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Ride the Lightning
Metallica
Retail Price (not our price): $18.98
Release Date: 1990-10-25
Manufacturer: Elektra / Wea
Format: Audio CD
Discs: 1

Track List
Now here, for your listening pleasure, the tracks...

Disc 1

Editorial Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):

1) Amazon.com essential recording
Don't let that classical-guitar-ish opening to "Fight Fire with Fire" fool you--Ride the Lightning packs a heavy-metal wallop. While not as ambitious as the subsequent Master of Puppets, this early Metallica album is indubitably one of their best. Thematically, it explores death and dying from myriad points of view: nuclear war ("Fight Fire with Fire"), electric-chair execution (the title track), and drowning ("Trapped Under Ice"). Interestingly, the best track on this album is probably "Fade to Black," a slower, more introspective song about suicide. There's also "Creeping Death," which remains a concert favorite. An excellent mix of rapid-fire guitar riffs, rip-roaring solos, and singer James Hetfield's trademark growl, this is thrash metal at its finest. Very highly recommended. --Genevieve Williams

Customer Reviews (supplied by Amazon.com):
Average Customer Rating: 5.0 out of 5

1) Ride the lightning rod   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Such hits as For whom my balls hold, fade to slack, sleeping breath, scrape, get higher with fire, and ride the lightning rod!!! This was my favorite when I was a kid of 12, now it's a classic I play on guitar still!!

2) Prime Candidate for Metallica's Greatest   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
Most fans will agree that Metallica's first four albums are all stellar examples of metal's ingenuity and potential to transcend the trashy image associated with it and actually identify as art. Kill 'Em All is relentlessly thrashy and admittedly on the immature side, but still features innovation and intense musicianship which makes it stand out as a milestone of the 80's metal movement. Master of Puppets is a more commercial work which features thematically complex material, extended, powerful songs with solid songwriting, and some of the band's more famous material. ...And Justice For All is certainly their most complex and accomplished musically, with even longer and more intricate compositions than earlier in the band's discography, and also some of the most evocative and dark subject matter of any Metallica album. Nevertheless, after much listening and admiration, this listener arrives at Ride The Lightning as his favorite Metallica album. For me, Ride the Lightning is the most balanced and appealing of all Metallica albums--I'm open to any difference of opinion, but I feel that my views are well-justified. Each song here is wonderful in its own way without drawing too much attention to itself, the collection of songs working together as a unified whole without seeming lofty and overwrought (I would argue that both Master of Puppets and Justice fall for this temptation of overindulgence without adequate focus--great albums as they both are).Fight Fire With Fire kicks the album off in concise, expert fashion with a pleasant and neat sounding introduction that erupts into a thrashing, rather overwhelming "body." The lyrics and riffs are all very evocative, with a thrash aesthetic that is simultaneously thoughtful and intelligent. As others have noted, there is somewhat of a "thread" of continuity between early Metallica albums, and this song is comparable in many ways to MOP's Battery, Justice's Blackened, and Kill 'Em All's Hit The Lights. Basically, it kick-starts the album and prepares listeners for the aural assault to come.The title track comes next, and it is certainly one of the better songs on the album, with thematic content surrounding death (specifically The Electric Chair) and a thrashing, overwhelming execution (no pun intended) that will satisfy just about any fan. This song "mirrors" the other title tracks from Master of Puppets and ...And Justice For All--both of which are amazing pieces of metal songwriting. For Whom The Bell Tolls is another amazing track. It fills the role of a heavy, somewhat slow moving but nevertheless rocking mini-epic, out of which Metallica would go on to shape "The Thing That Should Not Be" and arguably "Eye of the Beholder," too. If you ask me, though, For Whom The Bell Tolls is significantly more well-crafted than either of those subsequent works.Fade to Black is the prototypical "power ballad" Metallica style, maybe in its least melodramatic and unrefined form, which is a good thing. Whether "One" from And Justice For All or "(Welcome Home) Sanitarium" from Master of Puppets is the better out of these three is all a matter of personal opinion--it still stands that Fade to Black is an incredible, rather depressing song about suicide which has everything one would expect from a lower, more heartfelt metallic rocker. It builds upon itself in a very progressive way and reaches a climax that is simultaneously relieving and disturbing. There's a reason why this song still receives airplay and frequent referencing by fans. It's awesome.Trapped Under Ice comes next, which is a more straightforward but still jarring and intense piece of metal. It's fast and thrashy, with themes of psychological alienation and depression. It carries with it a strong sense of anxiety and intensity that isn't present in some of Metallic's slower-paced songs. Not my favorite on the album, but I'm glad it is here and it fulfills its role nicely.Escape contrasts with Trapped Under Ice, chugging along rather than churning, and is generally a less-insane, but nevertheless very heavy number that could easily find a place on the radio or other more "mainstream" musical outlets. It's a fairly underrated Metallica song as it doesn't receive as much recognition as some others on this album, but it is nearly at the level of "Creeping Death" and "Fade to Black" in its solid construction.Speaking of Creeping Death, the penultimate song on the album is generally considered among the band's most admirable efforts, and with good reason. The musicianship is painstakingly precise, but also groovy and organic. There is a strong sense of pulse and the lyrical content of religious and mythological history (more specifically the story of Moses and the "Creeping Death" which fell across the Pharaos). The chorus is terribly catchy and anthemic, and just keeps coming back at wonderful times. For me, it's one of the most infectious and propulsive of all Metallica songs--one gets the sense that the song really is akin and comparable to the Creeping Death that fell across the land in biblical times--one couldn't stop it even if one chose to. The band all seem very involved and passionate during this song, and it also features amazing solos and complex rhythmic thrashing on Cliff Burton, James Hetfield and Kirk Hammett's parts--the song's climax and middle sections are both amazing, as is the entire song. This is probably my favorite song on here, and among my top Five Metallica songs of all time.The Call of Kthulu is another delightful piece of epic metal, this time sans vocals, but with an even greater sense of mysticism and eerie melodrama than the legendary epic quality of Creeping Death. The subject matter this time is the H.P. Lovecraft tale of the same name, which is a highly imaginative, romantic-gothic-monster-horror story. The song is appropriately fantastical and ominous, with a very expansive, unhinged sound that obviously inspired later instrumental efforts "Orion" and "To Live is to Die." Orion seems to receive more recognition as Metallica's greatest instrumental, but I think that The Call of Kthulu is every bit as important and satisfying. It's lengthy without feeling excessively slow, and never seems to drag or repeat itself unnecessarily, even though the song as a whole is composed of a few key elements which are repeated, morphed and built upon. The ending is especially triumphant and bombastic. A stellar closer to a great album--indeed, likely Metallica's most focused, concise and balanced work...personal opinions aside :)

