RIDE THE LIGHTNING

...but don't get burned?

Annoying introductions aside, here is an annoying introduction: I like Ride the Lightning a great deal. It is fun. It is also dark. Ride the Lightning is Metallica's second album. Where Kill em all was pure metal, Ride had hints of progressive in the veins. Setting prime course for Metallica the next few years, and causing a metal storm in the process, RTL brings pain. It also brings superb music. Comencing our stage-less stage show is Fight Fire With Fire. The standard thrasher. The title track became a radio hit, and rocks up several alleys.After we get that out of the way, we get For Whom The Bell Tolls, which hints at those few signs of complex structuring and composition evolution.

The album tends to follow a different musical flow than before seen in most metal. the darkness is tenfold, and each song has candy to be deftly consumed. Not as complex as heralded, but quite a tasty album. Brutally efficient in riffs and solos, but Hetfield is a mess. Wasn't he always a mess? Yes, more or less. To test the waters of Metallica, he'd best rest his pest laurels. Ok, enough of that. Always and forever, never and on a cantilever, Hammett is the most important character in this passion playground. Fade To Black is, at times, quite stunning and beautiful.

Trapped Under Ice brings back the hurt, and lets out our inner angst ridden teen. The problems in the album are inherent in Hetfield and his amateur singing, the lyrical content, and the sheer lack of memorability in some of the songs. Still, Call of Ktulu is epic. As an extended instrumental, it is unexpected, and at the same time, fluid. A fitting close to a fantastic album.

Not without flaw, Ride The Lightning has several gems. Fade To Black stands as a hold for the ballads to come, and those opening introductory guitar lines are lovely. there is a hidden (not really hidden) angst underneath all the songs, and a teenager hatred built within that I feel dulls the sharpness of assault. Original, and at the same time, slightly contrived. RTL offers much to be enjoyed, but not in the mass portions to be discovered later. Excellent album, but no masterpiece. Aside from the most memorable tracks, the rest seems slightly mundane, and the guitar lines aren't as exciting or dangerous, but the raucous ride is a good one.

Best Song - Fade To Black?

Worst Song - You pick for me

**** Electric stars

Share this METALLICA review

Social review comments () BETA

---

---

Review related links

• Send comments to Alitare
• Report this review (#246335)
• 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