By 1984 thrash metal band Metallica had burst onto the bigger scene with their now classic debut album Kill 'em All. However, they were not cemented as the Big 4 royalty that they are now. What helped further them toward that though was their sophomore effort Ride the Lightning, which many consider to be a far superior album to its predecessor, though to be fair that is a very subjective thing to say. Regardless of opinion though, it got Metallica a lot further along in their journey.
Ride the Lightning has a lot better studio production to it than Kill 'em All did. Where the first album sounded raw, unpolished, and a lot like the NWOBHM bands that they were heavily influenced by at the time, this one made them sound a lot beefier, a lot more crisp, and overall much darker. Everything was more defined, but not in a way that made it sound like overproduced commercial garbage. It definitely helped because many of the songs on it are considered to be classics.
Fade to Black is one of the few early Metallica songs that features acoustic guitar, played by rhythm guitarist and singer James Hetfield with some brilliant melodic soloing from Kirk Hammett. It is the closest thing to a ballad you will ever hear out of Metallica from the era where they were actually a reputable band. It's a pretty depressing song, but it's about how the band once had all of their gear stolen. As a musician I can sympathize because if I had all of my gear stolen I would be pretty depressed too.
For Whom the Bell Tolls is one of the best things Metallica ever wrote, in my opinion. The church bell at the beginning gives off an eerie, unnerving vibe. When the guitar riffs come crashing in it feels like your balls are being blown off. You feel like you're right in the middle of the war zone described in the lyrics. Musically I love the way the song is constructed and executed. It has a cohesive structure, but they don't make it overly repetitive. My personal favorite part of the song is that crawling riff a little after the beginning where both guitars are layered upon one another to create a thicker, crunchier sound.
Ride the Lightning is without a doubt some of Metallica's best work. If I were to introduce someone to Metallica, this is the album I would start with because it is the perfect balance of condensed traditional song structures and lengths and the more exploratory progressive stuff they have done. It also has the best overall sound of all of their albums. This is a must have album for Metallica fans and metalheads alike. It's a classic in every sense of the word and not a single bad word can possibly be said about it.
Ride the Lightning, by Metallica receives 5 out of 5 stars.
Track List:
1. Fight Fire With Fire
2. Ride the Lightning
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls
4. Fade to Black
5. Trapped Under Ice
6. Escape
7. Creeping Death
8. The Call of Ktulu
Buy the album on Amazon:
https://www.amazon.com/Ride-Lightning-Remastered-Metallica/dp/B00AH69T22/ref=ice_ac_b_dpb?ie=UTF8&qid=1509692011&sr=8-1&keywords=ride+the+lightning+cd
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