Ride the Lightning

For the album by Marshmallow Coast, see Ride the Lightning.

Ride the Lightning is Metallica's second album, released November 16, 1984 on Elektra Records

Impact and Acclaim

Though often overshadowed by its groundbreaking predecessor Kill 'Em All and classic follow-up Master of Puppets, Ride the Lightning was the vital bridge between these two albums, pushing the thrash metal of the debut into progressive territory more fully-realised on Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All. As such, Metallica fans generally consider this the first undisputed classic by the band, though that does not diminish the breakthroughs made with the debut release Kill 'Em All .

Ride the Lightning retains the furious speed of Kill 'Em All on songs like "Trapped Under Ice", but also contains longer, more symphonically arranged tracks such as the 9-minute closing instrumental "The Call of Ktulu". The diverse sound displayed here and on future releases gave Metallica more critical respect than any other metal band at the time, and Ride the Lightning was essential to that success. Ride the Lightning is also noticeably more serious and focused than Kill 'Em All , although the band would further tighten their sound on the classic Master of Puppets.

Ride the Lightning is the first of the "unofficial trilogy" of Metallica albums that show obvious similarities in concept. The "trilogy" is considered instrumental in making metal more serious and focused on real issues, and are Metallica's most respected works. More connections are detailed below.

Concept

As is the case with Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All, Ride the Lightning is partly conceptual; the tracks don't follow a story but they all deal with the same theme, in this case death. For example, "Fight Fire With Fire" is a commentary on nuclear warfare, "Ride the Lightning" is about the electric chair, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is about dying in a war and is based on the Ernest Hemingway book by the same name, "Fade to Black" is about suicide and could be seen as a suicide letter, "Trapped Under Ice" could be seen as referring to either drowning or freezing to death, and "Creeping Death" details the plagues of the Bible.

Controversy

With increased critical and commercial attention for the album, the band received their first accusations of "selling out", because of the slow subdued vibe of songs like "Fade to Black", although many more fans argue that the diversifying of sound shown on Ride the Lightning helped to make Metallica such an important band to the genre. These accusations were certainly nowhere near the magnitude of claims the band would face over their 1991 album Metallica 1996 album Load or their 2003 album St. Anger.

"Fade to Black" was also controversial among cultural conservatives for its stark portrayal of suicide. However, that same starkness resonated very strongly with fans as a kind of honesty rarely found in other forms of popular music. Moreover, Metallica was quick to point out that fans had often told them how "Fade to Black" had actually kept them from committing suicide.

Track listing

"Fight Fire with Fire" (Burton, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:45
"Ride the Lightning" (Burton, Hetfield, Mustaine, Ulrich) – 6:41
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" (Burton, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 5:09
"Fade to Black" (Burton, Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 6:59
"Trapped Under Ice" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:08
"Escape" (Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 4:24
"Creeping Death" (Burton, Hammett, Hetfield, Ulrich) – 6:35
"The Call of Ktulu" (Burton, Hetfield, Mustaine, Ulrich) – 8:55

Singles

"Fade to Black" was released as a promo in 1984.

"For Whom the Bell Tolls" was released as a promo single, with two versions of the song, an edited version on side A, and the album version on side B.

The flipside to "Creeping Death" was the original "Garage Days Revisited", featuring "Am I Evil?" (Diamond Head) and "Blitzkrieg" (Blitzkrieg).

External links

Album lyrics