening to metal now for almost 2 years, and my tastes have morphed rapidly in this time, and I am nowadays mostly listening to prog metal, atmospheric black metal, melodeath, doom, and variations of these genres. I have totally abandoned seeking out new thrash metal because I now see the genre as generally boring and creatively limited, however this album has such stellar songwriting that I cannot help but love it.

The guitarwork on this album is absolutely amazing, delivering crushing rhythms with the optimal thrash metal rhythm guitar tone. There are countless memorable riffs on this album such as those on “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Creeping Death”, and “Fade to Black”. Even the less epic and memorable riffs on songs such as “Fight Fire with Fire” and “Trapped Under Ice” are great. The lead guitar is also a major highlight mixing guitar shredding with emotional melody, always making an appearance at the appropriate times on this album.

As far as song structures go, Ride the Lightning is somewhat simple, making use of the common verse chorus song structure with solos placed in, however this song structure typically fits the song on this album. Of course there are exceptions such as when a new riff kicks in about 2/3 the way through “Fade to Black” which then ended with an amazing solo. Another song structure highlight is the section at 3:40 on “Creeping Death” where a massive riff kicks in with James’ chanting vocals over it. Additionally, a few songs have clean acoustic intros such as “Fade to Black” and “Fight Fire with Fire”. These intros are some of the most emotional and enjoyable parts of the album, creating a contrast with the heavy riffage that is present throughout most of the album.

Vocally, this album surprisingly satisfies me. I typically don’t like thrash metal style shouts, but James manages to incorporate some good melody in his shouting at times, and knows how to deliver a catchy and memorable chorus. Metallica proves however that they don’t need a vocalist to put out great music with their instrumental album closer “The Call of Ktulu”. The main riff on this song is one quite possibly my all time favorite thrash metal riff (I don’t like thrash much, but still a major accomplishment).

If I had to single out an element of this album that I am not crazy about it would be the drums, as they suit the album well, but don’t go that extra mile of truly elevating the quality of this album. Despite this, they don’t hinder my enjoyment of the album, as everything else is amazing.

Overall, Ride the Lightning is one of the most memorable albums I have ever listened to. The songwriting and riff writing here transcend just about everything else that thrash has to offer and is, in my opinion, the pinnacle of the genre. There is no boring moment on this album, as this album is jam packed with fun, emotion, and creativity.

Best songs: For Whom the Bell Tolls, Creeping Death, Fade to Black, The Call of Ktulu, Ride the Lightning

The year was 1984. Just last year, Metallica had released an aggressively frantic piece of early thrash metal called Kill 'Em All, which had helped bring the genre up from the underground and into the metallic spotlight. Fans were expecting the band to deliver on more fronts and then some to create an even bigger and better slab of pummelling thrash for their second album, so it came as a surprise when the album begins with an acoustic guitar of all things. According to stories, some people just turned off the album right then and there in disgust. Those that did stick around, however, were rewarded after all. The acoustic intro to "Fight Fire With Fire" segues into one of the heaviest riffs the band has ever recorded and was most certainly worth the forty second beginning, because it makes that riff work far better than it would have without it.

And yes, Metallica really did double-down on their approach to crafting metal, working harder not only on their heaviness, but also on their musicality. Ride the Lightning basically has it all - from the opener to the ballad to the nine minute instrumental, it flows well from song to song and there's enough variety on display to keep even those not so interested in the genre at attention. The band have streamlined their approach to writing hooks, which shows, because for all the heaviness on display here, it's pretty damn catchy at the same time.

Perhaps the biggest improvement this album has over the debut is the production, which is arguably the best the band has ever had on any album. Some people have criticised Ride the Lightning and Master of Puppets for sounding a little sterile, but personally speaking, I love it, particularly here. It sounds metallic in every sense of the word, but there's a mix of iciness at the same time which completely gets rid of the raw sound of the debut and replaces it with a slab of shining glory. The guitars sound fantastic on this release, and the bass and drums fit quite well in between them. James also has a much more controlled performance here which was lacking on the original. He's not perfect on every song, but he sounds way better as a whole and helps make a lot of the material work as well is it does.

To be fair, though, Ride the Lightning isn't quite a perfect album. There are moments here that don't quite work as well as they should. "Trapped Under Ice" is a solid song, but not as outstanding as it could be, "Escape" has a terrible bridge that mars an otherwise solid song, and even "Fade To Black" - as much as I like it - seems to fade out right when it's about to reach its peak. The slow build-down they utilise for live performances works much better for it, in my opinion.

Still, there's too much good here that just looking at the negatives would manage to unworthily obscure. "For Whom The Bell Tolls" is the best studio song Metallica have ever recorded, as far as I'm concerned, featuring some fantastic lyrics and an extraordinary performance from Cliff - who, by the way, is completely on point throughout the entire album. Just check out his driving basswork on "The Call of Ktulu", the epic instrumental that, alongside "Creeping Death", provides for an enthralling conclusion to the album. And then of course there's the title track, another great lyrical number with a fantastically memorable intro and outro that's helped it become a classic for a reason.

When taken as a whole, Ride the Lightning is quite simply pretty great. Metallica never truly replicated an album's style again, and the one present here has never been seen on another album of theirs or on any other band's. It's a driving force as a whole, a truly deserving classic metal album that many would argue is their best work to date. I'd disagree - they'd use the same sort of structure set in place on Ride the Lightning and manage to somehow blow it out of the water on the very next album, Master of Puppets. Still, this one is worth coming back to a lot, because at the end of the day, it's a powerhouse of a release that helped bring the thrash genre and Metallica as a whole just another step forward in greatness.

Here we have an example of the omnipresent intangible. That invisible extra member, that “it”, that keeps the legacy of a creation alive despite all odds and factors, even the members who created it doing everything in their power to escape the genre who made them.

There is a definite “80’s” sound to Ride The Lightning. The reverb, the guitar tone, the lyrical subject matter definitely screams that decade. But it doesn’t represent a part of a decade where a bunch of trendy floosies look at themselves and feel embarrassed years later. It represents a place and moment in space and time respectively where despite reaching your finest hour, the sky is still the limit. The album cover reinforces it. Yes there is that electric chair, but the most compelling thing my eyes are drawn to is the dark blue cloudy area of space. Letting you know that no matter what direction you travel in, you will never be lost from the path of righteousness The album is almost frozen in time, yet still completely able to react to the world around it. And that guitar tone, my God. If anything fucking screams metal in this Babymetal face-paint meathead mall infested world, it was whatever settings were dialed into that amphead at that fateful recording studio in Denmark. Everything about this guitar tone is the very definition of metal. Crunch, thickness, clarity of notes; I know probably a total 1% of guitar language and I could bet my possessions I could talk whatever guitar wizard into thinking that this tone is more metal than whatever he considers the most metal tone. But shit what else would you expect from a band calling themselves Metallica?

Of course there is the matter of the slower songs. Fade To Black is a great song, and a perfect encapsulation of the helplessness and hopelessness of depression. I just feel like Lars constantly using it as a justification on 30 plus years of corporate cock-sucking bullshit has practically ruined it. It's almost like he's daring us to find a time machine to go back and kill 'em all to prevent things from getting any worse. Plus in a sense, the song is a failure. Lars would constantly reference songs like Child In Time and Beyond the Realms of Death as justification that ballads were ok in metal but the difference is those songs had brilliant screaming vocal performances from Ian Gillan and Rob Halford. You need a vocalist or a melodic instrument that can properly convey that emotion and James Hetfield just never had it; not then, not in the 90s with his second-rate Waylon Jennings and Phil Lynott impersonations, and certainly not now. The single reason why this song (and most other Metallica "ballads") have worked was Kirk Hammett's lead guitar playing. Kirk catches a lot of shit, some of it being deserved. Credit to a previous reviewer for noting him using the same descending scales lick twice on the same album. But in my estimation, he was the most emotionally accomplished musician of the whole band. Yes, that includes Cliff.

Despite some irregularities, unlike most Metallica albums after this, Ride The Lightning is still very much a thrash album. Even to this day I can't see it being any lower than third or fourth place on a greatest thrash albums of all time list. Fight Fire With Fire alone, here is where I will concede that Metallica were ahead of their time, in that this song, with all its fury and power is a harbinger of death metal. Even if this album fulfilled the dreams of these supposed strawmen thrashers that Lars likes to conjure up, and delivered 8 songs exactly like Fight Fire With Fire, I feel like most listeners would just replay the first track over and over again. I'm not sure Metallica was capable of topping this song, hell I'm not entirely sure any band ever did. That being said, having Ride The Lightning's glorious Maiden-esque intro come crashing in before the listener has a chance to locate the skip button was the smartest decision made for this album, particularly for listeners who focus more on songs rather than taking in the entire album as an experience.

Standing the test of time is a phrase hacks love to use to disguise the fact that a mega-million industrial complex has managed to live longer than a flash in the pan cycle (Britney Spears anyone?). But Ride The Lightning actually does stand the test of time. Better than any other Metallica album, and better than most metal albums period. To paraphrase a Sam Cooke slogan, “Ride The Lightning is yours, it’ll never grow old.”

Recommended Songs:

Fight Fire With Fire
Ride The Lightning
Fade To Black
Creeping Death

Ride the Lightning is where Metallica started taking their mission of going harder, heavier, and faster much more seriously. While Kill 'Em All was thrashy and aggressive, it was still rooted in older metal conventions somewhat, and was very catchy and playful compared to this behemoth of darkness, aggression, and speed. On this album, Metallica would release some of their most famous and most threatening tracks ever. Ride the Lightning is a landmark piece that's still extreme even when compared to modern thrashers. With its signature songs and newfound darkened seriousness, this album upped the intensity and made one hell of a statement for early thrash metal.

You can tell right out of the gate that these guys weren't playing around anymore. After a brief intro of acoustic guitars on "Fight Fire With Fire", Metallica surges into action with some of the fastest and heaviest guitar play they've ever done in a song about the threat of nuclear mutually assured destruction. The rowdy rockers you knew on Kill 'Em All have turned into serious, stern titans of fast-paced metal. The lyrics also show a shift with the songs about war being more serious and less cocky. The other topics shift from songs about rocking and metalhead life to songs about suicide, execution, and other horror stories. This more serious tone is reflected in the music as well, whether it's the ominous, imposing, stomping march riff on "For Whom The Bell Tolls", or the bleak acoustic guitar melody on "Fade To Black", or the insidious headbanging rhythm to "Creeping Death" you are always getting a very dark and committed sound out of Metallica on Ride the Lightning. The guitars are more abrasive and less melodic, the tempo is often blistering, and Hetfield's singing is considerably less playful and more so exudes fear and sometimes melancholy. Even with how dark this gets, just about every track on here is designed to be at least moderately catchy and they snag you in a way that makes you come back for more. Every song has a big, distinct intro that helps let you know what you're in for and that often sets the tone very well before they slam the main rhythm into you. Metallica had become experts of leading people into their songs with enticing intro riffs and making them stay with ripping main guitar play, as well as memorable rhythms and vocal lines. It's almost like their skills have been multiplied since Kill 'Em All.

