METALLICA — Ride the Lightning (review)

METALLICA — Ride the Lightning album cover

Album · 1984 · Thrash Metal

4/5 · 2010-05-29
AtomicCrimsonRush

I played this to death when I first got hold of it in 1984. It still retains it's power to pummel the senses.

I heard the opening track on a radio metal show, 'Fight Fire With Fire' and was mesmirised by the sheer ferocity of the breakneck riffs. The way it begins with an acoustic intro has become a standard trademark for metal albums. The lyrics were simple 'the ending is near, bursting with fear, we all shall die.' Obviously bleak but it was all tongue in cheek really. Optimism where needed and just the correct dosage of pessimism as Metallica spit out at social injustice and the fact that Armageddon is nearing - the end of the world was a popular theme that became part of metal mythology.

'Ride the Lightning' continues the theme of death from a more localised point of view. A man sentenced to the chair screams out at his injustice at being killed for his crimes. Or is it a dream? Metallica are never really clear on this but the point is this is a headbanger's dream. Brutal, simple riffs put to a complex arrangement of light and dark textures.

'For Whom the Bell Tolls' is the sleeper on the album that quickly became a crawl metal classic - a fan favourite that translated brilliantly to live shows. The riffs are easy but the way they are arranged gives the track a masterful sense of doom, complete with clanging bells and fuzzed bass notes.

'Fade to Black' is a 7 minute track that begins quietly and emotively sang and switches time signatures to a massive finale with crunching guitars and screaming solos. The 80s had never encountered anything like it. Even the critics had to sit up and take notice.

'Trapped Under Ice' is one of the lesser known Metallica tracks, rarely played live - it is as straight forward as it gets - just played fast, with nasty lyrics of entrapment and fear, a common theme, and when it ends you know you have another head banger.

'Escape' is another track that feels more throwaway but it is still better than anything on 'St Anger'.

'Creeping Death' is absolutely brilliant with searing lead breaks and a complex metrical pattern that shifts in many directions. The content focuses on the pharaoh of the Bible who said he would not let Moses' people go and therefore was plagued by locusts and firestorms until the final culmination of the creeping death - the angel of death that takes the souls of the firstborn sons, including the pharaohs. An excellent lyric performed with relish from Hetfield backs up the tantalising relentless riffs. It is the best track on the album and I live the ending with all the variations of the main motif that sound fresh and as exciting even after the 50th listen.

'The Call of Ktulu' is a 9 minute instrumental that is as good as 'Orion' in content and structure. It moves in many different directions and works beautifully live with a symphony orchestra as on 'S & M'. I once did not even listen to this very much, but now I realise it is the proggiest track on the album and not really for metal heads. It was a brave move for Metallica to include it but it stands the test of time as being one of the best of prog metal.

I can only conclude by stating that this second album is one that any metal band at the time would have died for. It put the name of Metallica on the lips of all metalheads, and it paved the way for the piece de resistance with 'Masters of Puppets'.