Blasts From The Past: Metallica - 'Ride The Lightning' Album Review

’ll admit it; a few days ago I was a bit stuffed as to what to review over the next few weeks. Eternal Tears of Sorrow, Omnium Gatherum, Darkthrone, Saxon and Vreid are all releasing new material between the 22^nd and 26^th of this month. But between now and then, I was a bit stuck for new stuff to review.  But then I found myself in conversation with the legend that is Tom Castle from theNOISE (http://yesthisisnoise.blogspot.co.uk/) who seemed to be finding himself in a similar position. Eventually we came up with the idea to review the albums that had inspired us both the most (well, his idea actually, I’m just taking credit for it) in the run up to where we are today musically. Personally, I’m looking forward to this, the nostalgia, the memories, the people associated with these albums. So here we go.

As mentioned in my first post, the first album properly considered ‘metal’ that I bought was none other than Metallica’s Ride The Lightning. I can remember vividly sitting in the back of Hamish’s car on the way to swimming, thrashing around, air guitar ready, head banging, to the sheer excellence that is  ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’.

I love this album. I’ve not listened to it for far too long. Here we have eight tracks of the most brilliant, explosive, genre-defining thrash metal that you will ever hear. Everything is so full of spirit and fire; Kirk, Cliff and Het masterfully supply enormous, crushing riffs on iconic tracks such as ‘Fight Fire With Fire’, ‘For Whom The Bell Tolls’ and ‘Fade To Black’. The big, solid grooves are like nothing any band has ever produced since; they carry with them such incredible energy and life, such as the rolling, rapid, energising examples on ‘Trapped Under Ice’ and ‘Creeping Death’. Even Lars’ drumming, which in recent years has come under such heavy criticism, although not the best in the world, fits and works with the music as it should.

Kirk Hammet’s soloing is, in my opinion, at its peak on this album and Master Of Puppets. Every note he hits is as it should be; it’s not a huge, sweep-picked, epically tapped, ultra-technical exercise as you may hear from many musicians today, but it doesn’t matter, and it never should, rather like Lars’ drumming. The solos he plays on this album are not the overused “woo look at me I’m in a thrash metal band, see how fast I can play” load of crap you hear far too often in so many thrash bands these days. Each is carefully thought out and flows with the feel and tone of the song. Cliff Burton’s bass virtuoso, although not a huge element of the album, can still be heard providing a thick, solid frame and foundation to every song, beefing out the big crunchy guitar riffs and providing the occasional trill and riff of its own every now and then, modestly shifting the focus from the other instruments to that which is so often forgotten.

The lyrical content on this album, although perhaps now considered cliché and overused, thanks to the crappy cliché bands that have come to imitate bands such as Metallica, Megadeth and Slayer, are very mature and intellectualised on this album. Lyrics focus on grown-up subjects: death, war and the vengeful and futile nature of man on ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ alone. The way songs are constructed is brilliant too: ‘The Call of Ktulu’ summarises the dramatic cleans, big riffs, great solos, throbbing bass and hammering drums that so perfectly work together to take the album on an incredible thrash journey. Every beat, every note, every word, has been given great consideration, and, my god, does it show.

Every song on this album is so different and varied, but their essence stays true to the 1980s Metallica that they were when the album was recorded. Long, chugging riffs on slower tracks such as “Escape” and “For Whom The Bell Tolls” still sound as true to the pure brutal thrash essence of Metallica as massive, blasting, fast-paced numbers such as “Creeping Death” and “Fight Fire With Fire”. Big hair, bigger solos, massive choruses; this is pure thrash, performed by a true thrash metal band, being played as thrash should be played.

It’s easy to understand why fans of Metallica have been so pissed off with their recent releases. I mean Lulu, come on, really? It’s a world, no, a galaxy away the song writing genius supplied on this close-to-perfection album. Metallica never have been, and probably never again will be, quite this incredible. People are also very quick to slag them off for living the lives of celebrities, and perhaps in light of Lulu, St. Anger and Death Magnetic (which wasn’t terrible but, let’s be honest, but wasn’t exactly brilliant) but as far as I’m concerned, with Kill ‘Em All, Ride The Lightning and Master Of Puppets to their names, are we really in any position to criticise them for living the high life?

Ride The Lightning is just incredible. Never is there one moment where this album fails to deliver on any one level at all. This could well be the best thrash metal record that has ever been released, and probably ever to be released.

 

 

 

Overall – 9.8/10

Best Song: For Whom The Bell Tolls – 9.6/10