| Ride the Lightning | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Studio album by Metallica | ||||
| Released | July 27, 1984[1] | |||
| Recorded | February 20-March 14, 1984 at Sweet Silence Studios, Copenhagen, Denmark | |||
| Genre | Thrash metal | |||
| Length | 47:26 | |||
| Label | Megaforce, Music for Nations, Elektra, Vertigo | |||
| Producer | Metallica, Flemming Rasmussen, Mark Whitaker | |||
| Metallica chronology | ||||
|
||||
| Singles from Ride the Lightning | ||||
|
||||
Ride the Lightning is the second studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica. It was released on July 27, 1984 through the independent record label Megaforce Records. The album was certified gold by the RIAA on November 5, 1987 and was most recently certified 5x platinum on June 9, 2003.[3]
Contents |
| Professional ratings | |
|---|---|
| Review scores | |
| Source | Rating |
| Allmusic | [4] |
| The Daily Vault | (A) link |
| George Starostin | link |
| MSN Music | link |
| Punknews.org | [5] |
| Q | |
| Roling Stone | link |
Ride the Lightning contains the speed of Kill 'Em All on songs like "Trapped Under Ice" and "Fight Fire with Fire", but also contains the first of Metallica's longer, more intricate tracks, such as "Fade to Black" and the nearly 9-minute closing instrumental "The Call of Ktulu". It was the last Metallica album to credit former lead guitarist, Dave Mustaine.
The album was listed at number 3 on a list compiled by metal-rules.com of the Top 100 Metal Albums of All Time[6] and #5 by IGN Music on the Top 25 Metal Albums.[7]
Q magazine (Summer/01, p. 127) - 5 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! (p. 50) - "[The album included] melody, maturity and musical intelligence. It was these traits which helped them broaden metal's scope."
In 1984, the French record label Bernett Records misprinted the color of the album cover in green, rather than blue. 400 copies with the green cover were pressed. Because of their rarity, this misprint caused these green albums to become a guaranteed collectors item.[8]
The introduction to "Fight Fire with Fire" displays Metallica's evolving towards a more harmonically complex style of songwriting. The lyrical themes focus on revenge and Armageddon, resulting in the end of the world.
The song was covered by Apocalyptica on their album Cult,[9] as well as by Polish death metal band Vader, released as a bonus track on their album Necropolis. Black metal band Abigail Williams also covered Fight Fire with Fire as a bonus track to their 2010 album In the Absence of Light.
The song is featured on Guitar Hero: Metallica, along with "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Fade to Black" and "Creeping Death" from Ride the Lightning.
In Flea's Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee speech for Metallica, he cited this as being the first Metallica song he heard.
"Ride the Lightning" is Metallica's first song which directly pointed on the misery of the criminal justice system; the lyrics are written from the perspective of someone who is anticipating death-by-electrocution.[10] The song is one of two on the album that credits former member Dave Mustaine. It was also released as downloadable content for the music video game Rock Band.
The lyrics of "For Whom the Bell Tolls" are based on the Ernest Hemingway novel by the same name; said novel is about the horror and dishonor of modern warfare.[11]
The chromatic introduction, which was written by bassist Cliff Burton before joining Metallica,[12] is often mistaken for an electric guitar; it is, in actuality, Burton playing a bass guitar through distortion and a wah-wah pedal.
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" has been covered by several bands; most notably, by punk rock band Shotgun Remedy on the album A Punk Tribute to Metallica, by Apocalyptica on the album Inquisition Symphony and by Sunn O))) on its album Flight of the Behemoth. It was also the opening song for the 2009 movie Zombieland.[13]
"Fade to Black" is a power ballad. The lyrics suggest a man contemplating, and eventually committing suicide.[14] Musically, the song begins with a clean, undistorted guitar introduction and becomes progressively heavier, similar to Metallica's future ballads, "Welcome Home (Sanitarium)", "One", and "The Day That Never Comes".[15]
Kirk Hammett's guitar solo on the song was ranked number 24 on the 100 Best Solos Ever Reader's Choice in the September 1998 issue of Guitar World.[16]
Many notable bands have covered "Fade to Black", including Apocalyptica, Apoptygma Berzerk, Disturbed, Sonata Arctica, Steel Prophet, The Lemonheads, and Iron Horse.
