RIDE THE LIGHTNING

Only one year is what separates Ride the lightning and Kill 'Em All and each album represents a different band. Kill 'Em All is Metallica's rawest album, mainly because it was made by a garage band that was still forming itself, having members still joining and leaving it quite easily (Dave Mustang contributed with some songs for the album before he left Metallica to strive for his own band and interests), with youngsters that wanted to be extreme and badass, wile Ride the Lightning, though still a bit raw also, was made by a band that established itself, released an album, toured and gained experience with it and wished to do the same thing as before, but much better, and that was exactly what happened.

Ride the Lightning, although having some minor prog influences, is still a 100% thrash metal album. Here, the band was able to retain all the extremeness they presented in Kill 'Em All and improved it wile making their music way more complex and elaborate than before. The production and recording quality also improve very much, contributing with the change for the better. The changes are so drastic that even James Hetfield's vocals change, becoming more like his traditional vocals would be known.

About the songs, musicianship and other features, there are somethings i would like to state:

As far as musicianship goes, the guys of Metallica do not excel themselves in almost anything here, since this album is pure and straightforward thrash metal. The only possible exception to that is the song The Call of Ktulu, in which they show us the preview of what Metallica would eventually turn itself into.

The highlights go to Fight Fire with Fire, Fade to Black, Trapped Under Ice, Creeping Death and The Call of Ktulu.

Grade and Final Thoughts

Dramatic changing their music, Metallica was able to reach a much higher quality than they reached with Kill 'Em All and made Ride the Lightning be one of the most important albums in thrash metal. This album is terrific and very important, so it deserves the masterpiece grade.

Share this METALLICA review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to CCVP
• Report this review (#185511)
• Buy METALLICA music online with PA partners
• Show all METALLICA MP3/Stream
• Go to METALLICA page for videos, full discography with ratings, reviews and much more
• Go to Ride The Lightning page for more details, where to buy and ratings/reviews
• Search the Forum for METALLICA related discussions