This album also shows Metallica broadening their musical horizons and continuing to stretch their sound beyond the thrash blueprint. It's a funny thing when a genre is in its infancy and all of the bands that set the rules are the first ones to break them. Metallica not only go at ripping, super-fast tempos, but also show off their talent at making big, slow, imposing riffs, iconic acoustic melodies, and progressive instrumental epics. They had little restraint on them and varied their songs quite a bit. Even songs that follow the same speedy style such as "Fight Fire With Fire" and "Creeping Death" only sound similar in speed, while their rhythms are prominent, sinister, super-fast, and they stand tall apart from each other. Prominent, heavy songwriting was all that mattered on here and that translated into an album that was mostly dark thrash, but showed talent, variety, and a skill for snagging you with a good hook or lead. Everything from simple thrashing to epic acoustic melodies has those strong leads that just make you remember it all and keeps you ready to reset the songs once they end.

Ride the Lightning is a darker, faster, meaner, and more serious Metallica album that gives their old, catchy rocking persona a new edge and some new variety. It also helped to further divorce thrash from it's rock-based traditional metal roots with more pure rage and speed. Metallica is heavier, thrashier, darker, more multi-faceted, and more mature with such a beast of an album. One only needs to be reminded of legendary songs such as the crushing "For Whom The Bell Tolls" and the slow-building, but epic "Fade To Black" to get a sense that this isn't an album to be underestimated. The songwriting is iconic and varied, and an atmosphere of destruction permeates a large chunk of the album. It is a landmark due to the quality of the music, the memorability of it, the sheer speed, and the lengths to which it stretched beyond the creative boundaries of thrash. It is undeniably a classic with many signature pieces on it that did a lot to cement Metallica's place among the greats.

Ever since the day I stole this, I've never managed to really had a single listening experience that absolutely convinced me this is a great album. In fact, it wasn't until I took a look at the average review score on the Metal Archives that I even suspected it might be a great album - it just doesn't have that feeling of being a complete product that a really superb album should have. Maybe it has something to do with the sixth word of this review (pretty sure the shop has since closed down, so it should be safe by now) or the fact that everybody already knows about Metallica before you tell them, but the number one metal band on the planet have never sat comfortably with my listening tastes. Anyway, on with the review.

Ride the Lightning is better than Kill 'Em All. That much is true. It's also probably better than Master of Puppets and certainly wipes the floor with everything the band did after that. Yet Kill 'Em All is more fun and Master of Puppets is a little more enticing to explore, which leaves that tiny little electric chair sitting out in the cold, certainly as far as my collection goes. (It really is ridiculously small, isn't it? For years, I thought it was a lightning rod or something that you put on top of electricity pylons.) So, it isn't that fun and it isn't that interesting, but Ride the Lightning is still good. What makes it good? Quite simply, the songs are written really fucking well. There isn't anything else that you'd want to put into them and there isn't really anything that you'd like to take out. However, some of the songs are written so well that they lack a sense of excitement and danger. You know the absolutely awesome 'For Whom the Bell Tolls'? Well, it never changes pace and nothing ever happens to surprise me, unless you count the band basically playing a 3 minute song back to front to give it a bit more weight. How about 'Fade to Black', which meanders around one lame power chord filler riff for a minute and a half in the middle of the song, not to mention its earlier appearance, then the rock scale noodling that leads out of the song for an overwhelmingly pointless length of time.

Some of the songs are genuinely well-written though. Despite some slightly dated moments, 'Ride the Lightning' is a beast of a song that does riffs like Donald Trump does publicity and packs a really nicely structured solo that makes use of Kirk Hammett's one good trick, which is blasting out of silence and melting into descending scales. For those unfamiliar with this trick, please refer to 3:43. 'Creeping Death' is also renowned for a reason and 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' sounds good even if it isn't all that worthy in a creative sense. Problematically, that means I'm left saying that there isn't that much to write home about for 5 of the 8 cuts on the album, and I don't have to look further than 'Escape' to find some actual filler, especially as it seems that Billie Joe from Green Day was commissioned to write the chorus, while the rest of the song gives James Hetfield some unneeded practice at chugging on the low E. The only reason 'Trapped Under Ice' isn't also confined to the filler pile is that it has a somewhat decent energy and makes more of an effort with riffs. Oh, and just because 'Fight Fire With Fire' has some nice riffs doesn't mean it's not a totally boring song.

There are two things that I haven't mentioned yet that I really hate about this album, so if you're a true blue Metallica fan, it's time to look away or pull out your Internet connection or something similar. The first one is that stomping beat that Lars Ulrich seems able to put into almost every song here: it appears on all three of the songs I pulled out as good and - although it's cool when it crops up on 'Ride the Lightning' - the appeal quickly wanes as it's done over and over, always with the same odd contrast to the thrash dagger thrusts. If the guys were hoping for pussy that badly, they could have just fast-forwarded to Metallica (a.k.a. The Stadium Album) and forgotten about the rest. The second thing that I really, really hate is Kirk Hammett's fucking lead playing. Seriously, does no one else have this problem? He just plays the same rehashed solos again and again. Remember that one I pointed out in 'Ride the Lightning'? He plays it again at the start of 'Trapped Under Ice', practically note for note. Then there are so many other solos that follow the same pattern as each other or don't actually do anything during their length: again, I point you to 'Trapped Under Ice', this time to 2:55, and ask, 'Haven't you heard Hammett play that solo before?' On half the songs on this album and half the songs on Kill 'Em All too. Fuck you, Kirk Hammett.

Enough of this pointless anger. The album is pretty good in its own right, what with a good guitar tone, some classic songs, and a wide-ranging influence, but I have to point out that it's also far from perfect and doesn't stand tall when compared to the best albums of many other thrash bands. I don't like it and there must be others like me. If the popular leanings of the Metal Archives need another angle to consider things from, I offer this - what would UltraBoris have said if he'd reviewed this?

Metallica is the most overrated band in the metal scene, period. Point blank. They have managed to release one of the worst albums of all time, "St. Anger", which still was able to sell to a double platinum status in the United States alone. Yeah, when that happens, something is obviously wrong. "Ride the Lightning" is Metallica's second full-length album and was released in 1984. Like the previous album "Kill 'Em All", this is an essential and classic piece of thrash metal but this time around, the band's sound has already matured in a positive way. Out of the first four albums, I would say this is probably my second favorite, second only to "...And Justice for All". But I'm not here to talk about that album. "Ride the Lightning" is, as many have said before, a monumental thrash metal album.

"Kill 'Em All" was an all-out thrash/speed metal album with a heavy injection of pissed off punk music, whereas "Ride the Lightning" is far more mature and a bit more technical in terms of songwriting and musicianship. There were no acoustic pieces on the previous album. However, right away, the first-time listener of this album was treated to something entirely different back in 1984. Within the intro to "Fight Fire with Fire", the album's opening track, a beautiful acoustic guitar riff sets the tone of the album. Or does it? After some acoustic playing, a bombastic thrash riff explodes all over the place. I'm sure many fans of Metallica at this point in time were fearing the worst: oh, no! Acoustic guitars?! They sold out! Of course we now know that couldn't be farther from the truth, but maybe it seemed justifiable at the time. No, Metallica wouldn't "sell out" until 1991. This was also the first album by Metallica to feature a ballad and it's actually one of the greatest songs this band has ever written. "Fade to Black" is a song dealing with the controversial lyrical theme of suicide. Again, I can guarantee there were fans back in the day that saw this and felt that the band was "selling out". I mean, a ballad about suicide? It makes sense. But this song is breathtaking. It starts off somber with a guitar solo and acoustic riffing then the main acoustic riff comes in and its instantly recognizable. The song does end up picking up in pace and turns into what you could call a "thrash ballad". The album's closing instrumental number "The Call of Ktulu" could probably be considered such as well. This nearly 9-minute piece is, in my opinion, the best instrumental Metallica has ever done and we definitely have Dave Mustaine to thank for writing some of the guitar pieces to this track.

So yes, there are some softer moments on this album, but even the softer songs turn into thrashers. The title track is a favorite of mine as it was actually one of the first Metallica songs I ever listened to, thanks to my dad's iPod many years back. This song deals with the death penalty, specifically the obvious electric chair (which, of course, made its way onto the album's cover art). It describes the feeling of going through this death penalty. It seems Metallica really was working to include some controversial lyrical themes within this album. "Creeping Death" deals with themes of the Biblical plague that spread across Egypt. This was the main single from the album and the title could not do the song more justice. This is definitely one of Metallica's strongest albums lyrically.

Of course, with most Metallica albums aside from "St. Anger", guitar solos are very prominent here. All of these songs contain guitar solos, with some of them, such as "Fade to Black", containing multiple. They're all executed quite well. This is arguably Metallica's most guitar-driven album, rivaling even "...And Justice for All". James' singing is still good here and he hasn't succumbed to the bluesy, almost western style of singing he would eventually adopt. His voice is young and fresh here.

I won't really say much about the drums. No doubt Lars Ulrich is one of the most overrated (I've used that word already...) drummers in history and really doesn't do anything that impressive, ever. His performance here is still tight and thrashy and justifies the music, if it doesn't still sound a bit, well, normal. At least at this point in time, Ulrich wasn't a total tool. I'd say that while "...And Justice for All" is my favorite Metallica album overall, this is probably the band's most important, and given its time of release and the album it follows, it's likely the band's most important. It is the Metallica side of The Big Four's most important releases, the others being "Rust in Peace" (1990) by Megadeth, "Hell Awaits" (1985) by Slayer, and "Among the Living" (1987) by Anthrax. These albums are all worthy of "legendary" status and are essential thrash pieces. "Ride the Lightning" is no exception.

Once upon a time, Metallica were a premier band in the thrash metal scene. Regardless of later efforts, Metallica left a mark on the metal world that is still felt today. The band’s debut stands the test of time as an album of raw energy and creative youth; however, Ride the Lightning is the next logical step in the band’s evolution. To this day, I cannot name another band that progressed as far between debut and sophomore releases.

Metallica’s aggression is more contained and focused on Ride the Lightning than earlier recordings. “Fight Fire with Fire” displays the band’s maturity. A taunting intro braces the listener for a full on assault, before accosting the ears with buzz saw guitars and pounding drums. Hetfield sounds like a madman on the microphone, spitting hate for the world and nuclear politics. The vocal lines are a tad odd, but they do give the listener ample time to absorb and appreciate the depth of the nightmarish scenario. Hammett has never been the best of lead players, but he always manages to throw in a solo that perfectly fits the song.

The tempo is slowed for the next two songs, “Ride the Lightning” and “For Whom the Bell Tolls.” The former is both crushing and melodic, with lyrics that tackle the morality of the death penalty. A pummeling bass line complements the latter, and the slow, chugging guitar riff helps tell a story about the horrors of war. Hetfield’s progression as a vocalist shines through, making his performance on “Kill Em All” sound pedestrian by comparison.

“Fade to Black” is perhaps Metallica’s most famous tune. Personally, I like the song, but I find it to be one of the weakest on the album. The smooth intro and beautifully haunting main riff does give the song merit; as does the testament to Hetfield’s improvement as a vocalist, but the song somewhat disrupts the flow of the album. The next song is a straight up slab of chunky thrash, followed by the most controversial song on the album.

“Escape” is often accused of being a “filler” track, or simply too far out of place. Both complaints are understandable, but the song is definitely solid, if a bit too reserved and catchy. “Creeping Death” is Metallica’s greatest song, completely deserving of all form of praise. The main riff is the epitome of skull smashing brutality, seasoned with a touch of melody and topped with a wonderful lead. Death is the only fitting description for anyone who doesn’t experience an immediate surge of adrenaline upon hearing the malevolent thrash break. Finally, the band concludes with an instrumental: an eight minute epic: good, but slightly too lengthy.