Metallica have received letters from fans who were dissuaded from committing suicide by the song.[14]
"Trapped Under Ice" is about a person trapped in a cryogenics chamber. It is based upon a demo song of Hammett's former band Exodus entitled "Impaler", which was later released on its album Tempo of the Damned (2004).[17]
Until the World Magnetic Tour, "Trapped Under Ice" had only ever appeared 5 times in its entirety in Metallica's live set. The first two times the song was performed live in Poperinge, Belgium on November 17, 1984, Paris, France on November 18, 1984, Frolundaborg, Gothenburg on February 13, 1987, then again in Chicago, Illinois on January 5, 2000 and finally in Peoria, Illinois on August 24, 2004. James Hetfield commented on the song appearing once again on their live show's setlist on stage with: "Some guy asked us to play this song before the show. We haven't played it in like 15 years. So don't blame us for the fuck ups."[18] The song is playable track in Guitar Hero: World Tour. "Trapped Under Ice" was covered by parody metal band Austrian Death Machine on its 2009 album Double Brutal.
Originally entitled "The Hammer". Metallica has never played the song in its entirety live; however, during the encore at the last concert of the World Magnetic Tour, it was jammed.[19]
"Escape" was covered by the American heavy metal band Hatebreed on its 2009 album For the Lions and also by French progressive death metal band Gojira.
"Creeping Death" describes the Plague of the Death of the Firstborn (Exodus 12:29). The lyrics deal with the 10 plagues on Egypt, and throughout the song, four of the ten plagues are mentioned as well as the Passover.[20]
The bridge of the song (with the recognisable lyrics "Die, by my hand!") was written by Hammett in his former band Exodus for the song "Die by His Hand". The song was recorded and released by Exodus as a demo, but never featured on a studio album.[21][22]
"Creeping Death" was covered by Welsh glam metal band Tigertailz for a b-side in 1990, Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine on Kerrang!'s 25th Anniversary Higher Voltage compilation disk, the Italian black metal band Stormlord as a live track on its extended play The Curse of Medusa, and by rock band Drowning Pool on the Ozzfest 2002 live album.
"The Call of Ktulu" was Metallica's second instrumental song, following the first instrumental "(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" from Kill 'Em All. The song's working title was "When Hell Freezes Over".[23][24][25][26][27][28]
The idea of the song "The Call of Ktulu" is based upon H. P. Lovecraft's book The Shadow Over Innsmouth which was first introduced to the rest of the band by Cliff Burton. The song's name was taken from one of H.P. Lovecraft's main stories featuring Cthulhu, The Call of Cthulhu, which was written in 1928 for the magazine Weird Tales. The name "Ktulu" is originally written "Cthulhu" by H.P. Lovecraft.[29] In the story, it says that mentioning the name Cthulhu (Verbally or written) will bring him closer. Metallica changed the title to "Ktulu", in fear of the beast.[26]
"The Call of Ktulu" is also the last song to include songwriting credit for Dave Mustaine. Mustaine later recorded the song "Hangar 18" for Megadeth's 1990 album Rust in Peace. Both songs have the same chord progression in the intro.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Fight Fire with Fire" | James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton | 4:45 |
| 2. | "Ride the Lightning" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Dave Mustaine | 6:36 |
| 3. | "For Whom the Bell Tolls" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton | 5:09 |
| 4. | "Fade to Black" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Kirk Hammett | 6:57 |
| 5. | "Trapped Under Ice" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett | 4:05 |
| 6. | "Escape" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett | 4:23 |
| 7. | "Creeping Death" | Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett | 6:36 |
| 8. | "The Call of Ktulu" (Instrumental) | Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Mustaine | 8:53 |
|
Total length:
|
47:26 | ||
| Year | Chart | Position |
|---|---|---|
| 1985 | Billboard 200 | 100 |
| 1985 | UK Albums Chart | 87 |
| 2007 | Finnish Album Chart[31] | 9 |
| 2008 | Australian ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart | 37 |
Since the beginning of the Sound-Scan era in 1991, Ride the Lightning has sold 4,334,000 copies.[32]
| Country | Certification |
|---|---|
| United States | 5x Platinum[3] |
| Canada | 2x Platinum |
·