This is an album that doesn’t fuck around - rather, it fucks you up; Metallica conjure the premiere artifact of thrash metal power on their second album, 1984’s Ride the Lightning. Not only is it a beast of a record, but it is the effective moment of ephemeral bliss and paradigm that finds Metallica shifting away from their rawer unpolished sound on their debut, Kill ‘Em All. But it is Ride the Lightning that takes the prize for being the classic Metallica moment, before the big-budget productions of Bob Rock. These are the days that are remembered; the harum-scare ‘em of “For Whom the Bell Tolls” to the snaking, brutally effervescent “Creeping Death”, everything on Ride the Lightning is an exercise in murderously vulgar guitar genius. Obviously the legacy of Metallica has far outshined their own music (in a sense - thanks to Some Kind of Monster), but early period Metallica truly stands out as a shining beacon of metal monstrosity; not ugly or stupid like many other bands sounded or became, but rather, smart, edgy, loud, and filled with a voracious appetite for world domination. If you don’t have it, you’re missing out.
Listen to “Creeping Death” and “Fight Fire with Fire” (Live in Quebec City, 1986)
Download “Ride the Lightning“