It should be noted that Metallica managed one of the best guitar sounds of all time on Ride the Lightning. Words cannot do justice to the impressive, sonic “crunch” this album portrays. Along with the classic production, Ride the Lightning has very few challengers to the throne of metallic bliss. Lyrically speaking, the band also stands apart from the norm. For the time, Metallica might have been considered the heaviest band outside the underground.

My only complaint about this album is the drums. Lars is clearly the weakest link in the band. He does a decent enough job in the rhythm department, but he lacks the skill displayed by many of his thrash contemporaries. The bass could have been a little louder as well, but none of these negatives should prevent a potential fan from purchasing this masterpiece.
(rating was slightly lowered after careful analysis)

Metallica gave us their incredible debut Kill ‘Em All in 1983 and a year later they decide to satisfy us with this magnificent Ride the Lightning. We are in front of a much mature and worked album and technically and musically this album is superior to Kill ‘Em All. It contains less tracks but with more length, being very elaborated, technical and heavy songs and with beautiful and complex melodic clean parts as the intro of Fight Fire with Fire or the amazing instrumental The Call Of Ktulu that begins with a clean guitar intro written by Dave Mustaine.

In the lineup we have the same members as in the debut record. It should be noted that the production of the album is much better, the guitars are much more powerful and the sound in general is darker and that can be appreciated in Fight Fire with Fire, which starts with a sinister melody of clean guitars that fall into a crazy riff at full speed; in this song I must emphasize the incredible work done by Hetfield on the rhythm guitar, it's simply magnificent just like Lars, who's leaving us breathless through pure speed and good use of double bass as happens in the thundering Trapped Under Ice. Listening to Fight Fire with Fire is like entering the true depths of Hell, a great track. For Whom the Bells Tolls is another dark and slow song and one of my favorites tracks of the album and the whole band, perhaps because it is one of the first tracks I heard by Metallica and because of that I have so much affection for it, it has no guitar solo but seriously I don’t think it need it.

All the tracks are true immortal classics of the band, specially Creeping Death, one of their best and most famous tracks, with excellent lyrics, incredible and unforgettable chorus and that part at the middle of the song perfect for screaming all together: “Die! Die! Die”. The solo is also great because it starts slowly and then it accelerates and it is very catchy and melodic and frankly one of the best solos by Kirk Hammett, he was at its best and most inspired moment, when he wasn’t still possessed by wah-wah. The other classic is Ride the Lightning, which is a slower track with a fabulous solo. After thirty years these songs are still sounding on their live concerts and that's a lot.

I also emphasize the lyrics which cover deeper themes such as suicide in Fade to Black, death in Ride the Lightning, the war in For Whom the Bell Tolls or even the plagues of Egypt in Creeping Death and not so simple and infantile themes as it happened on their previous record. Sincerely, the album has everything: melody, aggression, technique and their first ballad but, do they know how to make ballads? Sure, they do it incredibly well and it's called Fade to Black. It's a fantastic song with some amazing melodic parts and very good guitar solos. We also found a very good vocal performance by Hetfield who's using a clean, soft and sweet voice... Many people say that Escape is the weakest song of the album but I don't think so because it don’t have weak songs, it has very good lyrics and a very melodic and catchy chorus.

To conclude I must say it is a mandatory hearing album for those who haven’t heard it yet. If you like technical, melodic and aggressive thrash metal at the same time this is a very good choice. A perfect and unique album but best of all is that here did not end all because Metallica still had much more things to give us.

There have been thousands of people who have said it, but I'm going to state it again because this album is worthy of all the praise: this is the greatest Metallica album. In my opinion, it is quite simply the best metal album ever recorded. What makes this album so impressive is that this is an album from the same band that released "Kill 'Em All" just one year before. It is quite impressive that they musically matured so much in such a short span of time.

The song structures were so much more interesting, Metallica's famous and amazing rhythm section really came to fruition on this album. The songs were much more defined. The riffs were mighty, memorable, and powerful, Kirk's Mustaine imitating days were over (Not Kirk's fault, I know.) Kirk gave the best performance of his entire recording career, just listen to the solos in "Creeping Death" or "Fight Fire With Fire" - simply legendary. They're not the most technical solos in the world, but Kirk really knew what melody was. Cliff Burton's insane bass playing really shined on this record, Just listen to his majestic yet chaotic bass lines in "Call Of Ktulu." James pumped out some of the best riffs he has ever made, like on "Creeping Death." Now onto the infamous Lars Ulrich. Being a drummer myself, I must say, the drumming is impressive. This album has some of the most impressive drumming I have ever heard from Lars. He certainly gives Dave Lombardo a run for his money. Just listen to the furious display of thrash drumming on "Fight Fire with Fire" or "Trapped Under Ice".

The production is great for its time, as every instrument is heard crystal clear. The guitars are loud and sharp, the drums are nice and punchy (although the bass drum is almost inaudible, disappointingly.) Kirk's solos sound really clean and prominent, just the way a guitar solo should be. Cliff's bass can be a little difficult to hear at times, but you can definitely hear when he starts his crazy bass shredding! The one complaint I have about the production is that it is a little muddy. When there is a faster riff (Ex. "Fight Fire with Fire") the guitars sound quite distorted. Also, the bass drum is really damn quiet. It's a shame, because the double bass is truly amazing.

In the end, this was the pinnacle of Metallica's career. They would still go on to create more great albums (Master of Puppets, ...And Justice For All, Metallica, St. Anger and Death Magnetic) but this album remains their best, and perhaps the best in all of metal music.

Metallica's place in history is one of a little debate, there is an almost generalized agreement that they are one of the most important and influential metal bands ever. Then there are small groups of detractors who say that they aren't important at all. I come from that first group. In my simple words, I do not believe Metallica invented thrash however Kill Em All was the album that breathed life into the genre and brought forth its fruition, Kill Em All simply made thrash less of an underground scene in the Bay Area and brought it to the attention of metalheads around the world. The Bay Scene was the cannon and Kill Em All was the cannonball that conquered the metal world.

So while not necessarily spawning or inventing thrash Kill Em All was important to the fruition and success of thrash, which means that Metallica had already given themselves an expectation to live up to. Ride the Lightning slammed into that expectation with a semi. It had songs faster, heavier and more aggressive then anything on Kill Em All but it also laid off and played with other sounds. Forget Master of Puppets, this is the epitome and highlight of Metallica's legacy.

You want fast aggressive thrashers, well then look to Fight Fire With Fire and Trapped Under Ice. The first is probably the fastest and most aggressive song Metallica will ever release and the latter shows some serious shredding ability. Creeping Death and Ride the Lightning are also solid thrashers but not to the extreme extent as the first two.

Maybe you want a radio rocker but don't want the sleaze and cheesiness of 80s glam, Escape is a perfect balance between radio rock and thrash, maybe not your cup of tea but definitely deserves a listen. Want something a bit more epic? Swing for For Whom the Bell Tolls and Call of Ktullu, two epic sounding pieces of metal capable of outdoing most power metal. This album even contains a power ballad, Fade to Black that has an effect both emotional but also chilling to the bone.

This album has enough thrash to justify its placement as one of the greatest thrash albums ever but also even from this early in their career has the band experimenting, putting things together and treading water untouched by their peers. The production is solid. While it may not be technical this album is still a masterpiece in composition with tiny bits of progressive thrown in here and there, not much, just enough to show that they know exactly what and where they want to go with each song and how to get there.

On average you get some good half melodic/half speed guitar riffs, nice bit of muscle to them. I would say the bass follows in suit but it doesn't, in fact the bass is probably the best thing here and it's practically mixed out, Cliff my man, you were awesome. The soloing is all melody, the skilled playing will shine through at times but the emphasis was on melody. The drums keep up the pace. No the drumming is not amazing or anything worthy of praise, even at his high points Lars doesn't hold a candle to his peers, but hes competent and the band made it work just fine. Jame's shout is a great touch and his singing isn't bad at all.

Hardest part of this review is choosing the best tracks because they are all musical gold, but I would recommend Creeping Death, Fade to Black, For Whom the Bells Tolls and Escape (if you can handle a commercial sound)

Ride the Lightning, the very textbook definition of a classic metal album. Few albums are as important (for both the band and for the thrash sub-genre) and as equally GOOD. There isn't a single stinker on this album, and every song's a classic except for 2 songs. It has a balled that sounds as tender, truly badass, desperate, and epic. It has all out, take no prisoners metal all the way thrashers. It has a songs so epic that power metal shivers before its might! It even has a neoclassical, heck almost progressive metal closer! And the best part, all of these are equally as good, and they all manage to sound coherent and flow.

The album was very much necessary for Metallica to prove they weren't just the average thrasher. To prove they were something special. Fortunately this album did just what Metallica needed to do. It was a good mix of everything, and Metallica did it all really well. While they weren't the most technical band out there, they knew how to use the skill they had, and they were masters of composition.

This album as a whole strikes a balance between thrash, traditional, and a tad bit of progressive (however it is a very small amount). There are few albums that sound like it. This of course is surprising considering Metallica was, and is, the most popular thrash metal band ever. The album really is a good combination of styles, and this is why it sticks out in Metallica's discography. The production values here are fine. They are clearly good enough, but they aren't as good as perhaps the could have been. Still, there isn't anything here to complain about, so it is really a moot point. As I have always said, thrash is one of those genres where good production is something we want, not anything necessary.

The only two tracks that aren't extremely good are "Trapped Under Ice" and "Escape". Both are average and feel somewhat forced, but both are still fine songs and aren't songs you'll feel the need to get up and skip just to avoid hearing them. It is just that you won't find yourself putting in your ear-buds and listening to them outside of the album setting. The other six songs, are all masterpieces. Every last one of them. Only one of them is really a straight forward thrasher, which showed really how good Metallica was at non-thrash metal music. All of these songs have great riffs and lyrics, and most have great solos to boot. Also, Cliff's bass work here is among his best. On The Call of Ktulu and For Whom the Bell Tolls his bass roars, showing how truly awesome he was at his instrument. He led the band in their non-thrash metal directions and helped push the band forward in ways no one else really could ever have. R.I.P.

This is obvious a classic to most metal-heads. This album is almost perfection in metal summed up in one album. Though to say it is a perfect album would be a slight overstatement. Yes it is a classic but that does mean it's flawless. I will explain in detail.

This is Metallica's sophomore release. They have obviously progressed from Kill em' All which was a more 'punch to the throat' thrash blitz of an album. This album is the perfect blend of the speed and assault from Kill em' All mixed with the technical and melodic interludes of Master of Puppets. Two other great releases from Metallica.

James' vocal performance here is melodic in parts, especially with the track "Fade to Black" and the all too underrated "Escape". Though almost everywhere else on this album they are just testosterone-fueled screeches and barks that come across as booming at times and make the songs sound heavy as all fuck. James' guitar work is also extremely tight and proficient. All the riffs he plays rhythm-wise are heavy, speaker destroying and filled with some of the most catchy hooks in thrash metal. Most of these riffs like the ones in Creeping Death, the title track, Trapped Under Ice, and For Whom the Bell Tolls are just classic and are all out booming.

Kirk brings in a nice technical side with the very casual solos and fretwork he brings to the table. The solos aren't too overbearing and technical to the point where they ruin the songs but they are just technical enough to show the progression that is very apparent on this album. Kirk really shows that he can be a amazing solo guitarist at times when it is needed most. He has gone from the newbie to the band on Kill 'em All to being a somewhat seasoned solo guitarist on this album and hardly a note from him is awkward or out right useless.

