| | Metallica Ride The Lightning CD Metallica Discography of CDs
 (59 Customer Reviews)
Metallica turned the metal world on its ear with their debut album, KILL 'EM ALL and then blew its mind with the follow-up, RIDE THE LIGHTNING. The riffs and arrangements are more intricate, the lyrics are more intelligent and biting and James Hetfield's growl is meaner. The set starts out with two tunes that would have been right at home on KILL 'EM ALL, but the next two are slower and more involved. "Ride The Lightning" is a slow (by Metallica's standards) dirge about the futility of war. "Fade To Black" is a ballad (!) that builds to an instrumental coda featuring the guitar melodies that the band would later base their sound around. It's also Hetfield's first attempt at singing in tune. The most ambitious song is a dense instrumental, "The Call Of Ktulu," that starts with a single arpeggiated guitar and slowly adds layer upon layer, building in intensity until it all comes crashing down nine minutes later.
Recorded at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark in Spring 1984.
Metallica: James Hetfield (vocals, guitar); Kirk Hammett (guitar); Cliff Burton (bass); Lars Ulrich (drums).
Q (Summer/01, p.127) - 4 stars out of 5 - "...Reaffirms their status as the pre-eminent metal band of the modern era....They broke with the conventions of thrash metal to record the genre's first power ballad in 'Fade To Black'..."
Kerrang (Magazine) (p.50) - "[The album included] melody, maturity and musical intelligence. It was these traits which helped them broaden metal's scope..." Metallica Ride The Lightning Songs Ride The Lightning Music Review Average Rating: (4.7 out of 5 stars)   List All Reviews An awesome album
When stood up against Metallica's other albums, I view this one as the weakling that sits in the corner that has great potential. In fact, this album is just purely amazing, and in my opinion, their second best. The acoustic intro seemed slightly childish when I first heard it, and holds nothing to the Battery intro, but it grew on me. Anyway, it just serves as a distraction for what's coming. Fight Fire With Fire is mad crazy with shredding guitars and deathly black lyrics. Not one of their greater first tracks, but still a favorite. Ride The Lightning's riff does not seem very impressive to me, but it is an absolutely amazing concept song that's up there almost near One (but still falls very short). For Whom The Bell Tolls is a great war commentary. Fade To Black is one of Metallica's most heartfelt songs, and one of their best. Trapped Under Ice is a sensational metaphorical headbanger. Escape doesn't have one of my favorite riffs but has some great anti-authority lyrics. Creeping Death is one of Metallica's greatest concept songs ever as well, written in the pint of view of Moses' last plague that kills the first born son...who else would write about that? The Call Of Ktulu is a beautiful instrumental. It gets a bit boring halfway through, but there's a really great solo, and ends the album very nicely.
Submitted by DarkTemplar04J (Oxford, MA) 
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful.
Landmark Thrash Release
Of course, "Kill Em All" was Metallica's debut, and an amazing one it was. However, this album is an improvement both in overall atmosphere and lyrically. While the song structures are noticeably more concise than the predecessor, Mustaine's solos are sometimes missed. However, this album offers a much smoother, more triumphant delivery. The songwriting, lyrics, and singing have shown tremendous growth, and will culminate on their masterpiece, "Master Of Puppets".
Submitted by a reviewer (New Jersey, USA)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No 1 of 1 found this helpful. Classic Metal
Better produced than "Kill'em All", and alot more melodic. A more epic sound than before with better lyrics. Definitely a Metal Masterpiece. These Metal pioneers are surely the Masters of Metal.
Submitted by a reviewer (Kingsville, Tx)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No ZZZZZZZZTTT----POW
Very electrifying, although "Kill 'Em All" is their best, this one definately rocks. Ask my neighbors, they hate it. HAHAHAHAHA!
Submitted by livemiasey (Texas)
Was This Review Helpful? Yes No Very unique sound
Everytime I listen to this album, it takes me back. Great songs for sure, the best being Fade To Black, For Whom The Bell Tolls, and Creeping Death. Definitely 5 stars!
