Metallica - Ride the Lightning
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Free Music Notes for Ride the Lightning
Free Music Review: Phenomenally Thrashy
Hit: 5 Stars
Metallica emerged in 1983 with "Kill Em All," a raw album with lots of aggression and riffs to please any headbanger. While I did enjoy it, you could still tell they were getting the hang of things (especially with James Hetfeld's untrained voice). Their true sound came to play in 1984 with one of my personal favorite metal albums, "Ride the Lightning." All true metal fans adore this album and for good reason. If you're not a metal fan and you don't like this album, THERE HAS to be something wrong with you.Bit O' Trivia:
As any headbanger knows, Dave Mustaine was the original guitarist for Metallica, but he had a bitter fall-out with Lars and James, causing him to leave and be replaced by Kirk Hammett. Dave went on to form Megadeth, respectively. You'll find many songs on here co-written by Dave Mustaine (he never performed on any Metallica album).
Fight Fire With Fire - An intense opening track, partially fooling you with a classical guitar intro. The vocals are somewhat odd, but it's still a great song (although it seems like it should've been placed at the end... oh well, no complaints). At the end, it fades into...
Ride the Lightning - The excellent title track from the album, you can definitely tell a major improvement for the band. Kirk's exuberant solos and James's angst-filled vocals really make this a classic. Gotta love the chorus.
For Whom the Bell Tolls - This song first got me into Metallica. A great song with a crunchy guitar riff that I adore, although it annoys me that whenever this album is mentioned, this and the next song are usually the only ones mentioned.
Fade to Black - The "gloom and doom" ballad of the bunch. You'll find many fans mixed on this one, but I personally enjoyed it despite the overplay on the radio and the fact that many claim it's the best song on the album. The best has yet to come...
Trapped Under Ice - EXTREMELY underrated! This rocker packs a wallop. This song explores death by drowning and it has an undeniable hook to it that makes it stick in your head for hours. This would be my personal favorite from the album, but as I said before the best has yet to come...
Escape - I would most likely label this the weakest of the tracklist. While far from terrible, it doesn't have any quality that'll make it memorable. The most memorable aspect of this song is Kirk's trademark solos.
....Are you ready for this one?
Creeping Death - My personal favorite Metallica song, EVER! This song deals with the death angel in the Bible when Pharoah refuses to let Moses's people go. A big departure in terms of songwriting (you would swear that Iron Maiden would've written this type of song before Metallica), but this has to be their best song ever. It's awesome guitar riffs, solos, and vocals match perfectly to bring a fine metal song.
The Call of Ktulu - An impressive 8-minute instrumental piece that closes off the album. I find it extremely pleasurable to listen to, if not on a regular basis. I don't know why, but I think of DOOM, that awesome FPS game, whenever I listen to it.
Overall, this is a FINE piece of 80s metal. This stands the test of time and proved that Metallica at one point were among the finest thrash metal bands in the business. Too bad they sold out, though... With this, Metallica forged with "Master of Puppets," their finest hour and their last with bass prodigy Cliff Burton.
Free Music Review: AWESOME METALLICA ALBUM!
Hit: 5 Stars
Ride the Lightning is definetly one of Metallica's best albums. It's definately better thought out than KILL 'EM ALL (not that I have a problem with it or anything). I don't think it is better than Puppets, but I think it deserves more credit that it is now receiving. This is how the album breaks down:
1. FIGHT FIRE WITH FIRE: It starts off with a slow, acoustic
riff, but don't let that fool you, because it turnes into a
fast heavy metal riff. I think that this's the best track on
the album, but it's a close call 'cause there are other great
songs like FADE TO BLACK and CREEPING DEATH. I give it *****
stars.
2. RIDE THE LIGHTNING: I like this song for many different
reasons. One, because it has a great riff. Two, because it
goes from fast to slow to fast to slow (it is very catchy).
Three, because the lyrics to this song are very well written
and very catchy. And four, because it has an awesome solo
somewhere in the middle. I give this song ***** stars.
3. FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS: Cool song but not much to talk about
here. Although, the riff is pretty sweet. I give **** stars.
4. FADE TO BLACK: I love this song so much. Fade to Black is the
ballad of this album, and a hell good one too. The lyrics are
pretty good, but it's the guitar riffs that are really
amazing. The closing solo is one of the best I've ever heard.
I give this song ***** Stars.
5. TRAPPED UNDER ICE: Nothin' much to say about this song. The
guitar work is average, same with the riffs. What really gets
me is the lyrics. It talks about dying while your, well,
trapped under ice. All in all, it's an alright song and
deserves **** stars.
6. ESCAPE: Uh, this is, in my opinion, the weakest song on the
album. I have tried numerous times to like it, but it just
doesn't catch my attention like other songs. But hey, anything
is better than that damn St. Anger crap, so i'll give it ***
stars.