Cliff's bass is the usual Cliff Burton playing style of just playing exactly what the guitars are playing, with a few scattered pieces of solo playing and technical bass lines that vary away from some of the guitar chords. This is perfect for what is needed bass-wise, although a "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" part 2 would've been interesting to hear for sure. He makes the opening of songs like For Whom the Bell Tolls and Ride the Lightning interesting but overall on this record, Cliff is being good ol' Cliff.

Lars' drums sound almost dead-on for the tone of this album. They are groovy and hooky enough to make the rhythm of the album progress perfectly with James' rhythm guitar and Cliff's bass guitar but are some what lack-luster in technicality and emotion. Lar's provides the loud, bombastic drums but he seems robotic and detached at times. Not bad overall but not the most impressive drumming he has done (cough, cough... ... And Justice for All). He has obviously progressed from the basic beats on Kill 'em All, so I will give him major props for that fact.

All the songs presented here are instant hits. They are all up to snuff for what a metal album or thrash album is expected to present. They have pounding and ear shattering double-kick drums that are not too shabby (for what Lars' drumming not sounds like), the guitar tone overall is heavy, chugging and in your face from beginning to end, the bass is finger-picked and set more to the back but just audible enough to give a great groove and hook to each song as Cliff was known for that, and the lyrics are about death, sorrow, agony, and destruction. This is basically a piece of thrash gold. My opinion is that it is a great albums but not a perfect album.

The last thing to mention here is the outstandingly clean and tight production done by none other then Flemming Rasmussen. The mix is perfectas no instrument overbears another and every drum beat and guitar riff is 100% audible (unlike some thrash albums that sound like they were mixed in the 5 minutes after the recording was done). This is defiantly how a album of this speed and heaviness should be produced and mixed. To see albums back then and now sounding not even half as good as this album with huge budgets for producing and mixing compared to this album's budget is just astounding. This is what all thrash bands now-a-days should shoot for production-wise on their albums cause if they did then I would never have to listen to the drums be the loudest things to ever grace a CD or any other instrument completely hogging the volume on a album.

Now, moving on. Here are my top tracks from this album. First off is Ride the Lightning, this song is a top track for me because the bass and guitar in the opening are just catchy as all fuck. The drums are great too. The lyrics are perfect. They tell of a prisoner on death row about to meet his death by the electric chair. This songs puts you in a "headbang and destroy your room mood" but also just feels so self-destructive. It is a perfect song overall. My other favorite song off this album is one of Metallica's fastest and it kicks fucking ass. This opener to the album starts with the elegant acoustic guitars that then lead into the wall of "Fuck You" that this downward spiral of a song truly is. It is just full on fury from start to end. The apocalyptic lyrics themes and the chugging riffs make this one motherfucker of a song, that's for sure. To say these songs are bad while being a Metallica fan (casual or die-hard) is just ridiculous. So here you go. This is my review of Metallica's Ride the Lightning.

To conclude this review. Here are my favorite and least favorite track from this album.

Favorites:
-Ride the Lightning
-Fight Fire with Fire

(Reasons mentioned above)
Least favorites:
-Fade to Black: because it is just kinda watered down and breaks the flow of the album completely in two.
-Escape: because it is a random break off from the other songs on this album and it messes up the flow of the album and just doesn't do it for me.

Get it? Because the album is called Ride the Lightning and there's an electric chair? Aah nevermind...


This is the band's second studio effort and I believe the last one to have any writing contributions from former guitarist and Megadeth mastermind Dave Mustaine. It shows the band writing more complex but equally fast material to Kill Em All. The band sacrifice none of the heaviness yet also expand their sound, with some acoustic guitars that are used very well. Listeners will no doubt be in for a treat.


The acoustic guitars are heard primarily in "Fight Fire With Fire" (the opening track, AND right at the start. Metallica be trollin'), "Fade To Black" and instrumental "The Call of Ktulu". However, these are still heavy songs, so at no point does it feel as though the thrash element of Metallica is lacking on this album (it's the later albums listeners want to be worried about. Ha!), and in fact, I consider "Fade to Black" to be one of my favourite Metallica songs. The subject matter is very dark, and concerns a man giving up and ending his life. It was very gutsy of the band to tackle such a topic so early on in their career, but nearly 30 years later, the world is glad that they did.


The lyrics on Ride the Lightning also deal with deathly and apocalyptic themes. "Fight Fire With Fire" concerns nuclear weaponary and how it destroys hundreds of innocent lives (the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, for example) and the title track poses the question of whether death is a suitable punishment regardless of the crime, and is told from the viewpoint of a man awaiting his death sentence in the electric chair. The subject matter is consistently powerful and shows that Metallica were certainly not to be underestimated. This was a young band with something to say.


Other classics on the album include the epic "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Trapped Under Ice" and "Creeping Death". "For Whom the Bell Tolls" especially is up there with Metallica's greatest songs. The bass effects as well as the evil sounding guitar riffs make it an absolute treat to listen to. "Trapped Under Ice" is one of the faster paced songs on the album and is standard thrash fare with a small sprinkling of melody and a sing/shout-along chorus ("Escape" has the same ingredients though it is slower).


Ride the Lightning contains many of Metallica's greatest moments, and should be cherished by any fan of the band. The band play like their lives depend on it. This album establishes them as a rising force, and, although many of their later albums have divided fans and critics, they will always be a popular touring entity no matter what. Why, you ask? Well, it's because fans want to hear songs from early albums like Ride the Lightning regardless of what they think of Load, ReLoad, St. Anger or Lulu. It's an album that everyone can agree on. That alone should prove the album's legacy. If you consider yourself a metal fan and you've yet to hear Ride the Lightning, then do it! Preferably sometime before you die.

Metallica need no introduction, so i won't do one. Basically, when i first got into metal Metallica were one of the main bands i was into along with Iron Maiden. Probably the same for most people. Sometimes we grow out of music from our youth, not the case with this album. The album everyone goes on about is Master of Puppets, but i've always felt that Ride the Lightning blows MoP away on almost every level. It is not only a genre defining classic of thrash, but of metal in general. On a side note i also think it's a cool album just because it came out the year i was born! This was also the last album to feature songwriting contributions from Dave Mustaine and his input is definitely of a high standard for the 2 tracks he co-wrote.

'Fight Fire With Fire' starts things off with a gentle acoustic intro, a trick the band would use to introduce 'Battery' on the next album. Nice thrashy track, even has some fast double bass drum pounding from Lars (in those days he was actually a shit hot drummer). Next we have the title track (just like on Master of Puppets). The solo on this track is lengthy and amazing, and the track has some fantastic riffs. 'For Whom the Bell Tolls' follows and is an absolute classic, featuring THAT bass intro! great song, not really thrash but instantly memorable. 'Fade to Black', the first Metallica ballad, is also a classic despite what the purists may say. Kirk's solos are dazzling, the only thing wrong with this track is the shitty production. Listen to a live version and Lars is hammering the bass drums at the end, but barely audible on the album version, shame.

The second half of the album starts with 2 slightly lesser tracks, both are still very good though. 'Trapped Under Ice' is pure thrash, while 'Escape' is more mid-paced. At the end we have the mighty 'Creeping Death' (still a live favourite) and the instrumental epic closer 'The Call of Ktulu'. The first of these is just a brilliant thrash track, while the latter shows off the band members' sublime instrumental abilities. Not a weak track among the 8 on this album.

Now i kept comparing this to Master of Puppets. I've always felt MoP just followed the same blueprint as RtL, even the style of the respective tracks from 1-8 is the same with the exception of the last 2 being reversed (i.e 'Orion' and 'Call...' being instrumentals). This album is simply more original and also stronger overall and will always be my favourite Metallica album. The only downside is the slightly poor production which i think would be improved by a full remix/remastering, preferably not by Rick Rubin or one of his minions! It's mainly the drums that need brightening up on a few tracks, no problems with the guitars or bass. If only Hetfield could still sing like this too! His best set of lyrics are perfect for his youthful, raspy bark. None of that singing or yodelling nonsense here!

In summary, a classic. The absolute best this band would ever do, yet sort of overlooked in their back catalogue. Amazing riffs, great solos, powerful drumming, awesome bass, cool vocals, thoughtful lyrics and above all else, amazing songwriting! if you don't own this you don't deserve the power of hearing!!!

Recommended: Every track, just buy the damn album

When writing Ride the Lightning, Metallica had to make a crucial decision: go the safe route and continue motorbreathing and hitting the lights, or to become the true four horsemen of metal. Simplified: become a goofy novelty act or establish themselves as a serious band. Not to badmouth Kill Em All (it is my favourite Metallica album after all), but if the band carried on in that direction they would have gotten stale pretty quickly, and any later change of tone would have been unconvincing to the metal scene. Metallica chose the correct choice: the way of progression. This direction is helped by the inclusion of 'The Four Horsemen' and 'Phantom Lord' on Kill Em All, which proved to fans that the band could do 'serious' fantasy themes and do it very well. So why not do a whole album with a serious face? Enter, Ride...

And the first three notes are 'Blackbird' by The Beatles? I kid, but it is cool to think that three very recognisable notes can lead to two very different songs. After a short and pretty acoustic intro 'Fight Fire With Fire' bursts forth with venom. The album strikes a nice balance between reverb and actual body, which is the bane of many thrash metal album. Too little reverb and it can seem dull and unexciting, too much and you lose the energy. But nay, Metallica's new production feels huge, adding much dimension to the sound as required by the increasing dimensions of the music. My favourite, 'Fade To Black' is the song that most benefits from this. The natural reverb of the acoustic sections give it an almost live feeling, making it easier to get caught in the emotion of Hetfield's vocal performance, and the emotion of the entire track. As for the song itself, it is the epic Metallica have never quite matched. Maybe 'The Unforgiven' comes close, but 'Fade...' sends shivers down the spine, especially at the final section leading to the solo, when the guitars lead all the instruments back in with that riff, that galloping B-G-A-F# section... They are four of the most beautiful, most perfect notes ever played on guitar.

How Hetfield's voice has improved! It still isn't as commanding or as tender as it later becomes, but 'Fade To Black' is sung convincingly and successfully portrays the feelings behind the lyrics. Lars drums his heart out once again, this time at much faster tempos, and even with considerable amounts of complexity: the confusingly awesome upbeat snare of 'Fight Fire...' and the double bass pedalling towards the end of the song. Okay, so using the double bass is child's play if you're talking Lombardo or Menza or Benante, but damn it sounds good with Metallica, and it's probably the one thing they lack most of the time. It's nice to hear it. Hammett's pentatonic solos don't quite fit with the tone of the music, although I've never had too much of a problem with them when ignoring the just-plain-wrong solo in 'Damage, Inc.'. The solo intro 'Trapped Under Ice' is very 'No Remorse', but thankfully the rest of the song goes in enough of a different direction to give it a pass. Famously, the introduction to 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' features that heavily distorted and wah-pedalled chromatic passage that Burton convinced listeners was the work of a lead guitar, rather than his bass. Overall, it is the hellish tone of the bass ('The Call of Ktulu' is a prime example), Burton's technique and his contribution to the songwriting that stands out the most.

The album does feel, to me, like it stagnates creatively towards the end. I like 'Escape', 'Creeping Death' and 'The Call of Ktulu', but I have an issue with each one that prevents me from fully enjoying them. 'Escape' is weak and too simplistic in the verses, and the guitar riff matching the vocal melody in the choruses winds up feeling flat and cheesy, like Iron Maiden. Yes 'Creeping Death' does have a memorable, head clattering intro and a jerky verse riff, but I've never felt it has had much else going for it (and I know I am in the wrong, it is constantly topping 'Best Metallica Songs' lists everywhere, and people go nuts for it live), and it is generally popular opinion that even excellent musicianship can't prevent 'The Call of Ktulu' from being too long.