3) Excellent precursor to "puppets"   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
This album was my introduction to speed metal back in the day. It blew me away then, and I still enjoy it today. I strongly prefer Master of Puppets, so go for that one first if you don't already have it, then come back to Ride the Lightening to see where that came from, then go back yet again to Kill Em All. All three of these albums are amazing, and all have something unique to offer. I think listening to them in reverse order helps you appreciate the earlier albums because you recognize details that will later reach their full potential on Puppets.

4) Sophomore expanding of the Metallica soundscape   [Rating: 4 out of 5]
After the blistering debut Metallica delve further into their psyche, further into their songbook and further into their fiercely traditional yet updated NWOBHM muse. And it's a more difficult metal experience in general, the songs on the debut cutting with a sharper knife whereas the numbers here tend to pound through only after repeated hammering with a blunter instrument. Fight Fire With Fire is perhaps the most similar to the songs of the debut and is the perfectly thought out album opener.After that however the differences start seeping in. Ride The Lightning itself clocks in at over six minutes and I'm not sure it needs it. For Whom the Bell Tolls redeems everything however with it's excellent musical and lyrical assault. The production values on this album seem a little dull, the production credit goes to Metallica and perhaps that's the reason why the album always sounded to me like it was blasting away at me from behind a closed door.But the mental imagery the band were playing with on the debut is expanded on this release. The very essence of metal lies within the sinews of songs such as Trapped Under Ice, Creeping Death and the swirling robes of the apparition that is The Call of Ktulu. And the literary references are a nice touch. Speaking as someone who has regularly had to defend metal to his friends (hey, we've all been there), it's refreshing to be able to blow them out of the water with examples of both mindless metal mayhem AND the more educated aspects of it.All up I would not recommend this for the total metal novice. There are other more accessable slabs of metal out there. But I would heartily recommend it to any casual fan of the band who wants to explore the earlier stuff. In fact I'd recommend that all hard rock and metal fans accumulate every album this band did from it's debut Kill `Em All through to the black album. If for no other reason than for a useful history lesson regarding the harder end of the music spectrum.

5) ONE OF THE BEST METALLICA ALBUMS   [Rating: 5 out of 5]
This is an awesome album from my favorite band. The guitar solos are great in this album, it rocks really hard and is one of the best albums besides Master of Puppets. I love For Whom the Bell Tolls which is one of my favorite songs all time and Fade to Black is a awesome power ballad that has a rocking end, and I love the 9 minute The Call of Ktulu and it is one of the best instrumentals besides Orion. For all rock fans, this cd is for you!