RIDE THE LIGHTNING

It's hard to believe how much Metallica's music had matured within a year of their debut album 'Kill 'Em All'. With plenty of clean guitars and intricate harmonies, this is a band that has grown tighter and stronger as time went by. James Hetfield seems to be more confident as a singer here, and the band all-round seem a lot more comfortable with where they are headed musically. The lyrics are better thought out and the songwriting as a whole is a lot more complex and established than what we heard on their previous record.

Though some of these songs are instant classics, such as 'For Whom the Bell Tolls', 'Fade to Black', 'Creeping Death' and 'The Call of Ktulu', there are still a couple of tracks lingering around to fill up space, in particular, 'Trapped Under Ice' and 'Escape'. A fact shown true by the band themselves, who never play these songs live. And let's be honest here, is there anyone who can actually claim that their favourite Metallica song is 'Trapped Under Ice'? Didn't think so.

With that said, the odd filler or two do not take away any momentum from the album, which flows smoothly all the way to the end. One of the biggest heavy metal albums of all time, there's enough diversity here that non-metal fans may even like what they hear.