Ride the Lightning is definately a classic of the genre. It may, to me, be a little less than astonishing towards the end, but in its entirety it is essential. Metallica at this point had not yet done wrong.

Follow up release from "Kill 'Em All", Metallica's effort here features 8 tracks of the very most admirable thrash metal to the core. The quality in production isn't the greatest, but it may have to do with the band's financial situation at the time. So, in effect not all of the instruments are heard to a great extent unless you blare the album. Mainly the bass could've been turned up a little bit more because it's barely audible. Nevertheless, Metallica managed to concoct another original thrash metal release. Pure innovation here. Another great one by pretty much the founder of thrash metal genre itself.

The guitar riffs are wholly impressive, fast paced for the most part, and entirely filled with songwriting genius. The crunch tone of the guitar is very likeable if thrash metal is your favorite genre or even if it isn't. Songs like the title track,"Fade to Black", and "Creeping Death" are favorites of mine, but all of them are noteworthy and unique. The bands' acoustic guitar use on "Fade to Black" has one of the most unbelievably well constructed main guitar melody. No Metallica ballad can surpass that acoustic guitar riff ever. It is impeccable and a pure exoneration of their songwriting advancement.

These songs aren't very technical guitar wise, but "Fight Fire with Fire" is a very fast paced track with riffs unimaginable and very intense. Solos by Kirk Hammett are fast and furious plus very well constructed and consist of wah pedal licks with amazing mixtures of blues influenced technicality. Just about every solo on here is wholly fast and well confounded. All of the tracks have unique song structures that stick in your memory and could never be played out. This goes for the first 5 Metallica releases, then degeneration into pure destruction that was tragic to see such talent go to waste.

James Hetfield's vocal outputs are intense with less screaming than their predecessor, but still feature the hate fueled lyrics that are mixed with hoarse throat. He sings with a clean voice on the acoustic parts of "Fade to Black". However, as the song progresses, a heavier vocal output is exhibited on the crunchy tone guitar. For every song, he is quite angry and intense. The vocals mesh well with the guitar riffs. A moderate use of back up screams are exhibited on here. Overall, every single track has worthiness and some more so than others, which is typical for an album.

The drums by Lars Ulrich exhibit a great pound into your skull with even some double bass kicks that are featured on "Fight Fire with Fire". His executions on each track are well played out and rehearsed to suit the music. Not a track on here lags in this department as Lars has very good skills and mechanics which are well mixed into the production sound. His abilities are far well embraced and utilized on every song. The production/mixing as was previously mentioned wasn't the greatest, but still very worthy of value. Again, I just had a hard time hearing the bass guitar. It's audible only if you crank the volume.

To reiterate this point, Metallica was pretty much the founder of the thrash metal genre itself. "Ride the Lightning" is a very dark and intense album in this genre and shows how well this band matured from their first full-length release. The production quality again is the weakest, but even that is debatable. This album remains to be my favorite release by the band because of its originality and desolate atmosphere. YouTube some of the songs that I mentioned to see what I mean in terms of quality thrash metal galore. If you're a fan of thrash metal and don't have this yet, get it now!

In comparison to the innovating but ultimately rather closed minded debut record, Metallica's Ride The Lightning is a big step forward for the band. In only one year, the band explored new terrain without abandoning its roots and went further than any other band of the genre at the same time. This album is a milestone and has not even lost a glimpse of its charm nowadays. Anybody that contests this is simply a disappointed hater that didn't like the direction this band would later take.

The classic introduction to the perfect opener "Fight Fire With Fire" is the first surprise and a very good idea to contrast the aggressive and powerful head banger. The band also developed its technical skills as the brilliant guitar solos in the title track "Ride The Lightning" easily prove. The legend goes even further with the atmospheric doom thrasher "For Whom The Bell Tolls" that sounds very inspiring to me. The half ballad "Fade To Black" proves for the first time that the band can write very emotional, insightful and calm songs and are not only a great thrash metal band. Each of the first four songs is completely unique, adds something new to the sound of the band and justifies the great reception and high rating of this milestone.

The second half of the record is only slightly weaker. "Trapped Under Ice" is a powerful but rather generic thrasher. "Escape" is a little bit slower and is rather a melodic heavy metal track with some thrash roots that sounds as if it was heavily inspired by the more melodic New Wave Of British Heavy Metal movement. The song is catchy and less heavy than the other ones and could have been a great single output. "Creeping Death" has the high quality of the first half of the record and is another memorable moment of the thrash metal history and an unforgettable live classic. This song has a lot of power and emotion and convinces with its juvenile charm. "The Call Of Ktulu" proves that there are some great and often still underrated musicians in the band but the song has not the high class of the later instrumentals or the stunning uniqueness of Burton's memorable bass solo from the first output. It's still a pretty decent and diversified track that could please to fans of thrash, heavy and maybe even progressive metal without the glimpse of a doubt.

In the end, this great record deserves the legendary status it has today and is one of the biggest milestones of pure thrash metal. On this album, we can already detect that the band would go on a more diversified and experimental path in a few years and try out something new from time to time. This record unites the energy of the juvenile first years and the more complex experiments of the following records in a perfect way and should please to any Metallica fan as it is also easily in my top three albums of this band.

Metallica will always have a special place in my heart as the band that got me into metal. The Black Album was it for me until I decided to do some digging. And found out that, WOAH, Metallica was one of the founders of a genre called thrash metal. Unfamiliar at the time when I was around 12 years old, I decided I would take a listen and I am forever changed because of it.

“Ride the Lightning” displays excellent song writing but doesn’t leave out the thrash Metallica was so good at making. “Kill Em’ All” was pretty much straight alcoholic thrash metal. While the alcoholism was still there, “Ride the Lightning” shows more maturity in their writing styles.

Starting with the production, it’s probably a little better than the debut. The production on RTL is still very raw but it is a step up. The guitars are still crunchy and heavy. The drums sound pretty amazing; except for the fact that the bass drum doesn’t exist except for when he hits a crash but it’s not a big deal. The bass is audible but could be a bit louder. James’ vocals are amazing. I don’t see how anyone could not like his early vocals. They are not as high as “Kill Em’ All” but still maintain that angry James Hetfield that I love.

As far as speed goes, this album still delivers. It’s not as fast as their debut but it still gets the job done. “Fight Fire with Fire” is arguably their fastest song. The riffs are extremely fast. “Ride the Lightning” is a pretty mid-paced song that turns into pure thrash during the solo. “Trapped Under Ice” is another full speed thrasher from beginning to end that has some awesome gang vocals. The other speedy song on here is “Creeping Death”. Now it’s not “Fight Fire with Fire” speed but it is still pretty fast.

Song writing has stepped up tremendously on this album. Kirk seemed to write his solos more carefully instead of shredding thrash solos on the debut. The riff in “Creeping Death” is great example of how their writing has improved. “The Call of Ktulu” is the longest song on here and is an amazing instrumental. The beginning is very creepy and the song is easily as good as or maybe even better than “Orion”. Cliff really shines on this song as well as “For Whom the Bell Tolls”.

This album is killer thrash and is essential to own if you like thrash metal.

Best tracks – “Fight Fire with Fire”, “Trapped Under Ice”, and “Creeping Death”

This was the first album I heard of these audacious Californians', and it made a massive dent in my ears from the start. In high school, a buddy of mine at the time made a cassette copy of this album for me, and from the first opening moments of "Fight Fire With Fire" and its delicate classical guitar plucking I knew I was in for something massive with the tension it built, and when the electric guitars came rising up and that first merciless RIFF blazed out of my speakers it was over. At that time, it was the fastest song I'd ever heard until I was exposed to Slayer's "Hell Awaits", and it took my breath away with its fury and intensity. Thus went my introduction to Metallica and it began a long love affair that has, like many affairs stagnated and fallen by the wayside as Metallica changed into mainstream suckage as opposed to the masterful mayhem on display here.

Flemming Rasmussen's production was for the time clear and pretty well-defined, and you could hear Cliff Burton's vigorous bass approach rather well despite the raging wall of guitars generated by James Hetfield on this album. The drums are not overproduced, but sound good enough so that they don't override everything else. They actually sound rather natural, a good thing in this era of overtriggered typewriter drums that lack oomph and warmth. Kirk Hammett even weighs in with some nicely executed lead guitar parts that justify his reputation (ill-deserved these days) as a rather good player--and this comes from someone who always thought that he was the band's weak link. James' approach in the studio was changing drastically as well; not just content to bash out furious speed metal riffs, he took a whole new angle on their compositions with clean and acoustic guitar parts galore as well as slower, more epic riffs to go with the frenzy, and it was and still is awe-inspiring.

Overall, the band comes off as a eager young bunch of thugs who had discovered dynamics and how to better play their instruments, and it shows, with the extensive touring behind "Kill 'Em All" benefiting their tightness and skills. The songwriting was already moving ahead and improving, with more depth and willingness to try new things, as the ending instrumental, "Call of Ktulu", evidences with its seething wall of sound anchored by Cliff's signature fuzz-wah gurgles on the bass--really, when he died, the band died with him, in my opinion. "Fade To Black" was something new for Metallica, too, a more subdued and subtle approach, with James' first attempts at melodic singing faring surprisingly well and the rideout being one of their most stirring and dramatic endings with Kirk's emotional soloing and the mournful harmony guitars underneath like a funeral procession. In fact, I prefer his clean singing on this song over most anytihng in that vein he's done since!

This to me was the first sign that Metallica were preparing to take the world by storm, with improvement across the board and eagerness to spare. Their take no prisoners approach being tempered by newfound maturity (musical, anyway) was already taking shape into the monolithic sound that would inspire legions of bands across the world, never mind America. This is one of my two favorite albums of theirs for a reason, and it still has a high position of esteem in my memories, my collection.

Second in the series of four classic thrash albums released by Metallica, Ride the Lightning is often elevated as the best of the bunch. Significant in that it is the first Metallica album to display the band’s mature musicianship and more ambitious arrangements, Ride the Lightning nevertheless gets a bit more praise than it deserves as it highlights songwriting over pure speed and bloodlust, foundations upon which thrash was founded. Musicianship and melody are important tools, of course, but Metallica are at their best when they pull no punches and just hammer riffs down yer throat track after track (see: Kill ‘Em All), which is something that they unfortunately do not do here.

But from some of these songs, you’d hardly know that it’s overrated. “Fight Fire with Fire” is a fucking masterpiece, preceded by an unassuming classical acoustic bit that serves as a very dramatic counterpoint to the devastation that follows it. It’s a trick they probably picked up from fellows Mercyful Fate (“Into the Coven”), but it’s employed here to even greater effect. The song proper is a prime example of how much better Metallica got after Kill ‘Em All. James Hetfield’s nasty vocals, drums like explosives, the amazing lead harmonies: it started here folks. The title track and “Creeping Death” embody the forceful mid-paced spirit of the band (the latter has a nice Iron Maiden touch). It’s here that you really get a feel for how good everything sounds on Ride the Lightning. The guitars and bass have definition, but it’s still a very raw sound. James’ vocals are also the best they’d ever be right here, where he balances melody and aggression without sacrificing the shrieky quality of his Kill ‘Em All voice. The last of the true thrashers on the album is “Trapped Under Ice,” which shares a riff or two with Exodus’ “Impaler” (both of which were co-written by Kirk Hammett). Another speed-fest with a memorable bridge section, it begs the question why all the album’s tracks weren’t this brutal.

