When my friend informed me in 1985 that this was the heaviest
\nband on the planet, my introduction to Metallica was the pretty
\nguitars that open “Fight Fire With Fire.” I was taken aback, but it
\ndidn’t take long before my fears were quieted. A mere 40 seconds
\nlater an explosively fast flurry of guitar riffing and piston-like
\ndrumming deafened my room. Memorable though this thrash number is,
\nit’s the weakest tune on the album, which stands tall as one of the
\ngreatest rock albums of any type ever recorded.<\/p>\n
Though Metallica’s debut,
\nKill ‘Em All<\/i>, had showcased a speed and musical dexterity
\nthat was unprecedented in heavy metal history, it nevertheless
\npales in comparison to
\nRide The Lightning<\/i>, which was the next logical step. This
\nalbum took heavy metal to previously unscaled heights, as it was
\nunbelievably heavy and powerful yet still listenable. Despite their
\nbludgeoning force, the band finds room for melody within their
\nblazingly cathartic guitar crunch on songs such as the title track
\nand “Escape,” a catchy song that would’ve fit well beside later
\nhits such as “Enter Sandman.”<\/p>\n
The music on
\nRide The Lightning<\/i> is extremely complex, played by highly
\nskilled musicians, while the lyrics are intelligent if relentlessly
\ngloomy. What really separates this album from its predecessor is
\nthe superior songwriting and the improved vocals of James Hetfield,
\nwho sings rather than just screeching on every song, and whose
\nvoice has gained authority and menace. In addition, though “Trapped
\nUnder Ice” rages with a mindless fury, on several of the songs
\nMetallica manages to slow the tempo while remaining true to their
\nfierce vision, resulting in a more varied album. Even “The Call Of
\nKtulu,” a repetitive instrumental clocking in at 8:54, holds the
\nlistener’s attention throughout due to some hypnotic riffing.<\/p>\n
Then there’s what my friends and I always reverently referred to
\nas “The Big Three.” The blistering “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” the
\nPassover epic “Creeping Death,” and the suicide anthem “Fade To
\nBlack,” a dirge that is perhaps the ultimate masterpiece of teenage
\nangst, are all time metal classics. Metallica never topped these
\nthree songs, and they remain concert favorites to this day, as
\nanyone who has ever shouted “DIE” during “Creeping Death” can
\nattest.<\/p>\n
The band’s pummeling performances must be mentioned, as Kirk
\nHammett and Hetfield’s lightning fast yet precise guitar playing,
\nCliff Burton’s authoritative bass, and Lars Ulrich’s pulverizing
\ndrumming simply has to be heard to be believed. Their peerless
\nperformances help make
\nRide The Lightning<\/i> a cornerstone of any heavy metal
\ncollection.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":24452,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"artist":[5706],"rating":[5646],"class_list":["post-35656","review","type-review","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","artist-metallica","rating-rating-a"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/review"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/review\/35656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/24452"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35656"},{"taxonomy":"artist","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/artist?post=35656"},{"taxonomy":"rating","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dailyvault.adishjain.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rating?post=35656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}