Metallica - Ride the Lightning (1984) Album Review
Brobusky Hey metalheads, Brobusky here and today we will be reviewing what is regarded as one of thrash's greatest masterpieces, and rightfully so, the 1984 landmark album 'Ride the Lightning'. This album was released on July 27th, 1984, almost exactly one year after Metallica's debut album 'Kill 'em All'. The LP was once again released by Megaforce records, and was the band's last album with them, before moving to Elektra. Recorded in Lars' home country of Denmark at Sweet Silence Studios, this album was produced by Flemming Rasmussen, founder of Sweet Silence. A more mature album than their previous work, Ride the Lightning shows Metallica's musical sophistication, partly due to bassist Cliff Burton's vast knowledge of music theory. A good example of the evolution this album shows from Kill 'em All would be that in the early days of Metallica, the band had a tendency to rely strictly on breakneck speed and somewhat-cheesy lyrics about the greatness of heavy metal. On RtL however, they make use of not just electric distorted guitars, complex time signatures and harmonies, and instrumental pieces like 'The Call of Ktulu'. Clocking in at only 47 minutes, Ride the Lightning is the band's shortest studio album to date, with only 8 songs on it. This, however, in not a bad thing, as all 8 songs are, in my humble opinion, solid 10 out of 10s. On that note, let us dive into this thrash metal onslaught with the fastest track on Ride the Lightning, and one of Metallica's fastest songs to date, 'Fight Fire with Fire'. While the beginning 40 seconds might be a slow acoustic guitar, don't let that fool you, as this song quickly plunges into rapid-fire tremolo picking and insanely fast drumming, even by today's standards. Fight Fire with Fire is Metallica's fastest song in terms of picking speed, and regarded as one of their greatest by fans. It has become a staple of concerts for the band due to it's crazy speed and audience-chanted chorus "Fight fire with fire, ending is near". The lyrics deal with annihilation by nuclear warfare, ending the song with an atomic bomb going off. The topic of death in Metallica's music has always been touched upon, but this album does not take the subject lightly, as every song on Ride the Lightning has something to do with death, save for the Lovecraft-ian instrumental. The next song, the title track, is the first song by the band written about the criminal-justice system, another topic HEAVILY talked about on their 1988 album '...And Justice for All'. It is about death by electric chair, and, while some might view the song as against capital punishment, co-founder James Hetfield is a supporter of such, and has stated that the song is simply about someone who is sentenced to death for a crime they didn't commit. In terms of the song itself, it is one of 2 songs on the album credited to ex-member Dave Mustaine, the other being 'The Call of Ktulu'. The next, and a major fan-favorite song, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', is about the Ernest Hemingway novel of the same name. Kicking off with a bell tolling, then going into an often-mistaken-for-electric-guitar bass intro by bassist Cliff Burton, the song extends for 2 minutes before the lyrics about warfare begin. It is one of the bands most-played songs, and rightfully so, as it features another sing-along chorus, which James usually lets the fans sing at concerts. The next song arguably the song that made the band famous, 'Fade to Black' is the band's first power ballad, a staple of many bands during the 80's metal scene. Containing lyrical content about contemplating suicide, the song was written by Hetfield after the band's gear was stolen before a show earlier that year. It starts off with a slow acoustic guitar, bad unlike 'Fight Fire with Fire' the slow tempo is kept throughout the song, only gradually speeding up towards the end. The next two songs are in my opinion the most underrated, 'Trapped Under Ice' and 'Escape' are seldom played live at shows, and the latter only played once in 2012, almost 30 years after the song's release! 'Trapped Under Ice' is another fast song with chilling (pun intended) lyrics about someone being frozen in cryonics, unable to awake until they come to realization that no one is there to save them, and they are left to die. The song's musical structure is remnant of a song by lead guitarist Kirk Hammett's previous band, popular Bay Area thrash metal-ers Exodus, 'Impaler'. 'Impaler' would later be featured on Exodus' 2004 album 'Tempo of the Damned' which I will cover in a future review. The next song, 'Escape', is a song not unlike the pop-metal songs of the time, and is one of the reasons why the band refuses to play it live to this day. It was created in an effort to have a radio-friendly song as a single for the album. Ironically, the song was never even released as a single! Originally called 'The Hammer', 'Escape' features a lighter song structure than other songs on the album, partially due to the songs intended status as being released as a single. The next song is the most popular song on the album, and the 2nd most-played song live, 'Creeping Death'. It is about the "Plague of the Death of the Firstborn" from, funnily enough, the Book of Exodus. The lyrical content in 'Creeping Death' talk about 4 of the 10 deadly plagues unleashed on Ancient Egypt during the course of that segment in the Bible. The chorus in this song is EXTREMELY chant-able, becoming a major stable of almost every single Metallica concert to have everyone, yes I mean everyone in the audience chanting "Die! Die! Die!". Most live performances from 1987 - 2002 have bassist Jason Newsted, who was not present on the album, on backing vocals during this point in the song. The final track, an instrumental titled "The Call of Ktulu", is, while an instrumental, has a title based on the H.P. Lovecraft novel of the same name, although spelled "Cthulhu". A reason for this might be that in the novel using Cthulhu's real name summons him, hence the intentional misspelling. Originally titled 'When Hell Freezes Over' for the demo of the song, it won a grammy almost 20 years after it was made, because of Michael Kamen's orchestral arrangement of the song for the band's album S&M. Overall, this album is, in my opinion, the beginning of the band's finest hour, which would be until the death of bassist Burton and the release of the 1988 album '...And Justice for All', my personal favorite Metallica album that I will be covering in another review.So after careful evaluation of each track, listening to countless demos and headbanging 'till I bleed I give this album a solid 10/10, a must-have for any metalhead, rock fan, or just music lover in general.
Stay tuned for next time, where I will be reviewing the band's 1986 album 'Master of Puppets'. Rock on, fellow metalheads!