Submitted by Sethro Tull (UTAH)
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Buy Ride The Lightning CD Purchase Ride The Lightning CD To buy, Click on price to add to cart | Metallica Master Of Puppets CD (1986)
Ride The Lightning
 $14.69   
MASTER OF PUPPETS was Metallica's last album with bass player Cliff Burton. Burton was killed in a traffic accident. He was replaced by Jason Newsted.
Metallica's irresistible rise to the top continued with this enigmatic 1986 album. Metallica was a constant touring unit by this point, and their combination ...
| | Metallica Kill'Em All CD (1983)
Ride The Lightning
$14.35
Occasionally one album can be pinpointed as the turning point in a musical genre. KILL 'EM ALL is one such album and, boy, did the heavy metal genre need a transfusion of new blood. Herein trad metal was stripped of its late-70s pomposity and reduced to its base element of brutal sonic force. The rhythm section of Burton ...
| | Metallica ... And Justice For All CD (1988)
Ride The Lightning
$14.69
Following the tragic death of bassist Cliff Burton, Metallica regrouped with Flotsam & Jetsam bassist Jason Newsted to record this ambitious double album. Metallica made their reputation playing complex music at superhuman speed, and when James Hetfield's lyrics caught up with his compositional skills, the band became a force to be reckoned with. Everything came together on 1986's MASTER OF PUPPETS, and JUSTICE picks up where PUPPETS left off.
Utilizing intricate yet crunching riffs, layered guitar melodies and intelligent lyrics, Metallica forged an identity as the leader of '80s metal. Hetfield's lyrics are often quite dark, touching on injustice (the title song), ...
| | Metallica CD (1991)
Ride The Lightning
$15.65
When a genre-defining group like Metallica, whose past albums have rocked the charts with virtually no airplay, enlists the aid of a hit-making producer like Bob Rock, the result is bound to be monumental. METALLICA, their sixth studio release, surpasses all expectations.
METALLICA is an extremely heavy album. It carries a presence, a huge, live sound different from that heard on their previous recordings. What once could not be tamed has been refined, resulting in a fuller, more powerful guitar sound in an already guitar-intensive band. They have evolved from the messy, unabashed thrashers of their youth into a more confident, poised and angry bunch, not only retaining their fire but stoking it into a chunky, tight-fisted maelstrom of scowling energy.
Serious riffs provide punch and punctuation for James Hetfield's gruff vocals which rage against society and religion, ...
| | Metallica Load CD (1996)
Ride The Lightning
$15.09 
The kings of speed metal have never been keen on being labeled, and LOAD, which follows up the 1991 mega-hit METALLICA, is a surprising pastiche of sonic fury. Metallica still rocks hard. James Hetfield's lyrics are still full of venom and anger, and the music still could scare small children. But the band is ready to show off other sides of its craft. "Hero Of The Day" sounds like an R.E.M. song, albeit a heavy one, with its tender beginning and ending confluence of harmonized vocals and catchy guitar riffs. A dose of the blues can be heard in the slow-burning "Bleeding Me," and a downright country twang pervades "Mama Said."
Still, this is a metal album, and there are headbanging riffs o'plenty. LOAD may seem like a departure from the ...
| | Metallica Reload CD (1997)
Ride The Lightning
$14.29 
"Fuel" was nominated for the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Hard Rock Performance. "Better Than You" won the 1999 Grammy Award for Best Metal Performance.
When Metallica recorded 1996's LOAD, the studio sessions were fruitful enough for the band to put out two records. A year and a half later, RELOAD is the inevitable follow-up. Stretching beyond Metallica's speed metal roots, RELOAD is a continuation of the experimentation that dismayed many old fans and welcomed in many new ones. As a result, many Metallica firsts are reached on their eighth album. Some anomalies include recruiting the legendary Marianne Faithfull to contribute backing vocals on "The Memory Remains" and the addition of hurdy-gurdy and violin to the mix of the wistful "Low Man's Lyric." Throughout all this experimentation, Metallica still plays hard and fast, ...
| | Ub40 File (1st Singles) CD (2004) (Import) United Kingdom; Singles
Ride The Lightning
$6.75
THE UB40 FILE features all early the hits by these well known reggae-pop rockers including "King" and "The Earth Dies Screaming."
UB40's first recordings ...
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