7. CREEPING DEATH: Ah, now this is a song worthy of recognition.
This is where true metal is at its best. This song has the
freakin' coolest riff ever! The lyrics and the vocals by James
are exellent, Lars shows what he's made of by dishing out some
pretty neat drumwork, and Cliff, as always, is superb on bass.
This song is definatley worthy of five stars. ***** stars.
8. THE CALL OF KTULU: This instrumental is definately one of the
best instrumentals METALLICA dishes out. The guitar sounds
pretty cool in the begining, but gets better as the song
progresses. Lars does a good job on the drums in my opinion.
My two favorite instrumentals are Call of KTULU, and Orion, on
the Puppets album. This instrumental desrves ***** stars.
If you have not yet been introduced to the world of METALLICA, then I don't really recommend this album to you. I would recommend MASTER OF PUPPETS or KILL 'EM ALL. But if you have already been exposed to the radiation of Metallica, then this album would be perfect for you.
Free Music Review: Awesome!
Hit: 5 Stars
This was Metallica's second album released in 1984 I think it was, and Metallica was still a new band. Not too many people knew about them or the new genre of metal that they created. It does not matter what you say, and this is not an opinion, this is a fact, Metallica did in fact, create speed/thrash metal. I don't want to get into that whole "metallica is king of metal" because not everybody feels the same way me and other metallica fans do. But you can't deny the fact that metallica inspired all the other great bands you hear today.
Now that aside, this is not only one of the earliest pieces of thrash metal ever, but it was and still is a fine album. Dave Mustaine performed only but a few songs on here, because Metallica got their new guitarist, Kirk Hammet. Personally, I still don't know why dave mustaine left metallica and got replaced by a decent, but very lacking in a lot of stuff guitarist. If Dave Mustaine had stayed in Metallica, they probably would not have become so mainstream in the 90's because Dave wouldn't have let that happen. You think Kirk Hammet wrote the solo's on this album? Think again. Kirk performs them, but Dave Mustaine, the true genius, wrote all the solo's.
But, who cares? Whats done is done, and I don't mean to seem like I am bashing my favorite band just because some guitarist got replaced. This album is f*cking awesome. It holds so many great songs on here. Like, in my opinion, "The Call of KTULU" is the greatest instrumental ever by Metallica. "Fight Fire with Fire" is one of the heaviest songs I have ever heard. and "Fade to Black" is one of the best songs I have ever heard. It starts off so slow and kind of depressing, and then progressively becomes really, really heavy. So, in case you don't have this album, here's just a couple of ratings I gave the songs, in case you need a little help from an avid Metallica Fan:
1."Fight Fire with Fire"-incredibly fast and heavy. Starts of kind of gay in the first 45 seconds, but picks up to be one of the heaviest songs you will hear in your life. 10/10
2."Ride the Lightning"-From beginning to end, this song is what real metal is supposed to sound like. A bit slower than the first song, but one of the coolest songs ever. 10.2/10
3."For Whom the Bell Tolls"-incredibly slow and repetitive guitars, but still very cool sounds and lyrics. 9/10
4."Fade to Black"-Starts off really kind of depressing, but slowly progresses to become incredibly heavy and complex. Some people may find this song to be boring, but it never fails to keep me headbanging. 10.5/10
5."Trapped Under Ice"-Very fast and cool. I like it,but its not something that will stick in your head. 8/10
6."Escape"-The worst song on this album. That does not mean its bad, though. Its actually a very good song. Its got great lyrics, but just like trapped under ice, it just doesn't stick in your head. 6/10
7."Creeping Death"-Awesome song. Great solo and lyrics. Probably the holiest song they've made since its based on a story of the bible. 10/10
8."The Call of KTULU"-Greatest intrumental Metallica has ever done. Fast, long, good guitar solo's. This song is practically flawless. 11/10
Album Rating: 9.6/10. Hope this review helped.
Free Music Review: The album that got me into metal.
Hit: 5 Stars
There was a day when i was going through my friend's cd collection and i laughed at many a cds. Peace Sells, Appetite for Destruction, Blizzard of Oz and over 50 more. I laughed at all of them, but Ride the Lightning seemed to catch my attention. I dont know why, but I decided to steal this out of my friends collection and listen to it. I heard the title track first and laughed, I absolutely hated it, but something kept making me play the song again and again and again. And before i knew it, i loved the song.Some people would not categorize this as thrash metal, but the lyrics and instruments show enough to say it is. the death theme of the album, the singer's growl and the heaviness of the drums are all enough to prove this is indeed thrash. I find this album to be better than Master of Puppets because this is Metallica's last album with songs that do not drag or repeat so many times. think about Battery's repetition of the word "Battery" and the dragging at the end. Then think about the dragging of almost every song on Justice, but dont get me wrong, both of those albums are great works from this band.
