Metallica's Reviews
Ride The Lightning (Average Rating: 9.50 out of 10)
Electrifying (Rated this album with 10 out of 10)
Reviewed by
janitor-x
from Colorado Springs, Colorado United States
It's entirely possible that these four boys had no idea what they actually began creating when they recorded this album. All the members of Metallica were just entering their twenties when they made one of the greatest albums of all time. "Ride the Lightning" transcended some sort of spiritual plain.
If Rush and Yes laid a blueprint for Metallica's song writing, then their next three albums would be the building of those plans. The influential progressive rock of the seventies had a cheesy feeling to it because the singers actually tried to sing (with terrible voices). Metallica injected straight ahead metal vocals and speeded up the complicated song structures to make their music grab the listener by the hair and force them to listen.
The guitars hit high and low tones in just the right places and also combine to create a whirlwind of fury. Sawing, crunching, stopping and going makes the music so unpredictable it almost makes you feel dizzy. People who scare easily would be tortured by this album.A great example of the smacking upside this album does is the opening track. Classical guitars meet by a stampeding guitar backed by a beat going eighty-miles-per-hour.
Pound, scream, pound, scream is how the title track starts off and then it breaks into a riff that sounds like a person trying to break free from being strapped down, matching the lyrics perfectly. How to did they depict an experience so intense without ever experiencing it?
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" just comes soaring in like a menacing bomber and lays down napalm that supports of the troops marching into battle.
And then, a schizophrenic shift into a guitar line that is dark and weeping which build into tears. The intensity comes in the lyrics which is the most accurate description of suicidal depression after a person suffers a great loss.
Then, they jump right back into it with the adrenaline soaked "Trapped Under Ice". The rapid drums and rhythm guitars with parts of screaming guitars embody the feeling of dread and panic. "Escape" is like bottled anger just beginning to seep out with rebellious lyrics that are an anthem to metalheads.
Blasting with 500 ton bombs, and then firing with machine guns comes "Creeping Death", one of the greatest Metallica songs ever written. "Die! Die! Die! Die!" barks James Hetfield as the guitars falling into unison to lay waste to cities.
The ending track is gloomy that puts the listener afloat in either the clouds of heaven or the smoke rising from hell. Maybe Metallica didn't transcend a spiritual plain since there may be no such thing, but made something so deeply emotional it could change lives. Worshiping Metallica like Gods is certainly understandable because of albums like this. You will become either a Metallica follower or you'll need a therapist for the post-traumatic stress disorder after listening to this album.
Buy this album on Amazon at $13.99
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