### Metallica: Ride the lightning

#### 07/05/10 || Smalley

“Ride the lightning” was the start of Metallica’s incredible trilogy of albums back in the 80’s, and not only was it the first truly “great” thrash album, it was also the first real one, period; yeah, Metallica, Slayer, and Anthrax had already debuted by the time “Lightning” struck in July of 1984, but those albums were all basically just NWOBHM as done by Americans. It was on “lightning” that the signature heaviness of modern thrash metal became canonized, and while it usually takes a genre some time to mature into adult form, “Ride the lightning” made thrash come shredding out of NWOBHM’s tiny babyhole as a 20-something (savor that mental image), complete with guitar in hand, denim jacket on back, and a raging hunger to take on the entire fucken metal world.

“Fight fire with fire” starts off like a joke track, with docile, English-y acoustic guitars that make you wanna break out the tea ‘n crumpets. Before you can get the good china, though, Hetfield kicks in with the most blistering, shred-tastic riff of his entire career, done wonders by the incredibly sharp, thick sound producer Flemming Rasmussen gave it, and when the vengeful, apocalyptic lyrics start up, you just know that modern-day thrash has fucken ARRIVED . However, Metallica doesn’t just rely on awesome riffing to propel “fire”, but rather, deftly exercises the smart, complex songwriting that truly made their albums from this era timeless (so shut your filthy mouth, IG), and you really couldn’t ask for a more incredible way for a genre to arrive than with fucken “Fight fire with fire”.

The title track then ups the aforementioned songwriting complexity, going from a riff-based verse/chorus structure to an intricate, incredibly long showpiece solo from Kirk, complete with tempo changes that work brilliantly with Hetfield’s riff switch-ups in the background. Too bad Hetfield’s vocals really suck on this one, with extremely strained, going-through-puberty shrieking, but I’ve tolerated worse singing before, and there’s so much awesomeness going on elsewhere that it’s no big deal.

Cold, ominous bell tolls are the first thing we hear on “For whom the bell tolls” (of course), before James’ doom-laden riffs come crashing in, and while the build-up with the guitars goes on for quite some time, the entire song still manages to be epically bad-ass. Then, “Fade to black” is the first ballad-y song Metallica ever made, with its extensive use of a somber, depressed acoustic guitar, passionate guitar-wailing from Kirk, and lyrics dealing with internal torment, and eventual suicide. However, Metallica proves that they haven’t gone completely eyeliner ‘n emo on us (they were saving that for the “Load” booklet) when the kick-ass riffing comes in during the chorus, and also with the excellent, extended song outro.

Unfortunately, “Trapped under ice” doesn’t measure up to “Fade”, or to any other song on “lightning”, for that matter; it is decent, but still could’ve been a lot better. Its riffs just don’t hook me very well, focusing too much on speed to the detriment of catchiness, and to boot, the chorus falls flat. Fortunately, while “Escape” isn’t the first song you’ll remember off this album, it’s still definitely better than “Trapped” was, with catchier riffing, a chorus perfect for singing along to, and an outro with brilliant use of fade-in vocals, as well as a fucken tornado siren(!). Nice.

“Creeping death” then sets us up for the end of “Lightning”, by being one last all-out shred fest, as well as the most bad-ass Christian metal song ever (you know, lyrics taken from the book of Exodus ‘an all, back in the Old Testament days when God shot first and asked questions later). Great riffs, an endlessly energetic tempo, and an awesome breakdown section (the “DIE! DIE! DIE!” part) all help to cement “death” as the finest song on the entirety of “lightning”.

Finally, closing instrumental “The call of ktulu” takes us out with a solitary, low-pitched clean guitar (which Creed would later rip off over and over), and things get progressively darker from there until the track just EXPLODES into a heavy orgy of Elder God-fueled madness for the next seven-and-a-half minutes. Its an awesome way to end the album, and probably the best instrumental old-school Metallica ever recorded, which is saying a hell of a lot, believe me.

So, if you wanna know how Metallica overall still has a somewhat-respectable reputation in the metal world, “Ride the lightning” is basically 1/3 of the reason why. Its complex songwriting, wild solos, and crushing, aggressive riffs paved the way for just about every thrash band that followed, and no matter how many disappointments modern-day Metallica will release, we still all owe them some respect for the amazing stuff that they created once upon a time.

- Information
- Released: 1984
- Label: Megaforce
- Website: www.metallica.com
- Band
- James Hetfield: vocals, rhythm guitar
- Kirk Hammett: lead guitar
- Cliff Burton: bass
- Lars Ulrich: drums

- Tracklist
- 01. Fight Fire With Fire
- 02. Ride The Lightning
- 03. For Whom The Bell Tolls
- 04. Fade To Black
- 05. Trapped Under Ice
- 06. Escape
- 07. Creeping Death
- 08. The Call Of Ktulu