Now before I continue, do not let it be said that I dislike this album. Ride the Lightning is a pivotal album in Metallica’s career and one of the 80’s many, many essential heavy metal albums. But with Metallica being considered the greatest thrash metal band of all time and this album usually considered their finest hour I have to disagree. Because if you look at it honestly, the album is not homogenous enough to really be considered a thrash album. A good thrash album should have a ratio of up-tempo songs to slower/experimental terrority of roughly 2:1. Here it’s more like 1:3, with a lot of songs that stray towards the traditional metal sound. This is the kind of thing they’d exhibit on Master of Puppets to even greater success and it’s also why I’ve scored it a bit lower than one might expect from my abundant praise in the preceding paragraphs. But on to those songs.

Firstly, there’s a pair of crunchy 80’s metal tracks. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” is the classic of the two. From the ominous sounding bells, Cliff’s distorted bass lick, Kirk’s repeated lead lick, and the heavy-as-fuck chords (and that’s just the intro), it’s an indisputable metal anthem coupled with one of Metallica’s most poignant lyrical ventures. But with a pace that never dares exceed a solemn march, it’s not exactly thrash now. The other track is “Escape,” which stands out on the album due to its optimistic lyrics and more traditional metal riffs. Another great song, another track that isn’t thrash. Hardcore Metallica fans will fight to the death defending these two straightforward, traditional metal songs as legitimate Metallica thrashers, but when Metallica releases an entire album of songs like these (the black album), they disregard them as commercial swill. The irony here is so palpable that on a cool summer day you can actually taste it.

For the album’s remainder, we have the two epic numbers. “Fade to Black” could be likened to a power ballad, if the lyrics weren’t so morose and the guitars didn’t sound so fierce. With some of Hammett’s most well thought out solos and a chilling pair of clean riffs for the intro and verses, it’s one of my favorite Metallica tracks. It also begins a precedent of mellow-starting, heavy-ending “ballads” that would continue to appear on the band’s albums (and with the exception of St. Anger, they all appear as track 4 on their respective releases). “The Call of Ktulu” is the album closer and it begins the precedent of having a really long instrumental piece near the album’s end. This one begins with an awesome clean riff set (alleged Mustaine riffs) that builds anticipation before becoming much heavier. Cliff returns to some of his “Anesthesia” tomfoolery while Hammett shreds and Lars is everywhere. But aside from the furious climaxes, this one long outlives its welcome, just as future Metallica instrumentals would inevitably do (more on this later, perhaps).

And there you have it. “The Greatest Thrash Metal Album of All Time. Ever.” An album that, like Master of Puppets after it, achieves this status in the eyes of fans not by being the best damn thrash album it can be, but by utilizing musical ideas foreign to the genre to such an extent that many of its songs are no longer a part of it. In short, it’s considered a great thrash album because much of it isn’t thrash. Somebody explain that one to me, because I just don’t get it. No one is a more ardent supporter of variety in thrash metal than I am, and even I feel that the core of this album is not rooted enough in the essence of the genre to be one of its cornerstone albums.

Of course, how “thrash” it is will probably have little bearing on most listeners’ opinions. It is a great album and a mandatory purchase for metal enthusiasts. But if you’re one of those that think that this is the greatest thing the genre has to offer, you’ve got a lot to learn, friend.

Notable Tracks: “Fight Fire With Fire,” “Fade to Black,” “Ride the Lightning”

One guaranteed way to get a reaction from a thrash fan is to mention the word "Metallica". Best take cover after mentioning that word, though, because it won't be long before you're covered in spittle from said fan furiously explaining that a) Metallica were only good when Mustaine was around (which is completely false, no one knows which riffs he wrote, and besides AJFA slayed) b) Metallica ripped riffs off other people, or the most perplexing option- c) that Metallica were never any good anyway.

Yep, the final group is pretty freakin' hard to understand. I have no problem with people disliking Metallica over Napster and St.Anger, and if Megadeth fans want to show their solidarity with Dave by making the "Mustaine was Metallica" claim then that's OK with me. But to deny the life affirming beauty that are the first four albums of this great/once great (circle whichever you think applies) band is frankly bizarre and quite masochistic, somewhat akin to those monks who eat only bread and water in an attempt at increased piety.

The simple question, really, is why eat bread and water when you can feast on the glory that is this album? I have absolutely no hesitation in saying that this is an amazing thrash album, easily the best ever, and those who prefer Darkness Descends, Rust in Peace, Pleasure to Kill or even Reign in Blood are somewhat misguided. They dourly eat the gruel when there is a banquet to be had. They drink their vinegar when there is fine red wine.

Sure, Ride the Lightning isn't the fastest, or the heaviest, or the most aggressive. It doesn't have the most riffs, and it's not the most technical thrash out there. It certainly doesn't have the best drumming. However, none of those factors matter that much; Ride The Lightning is more then the sum of it's parts, and what it lacks in those perhaps more objective fields it makes up for in it's sheer songwriting excellence and epic arrangements.

Yep, every song is gold. It's pretty hard to pick a single song and go "That is the best one on this album" because they're all fucking excellent; you've got the steamrolling thrash that is "Fight Fire with Fire" (which possesses possibly the finest twin guitar lead ever written), the boner inducing, F# riding, insanely fun to play speedy excellence that's "Trapped Under Ice", and the super melodic, almost radio-friendly strains that is "Escape". Every song here has been written with the poise and skill of a surgeon- certainly Metallica let no filler pass them by at this time in their career, an attitude that I wish they had kept.

Still, while the songs mentioned above are pretty hard to beat, they're not the best songs on this album. Perhaps it was all the Jagermeister they were drinking, or god/satan/scientific method came down and touched Hetfield's picking hand, but everything else in this album is just something else entirely. Ride the Lightning is a beast of a thrasher, and I guess I should credit where credit is due and point that Mustaine must’ve written some of it. It’s a bit more opaque and perhaps a bit less catchy then most of the album, but it still kills and I think everyone wishes Hetfield could still do that scream in the bridge. Hammett shows his skills with the quite excellent ballad that’s Fade to Black, with Hammett’s licks on this one probably the best thing Mr.Kirk ever recorded- head and shoulders above anything else he’s done. It’s a fantastic ballad that to this day still sends shivers down my spine. You’ve then got another thing that Metallica would not quite achieve again- the instrumental that’s solid for the whole nine minutes. No boring melodic stuff like Orion, no terrible doom riffing like To Live is To Die, just ominous, powerful mid paced riffs that build brilliantly until its’ huge ending comes along and shits on your chest.

Then we get to the song (well, we're not going by track listing, but I digress..) that proves just how deserving this album is of the title I bestowed it. It's hard to discuss the sprawling, epic thrash that's Creeping Death without resorting to page after page of superlatives and excited, breathless swearing, but the fact of the matter is that this one song- this one single song- is absolute musical perfection. There's the pounding, awe inspiring intro riff that makes parting the red sea seem fairly dull in comparison, the chorus can only be described as "fucking woo man, shit woooah", and that's all before an epic solo leads into something that could almost be described as a 'breakdown' comes in at the bridge, with some rather tasty chanting (I've noticed that this is the Metallica album with the most samples- name another Metallica album with an evil god laughing, a thunderclap, bells, synths and sirens) and just general crushing-ness. It will remove your limbs.

And I guess the good thing about said limb removal is that it’s just so freaking memorable. When I came to write this review I hadn’t really listened to RTL for maybe 3 years. However, the instant I put on Fight Fire With Fire every single riff came flooding back. Heck, even the drum lines are catchy- I’d be hard pressed to find another album that I could air drum in its entirety. There just really wasn’t any other thrash band that made things just so damn catchy without sacrificing any semblance of heaviness. This is still a heavy beast of an album- still brutal and unfriendly to many a mainstream listener today- but it’s got more hooks then a hook making factory. I have spent weeks before repeating the Creeping Death chorus over and over in my head; I can’t say I’ve ever done that too, say, Megadeth’s “Polaris”.

Now, I’m aware that saying an album is ‘catchy’ or ‘memorable’ doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s the best thing ever. Linkin Park are ‘catchy’. Sean Paul is ‘catchy’ (typing this actually got his “Right Temperature” song stuck in my head again.) However, Metallica back up this catchiness with genuinely excellent, amazing material. I’m happy that this is a record full of varied, supremely excellent thrash; if I also end up humming it when I’m in the shower that’s a bonus as far as I’m concerned.

To conclude, then. There’s not really anything I can say that’s bad about this album. “Escape” is possibly the weak point but it’s still an excellent song. Overall, this is a life changing beast of an album that everyone needs to hear more then once.

Is it the heaviest? No. Does it have the most riffs? No. Is it the best? YES.

Metallica continue to keep their reputation as one of the top thrash metal of 80s, and this album is proof of that. This is just as awesome, if not, better than their debut, Kill ‘Em All. The riffs are faster, heavier, and the overall atmosphere of this album is dark and evil. Not only that, but it also manages to have more intelligent lyrics. Metallica were certainly at their peak in 1984 with this album. A lot of the material here, as in the last album, was written by Mustaine, but he had less of an impact on this album.

Fight Fire With Fire starts out with a nice acoustic session which sets up the atmosphere of this album, before kicking your ass with awesome, thrashy, and fast guitar riffs. Ride The Lightning and For Whom The Bell Tolls have some pretty heavy riffs. Their both pretty catchy as well.

Fade To Black is, surprisingly for a thrash metal album, a ballad. Now, I’m not really one for ballads, but for a ballad, this song rules! This song is pretty depressing and dark, but not in a bad way. It also has some pretty good riffs. Sure the lyrics are pretty angst driven, but there are times where I can tolerate angst driven lyrics, and this is one of those times. This is probably one of my favorite ballads, as it sets a nice dark and depressing atmosphere. The next song,

Trapped Under Ice is defiantly my favorite song on this album, as well as the thrashiest on here. It reminds me of No Remorse, only more heavy and dark. It builds up, then kicks your ass with an onslaught of fast and heavy riffs and drumming along with a solo that kills. This is one of my favorite Metallica songs. Escape is much slower than the last song, but almost just as heavy. Creeping Death is another fast paced song with awesome riffs, and another awesome solo.

The Call Of Ktulu is an instrumental song. It’s not my favorite instrumental song by Metallica (Orion takes the prize), but it’s still an awesome song nonetheless. I think it’s necessary that they closed the album off with an instrumental, especially one like this.

This is, in my opinion, Metallica’s best album. It has thrashy riffs, solos that rule, and an overall dark atmosphere I na majority of the songs. This would eventually lead to Master Of Puppets which, in my opinon, is pretty overrated. If you don’t have Ride The Lightning yet, then get it as soon as possible. You haven’t really heard Metallica until you’ve heard this album.

Highlights: Fight Fire With Fire, Fade To Black, Trapped Under Ice, and Creeping Death.

To many, Master of Puppets is a bona-fide classic. The quintessential Metallica album. The quintessential thrash album. The quintessential Metal album. Perhaps it is one of thrash's finest albums. But I don't quite agree. Ever since hearing both albums, I've always preferred Ride the Lightening, an album under the shadow of the mighty Master of Puppets. To me, the actual song Ride the Lightning is superior to Master of Puppets. Fade to Black is superior to Welcome Home (Sanitarium). Call of Ktulu is superior to Orion. Well, this is just my opinion anyways. Ride the Lightning was Metallica's sophomore effort. But there would be no sophomore jinx here. Recorded in 1984, the album continues to develop the band's thrashy sound farther.

