redsox75's Full Review: Ride the Lightning by Metallica
Ride the Lightning is a euphemism for what it feels like to be electrocuted. After listening to 47 minutes of the Metallica assault, you may have a similar sensation. At least the aftermath anyway.
Personnel for this album:
Lead guitar: Kirk Hammett
Rhythm guitar and vocals: James Hetfield
Bass guitar: Cliff Burton
Drums: Lars Ulrich
The opening track gives you a good idea of what is to come. Fight Fire With Fire starts sweetly enough with a crystalline acoustic guitar strumming out a nice minor key melody. This morphs quickly into a thrash assault. Hetfield’s lyrics are about what you would expect. “Fight fire with fire, ending is near, fight fire with fire, bursting with fear.” is the chorus. Other thrash staples, the double kick drums and the light speed guitar solos are in full effect here.
The title track follows, slowing from the frenetic pace of the opener to merely fast. Lyrical sample: “Flash before my eyes, now it’s time to die.” While this style is generally not my taste, one can give credit to the band for the numerous time changes and musical segments. This one evokes the styles of Iron Maiden (“Run to the Hills”) and Judas Priest, both huge bands in Metallica’s formative years. This track does linger a bit long as it clocks in just under the seven minute mark.
Though not familiar with the album as a whole, the listener may have heard Fade To Black before as it has become one of Metallica’s more renowned early songs. This is the strongest track on the record. The seven minute length doesn’t seem quite as long here. One familiar with their later work might be reminded of the track Unforgiven which was quite successful for them. Compositionally intricate, this track has a start similar to the opening song. The singer has lost the will to live, nothing more to give. Ending it seems to be an attractive option. The acoustic is more prevalent here. Hammett’s urgent leads and Ulrich’s galloping drum work bring this one to a fiery conclusion.
Another strong track is Creeping Death. It has less of a thrash style, more straight power chord driven rock. The vocals are hard edged. The guitar solo is remarkably fast. The chord changes near the end of the song will reward the listener for their patience in this once again almost 7 minute track.
Missteps
For Whom the Bell Tolls rips off AC/DC’s use of church bells here. While this one changes the tone a bit, with an Eastern sounding guitar line, the power chord riffage quickly becomes tiresome. The lyrics continue to impress the listener with darker themes. Escape is another track that doesn’t go anywhere.
The closing track The Call of the Ktulu is an almost 9 minute instrumental. While compelling in parts with some good bass lines by Burton, this one just plain goes on too long. The band once again relies on the light/heavy dynamic of the somber sounding acoustic guitar. While probably a favorite among the hardcore fans, it is hard to imagine most people wanting to sit through so many power chords.
The Recommendation
It would probably be no surprise to the reader to find out that early Metallica is going to be dark and heavy. This record is a difficult first listen. All the tracks seem to sound alike. If you give it more attention, though, you can come to appreciate the compelling musical variations it contains. Hetfield’s vocals can be difficult to decipher at times as they are somewhat buried in the mix at times. He was certainly in a higher register than he can reach these days. This record is what the band was attempting to re-create in their last release St. Anger. In most critics estimations they failed miserably.
Any Maiden or Priest fans or fans of Eighties metal should appreciate this one. Though a tough call for some weaker tracks, for historical significance, it is a four star record that anyone who wants to get into Metallica should own.
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I would like to thank MattA75 for including me in his “I’ll Show You Mine If You Show Me Yours” write off in which regular music review contributors are paired up and given an album to review. Not just any album, of course, but one that is not in the style of music they normally review or even listen to. Check out MattA75’s profile page for the list of contributors to this yearly event, especially the person who chose this album for me to review, PacmanY2J
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