(Rated this album with 10 out of 10) Reviewed by
A music fan
from Wayne, PA United States
Before the "The Black Album" and the commercialization of Metallica, before the lyrical masterpieces of "...And Justice For All," even before the titan "Master of Puppets," there was "Ride the Lightning." In 1984, you had Van Halen, Bob Dylan, Michael Jackson, and all other sorts of musical conglomerates. This album, however, was craving for someone to hear it's voice, and was the match that started the bonfire that is the genre, "metal." Not as sloppy as "Kill 'em All," RtL was a huge improvement for the band, as well as the image of metal as a whole. The lyrics were more developed, the guitar work was much better, and the overall sound was much more "constructive." Overall, the album fit together nicely with each individual song, over the main theme of death. Well, with an electric guitar blasting in your ears, what did you expect? Love and peace? I thought not. This is one of the most interesting, in my opinion, of Metallica's albums. No one really noticed them yet, and they weren't commercialized like they are now, or even to the extent of when The Black Album came out. The music had no strings attached. They had nothing to hold them back on what they said, thought and felt, and the band showed us all of this rage channeled into one hell of an album. It was raw, just the way metal fans like it.