As I just mentioned, with Ride the Lightning, Metallica employs a very convincing thrash metal sound. The heavy riffs found in songs like the title track and Trapped Under Ice hit you hard and hit you often. Riff-master James Hetfield has a very good showing, as he constructs some of thrash metal's finest songs with this release. Former bandmate, Dave Mustaine also has writing credits on the album as well. The Megadeth mainman only has credits on two of the songs, Ride the Lightning and Call of Ktulu, but on the flipside, they are two of the albums best tracks. They are very lengthy, but neither of the tracks loses their momentum at any point, as each moment is vital to the track. But long lengths aren't limited to Dave Mustaine's songs. Two of the other tracks, Fade to Black and Creeping Death also exceed the 6 minute mark (with Fade to Black approaching 7 minutes). But not to worry, the remaining tracks are four to five minutes in length. These tracks are just as aggressive as their longer counterparts, and definitely do not lose out in intensity. The energy found on Creeping Death and Fight Fire With Fire alike is superb and adds to the enjoyment of the album. Also notable is the lead guitar work of Kirk Hammet. While he has been criticized for not experimenting enough in his solos, what can be found on Metallica's sophomore album will show you why. His variety of shredding is very well done and very fun to listen to. His solo in Fade to Black is definitely one of my favourites in the thrash metal genre, as it remains melodic and emotional while technical at the same time. Musically is where Metallica shines, he this may be the best musical effort of their career, thus far.

Vocalist James Hetfield will never be remembered as one of metal's greatest vocalists. But this album does mark a large improvement over his Kill Em All effort. Indeed, though his singing is not perfect he has several excellent performances in songs like Fade to Black and Ride the Lightning. The former is a very emotional track and James does a very good job setting the sombre mood with his passionate vocal delivery. In the latter comes a vocal delivery which is a better representation of Hetfield's efforts of the album. He has a rough voice similar to many in the thrash genre, a vocal technique he makes use of for much of the album. His vocal style fits the music very well, feeding off the energetic tracks. Again, James Hetfield may not be the most technical singer in metal, but he still has a very solid showing, especially in the title track.

One of the major things that brought Kill Em All down, at least for me, was the production. With Ride the Lightning, the messy sound quality found on the band's debut album has improved significantly. The guitar sound in particular is much, much better than it was on Kill Em All. The guitars are still heavy and still retain that thrashy metallic sound, but what they do loose is that annoying fuzzy sound that came in their previous releases. The quality of Hetfield's vocals is also much better, as I mentioned earlier. Where in the past, a once annoying shout/growl mixed in with the music, it has been replaced by a clearer voice that stands out much more adequately. Yes, the production could be better, but for an album recorded by a smaller band in 1984, it isn't all that bad.

As long as the genre is around, Metallica will leave a long lasting legacy over metal. Their first four releases are heralded as some of the genre's finest works and it isn't hard to see why. Though 1986's Master of Puppets is generally regarded as the band's best, I'd have to disagree. Ride the Lightning is Metallica's best album. Every aspect that made Metallica such a great band can be found on this album. Hell, many of the elements that made thrash such an interesting genre can be found here. Ride the Lightning is a fine album, and I recommend it to everybody.

(Originally written for Sputnikmusic)

This was Metallica’s finest hour both in terms of production and song writing. Unlike the debut, which basically cooked the whole way through, this album has a good deal more variety from track to track and shows a good deal more musicality. The influence of Dave Mustaine is still dominating a lot of the more ambitious tracks, but here we see the four west coast thrashers doing a bit of their own work, and the results are nothing short of stellar.

This album was not received well by some core thrash fans because of a larger keyboard presence and a good deal of acoustic guitar work. It says something about the ears that these people possess as “Phantom Lord” off the demo also had a synthesizer in the intro, as well as an acoustic interlude. Suffice to say, the intros to “Fight Fire with Fire” and “Call of Ktulu” have musical functions that don’t involve compromising the genre of thrash. The former functions well as a deceptive device, is so divorced musically from the rest of the song that it’s function is clear, and is developed a hell of a lot more than the redundant intro of “Battery”. The latter’s intro is present throughout the song, functioning as it’s primary theme.

The guitar work on here is nothing short of phenomenal. The intro riff of the title track, the various lead sections in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, and the intro riff to “Creeping Death” are highlights of this album. Kirk’s solo on “Call of Ktulu” is one of the most insane technical display’s I’ve heard out of him, although it’s outshined musically by his short yet riveting bursts on “Trapped under Ice” and his hauntingly ominous shred work on the title track. Kirk’s melodic intro lead to “Fade to Black” functions much better than any other slower work he’s done since, and the acoustic lines represent a classic progression that essentially became synonymous with the Metallica ballad, and unfortunately was milked for all it was worth too many times on future releases.

Cliff Burton has an equal amount of display time on this album as he did on the previous release. His role as a support player dominates most of the faster songs on here, but he is given a great amount of time in the front during “For whom the bell tolls”, particularly at the beginning. But his biggest and most ambitious work is observed during “Call of Ktulu”, where he shreds nearly as much as he did on “Anesthesia”, only now he has the full band behind him. There is also a good amount of character to his playing, as his wah pedal work almost sounds like the screams of an angry deity.

However, despite all of the amazing moments mentioned before, the highlight of this album is “Trapped under ice”. This is about as thrash as it gets, between Kirk’s short solo bursts and James’ driving riffs, this is a song that could get you so worked up you’ll start your own mosh pit. This one would pass as one of the faster tracks on the debut album, yet has the exceptional production of this one. There isn’t a dull moment from start to finish, and when it’s over, you’ll be tempted to go back for another go.

If there is one weak link on this album, it’s “Escape”, but it really isn’t much of one. All in all, a good song with a somewhat NWOBHM feel to it. A lot of melodic material at work, and it’s placement in the track order gives us a brief rest after the thrash cooker “Trapped under ice” and an almost equally faster and furious “Creeping Death”. If the guitars were a bit less aggressive sounding and the vocals were a bit more operatic, this could pass for an early Dickinson era Maiden track. It’s a tiny bit out of place with Metallica, but still a good song.

In conclusion, if you are not a Metallica fan, this album is still highly recommended because it is one of the finest moments the thrash genre ever had. It’s a bit more accessible than the debut for those of you whom are not fully inclined towards the thrash genre, but like melodic music with a fast pace. This album is a pinnacle of early 80s metal, and is a standard by which any thrash band should be measured against. Listening to it from start to finish is an experience comparable to the title, so get yourself to the local store, and be prepared to Ride the Lightning.

Metallica refined their hard, fast attack on this one, and took their musical direction in more places. Some experiments such as slower tempos, more changes in musical variation and eerie new melodies are examples of this new refinement. 2 songs from the Mustaine era are included on here, and not suprisingly, are the 2 best songs on the album. Bassist Cliff Burton takes the spotlight a bit more on this one, as he was hardly showcased as an incredible bassist on Kill em All (with the exception of the soulful bass solo of Anesthesia).

Fight Fire With Fire opens the album with a bang and is one of the fastest, most aggressive songs Metallica has ever done. This easily outdoes anything on Kill em All in terms of speed and heaviness. Ride The Lightning follows it up, and it is obviously the best song on the album. The solos are ripping, the riffs demand immediate headbanging, and there are about 4-5 tempo shifts in the whole songs. Creeping Death is noteworthy for its "DIE!" middle section while Fade to Black is an immediate standout, boasting some heartfelt chord patterns and vocal lines, but it doesnt go in as many places as in Ride the Lightning or The Call of Ktulu. The Call of Ktulu is the other standout on the album, boasting some attention to musical detail that would make Bach blush. The solos are wild and it keeps your attention beginning to end. Its one of those songs that are similar to a roller coaster in content.

This is Metallica's second great effort. Sadly, they would never reach the peak they set with the first 4 albums again, but the fact that they are shit nowadays makes this music all the more lovable. Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine DEFINETELY had some hold over Metallica's progression over the years, whether many agree or disagree.

Essential midpaced thrash.

If you look at the history of metal, there are certain records that have marked paradigm shifts within the genre. Black Sabbath (and equally, Paranoid) was metal ground zero, being metal and metal proper. Along with Purple's In Rock, metal was born. A few years later, Priest took metal to new heights, with their steely progressive/power sound. Never had metal been more technical before, and they began playing songs louder and faster. And then eight years later, Ride the Lightning.

To cop from another source, if Kill 'Em All was the manifesto, Ride the Lightning was the revolution. Thrash metal had been wobbling about for a few years (Motorhead, Anvil, Raven), but the new age of metal was predicted by Kill 'Em All. That record laid down the basic blueprints, with longer, multi-part, technically demanding song-craft that blew the simple speed metal of Anvil and Show No Mercy-era Slayer out the window. But at heart, it was still very much only a proto-type. Ride the Lightning was the electric birth of a new form, the record with more in common with the Bay Area Thrash movement known and loved today.

In short, Ride the Lightning contains all of the fully-formed elements of the greatest acts of the speed metal generation. Specifically, the songs made sense. The Kill 'Em All stuff felt like shit thrown at a wall and sort of loosely recorded. How else do you explain the intro to "Whiplash"? So far as I know, you don't open a metal anthem with what they open it with. No surprise it's been excised from later live shows (enough with the stalling, lets get to the thrashing alright?). In addition, Metallica beat everyone to the punch by actually taking on social issues in their music. No "metal for life" or "Hail Satan"s here. Instead we get a difficult world of teen suicide, the death penalty, nuclear war, and the horrors of battle. And the more fantastical tracks seem to mean a little more, rife with possible allegory and hidden meaning.

"Fight Fire With Fire" is basically the quintessential thrash song. Tight, bolted down aggression that just rolled over you like a fucking panzer assault, even more shocking after the moment of peace (admittedly, lifted from the Accept playbook). Nothing on Kill 'Em All feels like THIS. This became the template for thrash, a higher level of violence that only Slayer would reach for (and lets be honest, meet with "Hell Awaits" and beat with Reign in Blood) until a little band called Death broke onto the scene. Well Death, and Possessed, and Kreator, and Dark Angel, and… you get the point though. It’s very possible none of those bands would have gotten as dense, as ridiculously forceful as they did without FFWF, and none of them managed to do it first. Okay, I got to say it again, this song is so damn tight! This is thrash with an unshakeable foundation, the blistering tempo and serious low-end combining to become both immovable object and unstoppable force. Oh, and that growling inflectionless vocal by James would be a precursor to the trademark death vocal begun on the Seven Churches album. In fact, its very lack of melody in any way shape or form is everywhere in early death. Hell, most late death too.