Fight Fire with Fire- an excellent opening to this album with a soft acoustic (or is it a keyboard?) introduction then plunges into a heavy guitar with anti war lyrics and a great solo. A
Ride the Lightning- this is a strange song mainly because it is so good, but metallica does not seem to like it very much. first, i saw only 1 instance where they performed this live: 2003 in france on some new EP that they released. plus, this is not on the Live Sh*t box set, and it belongs on there. This is probably one of metallica's top 5 songs with an awesome riff and an almost 3 minute guitar medley. A+
For Whom the Bell Tolls- a great bass solo in the beginning and long introduction. shows that you can still be heavy at a slow tempo. A-
Fade to Black- metal's first ballad. again, one of metallica's top 5 songs with an awesome guitar at the end. Also heavy at a slow tempo, deals with suicide and created much controversy in the 80s about people killing themselves with this song playing or the lyrics written on a paper close by. defeats Sanitaruim on master of puppets. A+
Trapped Under Ice- i wonder what this song talks about! [/sarcasm] After 2 songs of slow tempo, this is back to being fast and heavy, and the guitar shows the style of Kirk Hammett with the sort of "country" sounding guitar. that style is extremely evident in "enter sandman"'s solo if u dont know what im talking about. A pure thrasher. A
Escape- Nothing much here other than a good melody. solo kinda begins the same way as in The Call of Ktulu, but then changes. B+
Creeping Death- great introduction and melody. it takes 2-3 listens to find out what the song is about (ill leave that up to you) heavy at a moderate tempo. A
The Call of Ktulu- Orion's competition. I find this one to be a lot more aggressive and orion to be a bit calmer. The solo is awesome in this one (starting at 3:33). funny, on the booklet, it says that a familiar "D. Mustaine" had to do with this song. Somehow, when i first heard this song, it seemed familiar, but I dont know from where. A+
metallica showed the world what they were made of with this album and laid a base for thrash/death metal
Free Music Review: Raw Metallica!!!!
Hit: 5 Stars
Wow, what can i say about ride the lightning? Well if you're a (...) little teenie bopper who thinks 50 cent and britney spears is real music, then let me give you some background info on this mighty album.I'm pretty sure it was releases in '84, back when you had to be bloody good to be a band, nowdays anybody can be a band, watch something like video hits for examples. This was metallicas 2nd album, their 1st being kill 'em all which i havn't got around to buying yet but i got high hopes.
Now there's some arguments amoung metalheads about metallica going mainstream upon their realase of the black album, but in my opinion yes their older stuff was far better and peaked around ...And Justice for All and maybe even the black album (although justice for all is still my all time favourite) , but the albums load and reload are still metallica in all their glory (st anger is different for reason im not going to go into in this reveiw).
I've got 7 of metallica's albums, all which are great, and i rate this album probably number 3 (#1 being justice and #2 master of puppets).
Here's what i think of each track:
Fight Fire With Fire: starts off with a soft acoustic intro but dont be fooled, it soon goes into a loud hardcore thrash song about nuclear warfare and destroying the planet etc. Great song. 10/10
Ride the Lightning: The title track has some great guitar parts but its not one of my personal favourites on the album, never the less a great song. 9/10
For Whom the Bell Tolls: Along with Harvester of Sorrow and Master of puppets this is 1 of my all time favourite Metallica songs! and its so hard to choose favourites since they have made so many good songs. The way this song starts with the bell and goes into the heavy riff...well i could go on for ages about it. 11/10
Fade to Black: a song about suicide that was very contriversial. EAsily another one of my favourite metallica songs. 10/10
Trapped under Ice: as the name suggests, about a guy being frozen in ice and cant move. I think its an interesting topic to write a song about, and its another good fast song with great guitar work. 9/10
Escape: As far as I can tell from the lyrics and the sirens in the background its about a guy breaking out of prison i think. It has a great chorus and not as fast as the previous track, its still great. 9/10
Creeping Death: Ive always thought this one of metallica's more creative songs. Its about the whole story of Moses and the plauges of Egypt. I personally love it, especially the heavy bit in the middle where it slows down a little and goes "Die! By my hand, I creep across the land, killing 1st born man...."
The chorus is also good. 10/10
The Call of Ktulu: I have to admit im not a big fan of instrumentals, i find they get a bit repeditive, but not this one! This is by far my favourite instrumental ive ever heard! The only other great one i can think of is To live is To Die (also by metallica off ...And Justice for All)
the guitar work again is incredible. 9.5/10
So there you have it. Ride the lightning. I like everything about this album from the heavy riffs and raw agression in the lyrics to the picture on the front of the elecrtic chair in a lightning storm.
What are you waiting for? Go out and buy it!