METALLICA — Ride the Lightning (review)

METALLICA — Ride the Lightning album cover Album · 1984 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
4/5 ·
martindavey87
It's hard to believe how much Metallica's music had matured within a year of their debut album ‘Kill 'Em All’. With plenty of clean guitars and intricate harmonies, this is a band that has grown tighter and stronger as time went by. James Hetfield seems to be more confident as a singer here, and the band all-round seem a lot more comfortable with where they are headed musically. The lyrics are better thought out and the songwriting as a whole is a lot more complex and established than what we heard on their previous record.

Though some of these songs are instant classics, such as ‘For Whom the Bell Tolls’, ‘Fade to Black’, ‘Creeping Death’ and ‘The Call of Ktulu’, there are still a couple of tracks lingering around to fill up space, in particular, 'Trapped Under Ice' and 'Escape'. A fact shown true by the band themselves, who never play these songs live. And let's be honest here, is there anyone who can actually claim that their favourite Metallica song is ‘Trapped Under Ice’? Didn't think so.

With that said, the odd filler or two do not take away any momentum from the album, which flows smoothly all the way to the end. One of the biggest heavy metal albums of all time, there’s enough diversity here that non-metal fans may even like what they hear.
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voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
That nice classical intro would become something everyone had to do after Metallica got so much attention for it.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
My favorite song has always been the opening 'Fight Fire with Fire', especially the way it goes from a nice classical intro to crushing thrash.
voila_la_scorie wrote:
more than 2 years ago
My first Metallica album too. Side one is fantastic and I love that slow and heavy creeping riff in For Whom the Bell Tolls. Side two is less impressive but I used to like Trapped Under Ice for its speed and how the lead guitar break just rips out of the song like an attacking barracuda.
Unitron wrote:
more than 2 years ago
Good review, this was the first Metallica album I ever heard, and it's probably my favorite.

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