Metallica - Ride the Lightning: A 40-year Retrospective
In this Retrospective article, we revisit one of thrash metal's most monumental albums, released by arguably the most prolific band out of the Bay Area "Big Four".
It borders on impossibility to reach a conclusive sentiment on which is the best Metallica album: some would say the debut “Kill ‘Em All” for how NWOBHM it sounds, a handful would pick “… And Justice For All” on merits of its pure aggression (production-wise, the scars of the injustice done unto Jason’s bass parts in the album - and, by extension, the man himself during his time with the band - would never fade), but most (myself included) will fall into the tug-o-war between “Ride the Lightning” and its equally popular, equally impeccable successor, “Master of Puppets”: forsooth, the notion of a shootout provides internet experts and armchair connoisseurs alike with endless content. Regardless, it is the sophomore release from the band that will give topic to today’s article.
In my opinion, “Ride The Lightning” is possibly the most historically significant and pivotal release within the band’s entire discography: there are contextual factors imbued into the music itself that - while can be common knowledge for the most parts - make this album a whole lot more interesting as a topic of discussion: at least more than the music itself. I say this, not because this is a boring album to listen to; as a matter of fact, it is anything but boring; but rather because I reckon most - if not all - metalheads know how the album plays out and sounds like.
Last Dave’s riffs, proto-Exodus, and the shift towards *the* Metallica
This is a horse long beaten to death.
Of course everyone knows Metallica used Dave’s riffs to write parts of the title track as well as the legendary instrumental “Ktulu”, and Kirk’s riffs in “Trapped Under Ice” are later rearranged by Exodus to write “Impaler”. A truly two-plus-two-equals-four piece of factoid that any fan of American thrash metal - no matter how recent or seasoned - would know.
What might fly under people’s radars, though, is how the transition into the prime Metallica that everyone knows and loves plus the immediately-following radio-friendly Metallica that purist snobs despise was both taking place and foreshadowed, respectively. This information surely fails to surprise anyone, but the form it manifests itself might have a chance to do so.
Enters “Escape”.
In retrospect, I find it somewhat ironic how James hated this song when it came out, considering how its existence is a dead giveaway for the two things that would later become associated with the name Metallica:
James and Lars writing together, by themselves, and
a radio-friendly phase starting from the black album.
Contextually speaking, Flemming Rasmussen pointed out that the song was ultimately part of the long game the pair played to enter “the big league”: “Escape” was born out of them wanting to write something that could later help them enter bigger labels. (an excerpt of Flemming bringing this up can be found here).
Another thing I noticed during my most recent listen of the album is how James sounded much closer to his older self on this track compared to the other tracks in the album, even more so than the only power ballad out of all songs, “Fade To Black”. Maybe this was only serendipity, but a highly intriguing detail nonetheless.
Can you imagine a Metallica without James as the vocalist?
One can probably use AI and put Armored Saint’s John Bush into a Metallica song to see how that goes.
It’s definitely no new knowledge that James had doubt about his vocal ability during the recording period of “Ride The Lightning” and even tried delegating the duty to John, only to be turned down. That doubt can be found clearest in none other than “Fade To Black”, where there is a distinct keyboard melody line that James followed to properly hit all the right notes, but buried by the rest of the band and can only be found when one listens to the isolated vocal tracks (which can be found here).
As mentioned above, “Fade” is also a track that listeners can hear what potential James had even at 20 (and a half) years of age - a point where his voice was still young and high - which a gruffness that would eventually take the world by storm by 1988 onward.
The instrumental track to pave road for a whole new metal subgenre
There are four instrumental Metallica tracks thus far:
The Call of Ktulu (from this album)
Orion (from “Master of Puppets”)
To Live Is To Die (from “… And Justice For All”)
Suicide & Redemption (from “Death Magnetic”)
“Ktulu” stands out among the other three, and - dare I say it - is the best instrumental track ever written by Metallica. There is a lot of complexity; specifically, a lot of layered nuances to how this masterpiece was written. Cliff’s basswork, while not exactly in-your-face as heard in other Metallica songs such as “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Damage Inc.”, or the next instrumental, “Orion”, is overwhelmingly prominent, conjuring eldritch chaos in the atmosphere of the track.
Such a meticulous approach towards writing music is unfortunately something I would consider “lost”, following the tragic accident that claimed Cliff in 1986. Since then, while it is undeniable that the band has been massively successful in their endeavor, the complexity featured in the two albums “Ride The Lightning” and “Master of Puppets” was never found again in subsequent albums: the 1988 album was its own senses progressive and boundaries-pushing, but the melodic sophistication presented during the early Metallica, most clearly-showcased in “Ktulu” was - upon reflection - solemnly absent and instead substituted with sheer aggression born from grief.
And although Metallica was not the first band to delve into progressive instrumental metal - there were already bands like Queensrÿche, Rush, and even Iron Maiden - it is without a doubt that they propelled this style of metal into the mainstream and be one of the bands to set the very first stepping stones for this subgenre with how innovative “Ktulu” was at the time of release.
Conclusion
Exactly 40 years have passed since “Ride The Lightning” was first released through Megaforce Records. In many ways, this album had monumentally impacted the trajectory of the band: they would end their tenure with Megaforce after this album and sign to Elektra, only to rise to one new height after another. Yet, the musical intricacy and historical importance of “Ride The Lightning” would never be repeated again. That said, there is still much heated debate among metal fans by and large whether this or “Puppets” would be the best, and I doubt it will subside anytime soon.
But it is not just Metallica who was changed by “Lightning”, the metalsphere would find itself following their footsteps more than it would like to admit: from the most surface-level element like the progressive songwriting, to finding another realm chock-full of eldritch deities to worship other than Satan: the realm of now-familiar Lovecraftian horrors.
… now I will just say goodbye
So goodbye!
By the time this article is published, it’ll be dawn of July 28th where I live. But hey, it'll still be afternoon of July 27th even in the East Coast! Anyways, enjoy the read, and cheers to the 40th year of “Ride The Lightning”! - Kyle.