And onto the title track, another fan favourite and important piece of the metal puzzle. Just consider this from a positioning stand-point, back in 1984. First, you blow the doors off the hinges with the most insane song in the history of the world (circa '84 dammit). Then, you show ‘em that you can also rock their socks off at a mid-tempo speed, the riff being slow but just plain powerful like something Pantera would write six years down the road. Without sacrificing the considerable FFWF momentum, Ride gives the riffs room to breathe and the vox take a place somewhat closer to, but not quite, center stage (don't fuck with the power of the guitars!). And what's this, a rocker without an aggressive vocal? Zuh? James sounds like he's about to piss himself(if you were going to the chair you fuckin' would), and his wails against the injustice of it all come off as A)realistic and B)not at all lacking in serious metal tude.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" is worshipped, and with good reason. This song is the first Metallica song that was great in a classic metal vein (save "Seek and Destroy", but that albums (non)production killed that chance). I mean, in 1984 you're probably busy learning the lyrics to fuckin' "Round and Round" and then you listen to "Fight Fire". Jesus! What was that? "Ride"? Little more accesible, but those tempo changes are still mystifying. But FWTBT, this is something we can understand. This song is metal with a capital "M", but this isn't quite so alien from the mainstream as the rest. The song doesn't lack for riffs either (in keeping with the album formula), particularly towards the beginning where the band just smushes a bunch of riffs together with a lead break and, a rarity, the most unearthly spidery bass solo in the world. The song chugs along, Lars playing a few fun fills, we get a bunch of leads, and most importantly the song introduces us to Metallica's new ability to convey scope and drama. You can practically feel the misery of the doomed soldiers, the song becoming coldly majestic and more purely cinematic than anything since, maybe uh, "Hallowed Be Thy Name".

"Fade to Black" is the next truly great dirge (ballad just isn't metal enough, ya know?) in the history of metal, following in the iron clad footsteps of "Beyond the Realms of Death" and "Hallowed Be Thy Name". It's also the first/second thrash ballad, neck-and-neck with Metal Church's "Gods of Wrath" for that title. But "Fade" really has more to do with the textbook version of the form with practically everybody in the thrash world doing copies of it. And why not? Most of the copies end up being fucking amazing, just like the blue-print. Metallica proves to be just as adept with the electricity off, crafting some simply heart-breaking acoustic riffs and solos (grown men cry, dammit!) and of course when the electricity comes to the fore it's all the more earthshaking for it. I'm sorry for being so goddamn fawning here, but this is perfect. The lyrics are simple and stunningly effective, James's imperfect, broken performance complement the song like no technically perfect 5-octave ranger could. And the wordless chorus is just purely eloquent, the force and depth of the despair beyond words, but encapsulated by the sweeping guitar.

Ah, better collect myself. Well, "Trapped Under Ice" is a good song to do it with. This is dead simple as the album gets, the other half of the straight up thrash pair on the album. I've never been particularly fond of this one, but it's popular enough. No fancy tempo changes, just thrash. It's the most Kill 'Em All song on the album in fact. And the lyrics are a ball, with James either allegorically talking about isolation again, or simply spinning some NWOBHM demon wax. Very tight too.

And now, the strangest track on the album. "Escape" isn't really hated by anyone, surprisingly, even though this is really not thrash. I've actually heard this described as something Skid Row might write, but it's really more in the line with Screaming-era Priest. Steely twin leads, and Priest-Priest-Priest riffery. Hell, lyrically this is totally British Steel. James is no Rob of course, but this is straight up fun metal like we thought had been left behind on Kill 'Em All.

Well, when you look at the list of Metallica classics, there is one track that is never omitted. Okay, actually there are tons, but "Creeping Death" is one of them. Sorry for the inauspicious intro to one of the best goddamn songs ever written, but my not-so-slick wit often gets away from me. "Creeping Death" isn't quite the iconoclast that the first four are, as most of the innovation here is present on "Four Horsemen", but it's so damn good that that doesn't matter. This song moves briskly, though not shreddingly, an even tempo that is perfect for headbanging. The riff is unforgettable, the lyrics being another Metalli-epic that does the impossible: out-Maidens Maiden. This song is biblical in size, the band rising to the heavenly height of it's subject matter. This is also the most badass Christian-positive song EVER. Not that the religious right would necessarily approve of the delivery, and this is one of the gorier parts in the Good Book, but irregardless...anyway, the "die, die, die" section is one of the most life-affirming moments in metal, unmatched in spine-chilling might, particularly live when you have 18 000 maniacs screaming their lungs out over Burton's throbbing tribal bass line.

So, how in the world do you top "Creeping Death"? Well, Metallica certainly tries, and in the process brings one final innovation on an album chock full of em. The instrumental has been a piece of the metal puzzle since the beginning (Sabbath loved them), but it's never really been an important one. The best Sabbath instrumental, "Fluff", was pretty much what it sounds like. They were pretty much scrap, mostly used to intro or segue songs. Metallica would have none of that. "The Call of Ktulu" is the most important metal instrumental yet, a sky-scraping fucking MOMENT in the history of metal. After hearing "The Call", no metal band worth their salt failed to record an instrumental, least in the 80's. This song is just genius. You can see the monster rising from the waves(even if James can't spell it's name)and howling it's rage through Cliff Burton's mad bass squawks and the twin leads sweeping up, around, everywhere. The song progresses and retreats like a military campaign, guitars climbing and swirling in place of James's shouts, using the ascending riff formula that was such a big part of the Justice record. And it's long too, most instrumentals of the past being maybe four minutes tops.

Ride the Lightning is Metallica's most important record and makes a great claim for being their best. It's certainly more important than glory-hog Master of Puppets, but it's a matter of preference. For me, best Metallica record tends to be the one I happen to be listening to, so I'll make no judgement. I'm sure you own this record already, so I won't recommend you buy it. So I hope you've enjoyed my retrospective of this album, and perhaps appreciate its vast importance in the metal world.

Stand-Outs: Arguably the best album ever and you ask for stand-outs? “Creeping Death”, “Fade to Black”, “The Call of Ktulu”

Starting with an acoustic intro that doesn't do much for me (they got that idea right in their next album), the first song explodes out of the speakers and, boy, isn't this good?? "Fight Fire with Fire" has that fast as fuck main riff that, while it isn't very well constructed, it does the work of driving the listener into complete whiplash! Oh Yeah!! The lyrics take an apocaliptic approach to it. The chorus isn't something so remarkable, mostly ruined by Hetfield's vocals. They just sound too weak, nothing like the way he screamed in anger on the previous album. Well, what the hell? This is the first song, and is not the best on the album. That honour should be held by the title track, now THIS is one of the darkest sounding song Metallica has ever done, IMO. And is complex, too, it goes places pretty much unlike any tune they did on "Kill 'em All". Curiously enough, both this and "Call of Ktulu" are the only in this album that credited Dave Mustaine as a co-writer. They are also the darkest. Makes one think about the talent Mustaine had to write such killer, obscure compositions.

Enough....next song, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" , makes me wonder, as it is one of the most known songs in the album, and also their most overrated. I mean, after listening to the much masterly composed title track, listening to this is kind of....meh. Pretty damn average....next, Fade to Black. Nothing to say here, mediocre soft part with mediocre singing, powerful riff in between the lame acoustic interludes, cool build up when the guitars start loosing the blandness and begin gaining power, excellent solo. Besides that, another overrated song, can't touch the title track either. Next one, things start picking up, oh yes! Then the first solo comes in and the song kinds of fucks up, with that mediocre riff underneat. We have to put up with some more mediocrity until the second chorus ends, then this shit powers up again. "Forever more". It goes excellent so far, then another solo and the song goes mediocre again. Pffff, why they have to do things like that? I bet the only cool riffs in that song were ripped off to another band. "Escape" is cool, i guess, is midpaced, i REALLY dig the chorus, one of this album's greatest moments. The solo is dark sounding too, you can never have too much of it.

Next, Creeping Death, another rip off, what would you know? This time is the middle marching riff ("Die,die...."), they stole it from Exodus. I always thought that riff was one of the most powerful moments on the song, what a dissapointment to know it was nothing more of a stolen guitar part. It reminds more on why Exodus owns Metallica so much. Even with all of that told, i enjoy this song very much. Hetfield just sounds stronger here than on previous songs. Ironically, just when James start picking up, the next song is an instrumental, hahahaha. "The Call of Ktulu" is another track that sounds dark unlike any other in Metallica's catalog. You may guess that they choose to leave one of the better moments for last. Cliff here takes the "lead bass" duties, but is more of a bunch of distorted bass solos overdubs recorded very low in the mix. Lead guitar is great, too.

Bottom line, i give this a 87%. Despite the low points, i happen to find this one of the better Metallica moments.

After the success with “Kill’em All”, Metallica decided that they wanted to move on to something more interesting. So they created ”Ride the Lightning”. It was released in 1984, and was recognized as an instant classic. It was also one of the most played albums among skaters at the time (don’t ask me how I know that). It was really bassist Cliff Burton that pushed Metallica into exploring new territories, and what they found on this album was stunning. The production is better than on “Kill’em All”, though some people think it’s a bit too much reverb on it. I think it sounds good.

Track one, ‘Fight Fire With Fire’, opens with accoustic guitar-play, before exploding into maybe the angriest and most pissed off song Metallica has ever written. It’s heavyness makes everything on “Kill’em All” seem soft. This accoustic intro/thrashing song combination was to be copied and imitated by countless other bands over the years. It’s a perfect opener for an almost perfect album. Song number two is the title track. A bit slower than ‘Fight…’, but nonetheless angry. Especially the lead guitar play in this is awesome. Also apparent on this song is that Hetfield still has some of the rawness of Kill’em All in his voice. ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’ is a perfect (although maybe too short?) song. It starts with a bell chiming, reminiscent of AC/DC’s ‘Hell’s Bells’, and continues with a chugga-chugga doomsday riff. The intro is very long, probably the longest Metallica intro ever. The main riff is so catchy it’s unbelievable, and the lyrics are some of the best Hetfield’s written. Also, this is a perfect live song.

So comes the ‘sell-out’ track ‘Fade to Black’, Metallica’s first ballad. Can you believe some people actually thought this was a sissy song!? For me it’s the best song on the album. It starts off with beautiful accoustic guitars, and one of the very best lead solos from Kirk Hammett. The verses are beautifully realized, and the wicked lead guitar riff that plays when the song speeds up is incredible to listen to. From start to finish, it’s perfect. ‘Trapped under Ice’ is another thrash song, along the lines of Whiplash or Metal Militia. Fast, ripping, raw, and most importantly, great. Too bad not every song on this album is as good, for track number six, ‘Escape’ is one of Metallica’s worst songs ever, and their one and only conscious attempt at writing a radio-friendly song. The song is mid-tempo, with a boring main-riff, and an awful chorus. The bridge nearer the end is the worst of all, though. It’s ok to listen to, but Metallica-wise, this isn’t very good.

Die! Die! Die! Motherfucker! Die! Taken from the live version of ‘Creeping Death’. I believe most people think this is the ultimate song on the record, and I agree that it is killer. Maybe this was where Nile got the idea for their Egyptian-tinged death metal? Anyhow, this is a fast and aggressive song, with plenty of memorable and great riffs, and verses and a chorus to die for. Also, it features the first ‘group-shouting’ from Metallica, you know the Die bye my hand-thing. Ok, one track to go. ‘The Call of Ktulu’ is the first of three fantastic instrumentals Metallica would write. Actually Mustaine helped write this, before he was rightfully kicked out. It’s the most moody track of them all, and features a lenghty accoustic first part. Then the distortion kicks in, leaving everything in its wake dead. That’s how powerful this song is. It’s a fucking metal symphony! No wonder it was featured on S&M, eh? Well, it ends after almost 9 minutes, which is about when you realize you’ve been listening to one of the best records throughout history.

I would’ve given “Ride the Lightning” a perfect score, but because of the less-than-good ‘Escape', and the great, but not quite there title track, I think I’ll settle for…wait, you already know the rating! Remember to buy this album if you don’t have it!