Year 1984: a then little-celebrated group known as MetallicA was compelled to release another masterpiece, capable of reaching the level of the masterpiece produced by the Californian band a year earlier. Well, you already know the result; in fact, it is an authentic pillar of metal destined to rise and become a sort of bible for up-and-coming bands that would themselves make history in this genre (to name just one, Testament).
"Ride the Lightning" is the second of the three jewels created by the Burton/Hetfield/Hammet/Ulrich quartet (though the contribution of Dave Mustaine must be noted), where we can particularly note a great maturation of the group: compared to Kill 'em All, in fact, the sound becomes more refined, and the riffs more composed and considered.
Closing parenthesis, let me get back to reviewing this great album with an equally stunning cover.
The CD opens with a bittersweet arpeggio, a terrifying intro that gives life to a sort of apocalypse where Lars Ulrich presents a double pedal to die for (Well, still nothing compared to a certain Pete Sandoval and a certain Gene Hoglan): we're facing "Fight Fire With Fire," a beautiful song that acts as a link between this album and the previous. It indeed contains the rawness of Kill 'em All. Immediately afterwards comes the majestic title track. Here, Kirk Hammet's guitar creates a one-minute-and-forty-second solo that unleashes an amazing energy, perhaps the most beautiful my ears have ever heard, then James Hetfield shouting "Someone help me oh please God help me they are trying to take it all away i don't want to die"... chills!!!
Even in this album, the "best of" flow endlessly; in fact, we find "For Whom The Bell Tolls," a song that, in its simplicity, knows how to unleash a multitude of emotions.
Now let's move on to perhaps the best piece of all, "Fade to Black," the first poignant ballad from MetallicA with equally tear-jerking Lyrics: the highlight of the package that alone is worth the price of the CD.
We now enter a delicate phase, finding the part of the album where the most criticized songs are found: "Trapped Under Ice" and "Escape." Highly contested and considered merely as filler songs by many, in my view, they remain very valid, especially the first, which I think is unjustly maligned. Perhaps the subsequent one is stained by a somewhat boring second part, but this does not change the fact that I consider it not a song to be thrown away (but you also complain about "Escape" when thirteen years later they did significantly worse things! :-@) In any case, these are soon forgotten because we come to "Creeping Death," an epic song destined to make the history of the Four Horsemen... A genuine masterpiece of Heavy-Thrash Metal!
The album concludes with The Call Of Ktulu, a splendid instrumental and, in my opinion, the best of the four, influenced by the creative genius of H. P. Lovecraft.
Let's see... that "Ride The Lightning" is a masterpiece has already been said, a source of inspiration for new bands mentioned before, well, I don't think there's anything left to say... Oh, I forgot, I haven't mentioned one of the fundamental elements in the creation of this CD: that genius Clifford Lee Burton, my all-time idol, who on bass creates riffs that break through in an awesome manner and presents himself as a sort of backbone for the sound, particularly in "The Call Of Ktulu," although unfortunately, his bass is heard very little...
Now I really think I've said everything, I just hope you find the review at least half as beautiful as this great album.

Tracklist Lyrics Samples and Videos

01   Fight Fire With Fire (04:45)

Do unto others as they've done to you
But what the hell is this world coming to?

Blow the universe into nothingness
Nuclear warfare shall lay us to rest

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

We all shall die

Time is like a fuse, short and burning fast
Armageddon's here, like said in the past

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

Soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death
The gods are laughing, so take your last breath

Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear

02   Ride the Lightning (06:37)

Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain't right
There's someone else controlling me

Death in the air
Strapped in the electric chair
This can't be happening to me

Who made you god to say,
"I'll take your life from you"

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It's the beginning of the end

Sweat chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consiousness is my only friend

My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

Someone help me
Oh please God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don't want to die

Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain all I see

How true is this?
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be

Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream

Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame

03   For Whom the Bell Tolls (05:11)

Make his fight on the hill in the early day
Constant chill deep inside
Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey
On they fight, for the right, yes, but who's to say?
For a hill, men would kill, why? They do not know
Stiffened wounds test their pride
Men of five, still alive through the raging glow
Gone insane from the pain that they surely know

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

Take a look to the sky just before you die
It is the last time he will
Blackened roar massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry
Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery
He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see, what will be, blinded eyes to see

For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls

04   Fade to Black (06:54)

-Solo-

Life it seems, will fade away
Drifting further, everyday
Getting lost, within myself
Nothing matters, no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free

-Solo-

Things not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly loss, this can't be real
I cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness, taking dawn
I was me, but now he's gone

No one but me
Can save myself
But it's too late
Now I can't think
Think why I should even try

Yesterday seems as though
It never existed
Death greets me warm
Now I will just say goodbye
Bye.........

-Solo-

05   Trapped Under Ice (04:04)

I don't know how to live trough this hell
Woken up, I'm still locked in this shell
Frozen soul, frozen down to the core
Break the ice, I can't take anymore

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice

Crystallized, as I lay here and rest
Eyes of glass stare directly at death
From deep sleep I have broken away
No one knows, no one hears what I say

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice

(Scream!) from my soul
(Fate!) mystified
(Hell!) forever more

No release from my cryonic state
What is this? I've been stricken by fate
Wrapped up tight, cannot move, can't break free
Hand of doom has a tight grip on me

Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice

06   Escape (04:24)

Feel no pain, but my life ain't easy
I know I'm my best friend
No one cares, but I'm so much stronger
I'll fight until the end
To escape from the true false world
Undamaged destiny
Can't get caught in the endless circle
Ring of stupidity

Out for my own, out to be free
One with my mind, they just can't see
No need to hear things that they say
Life is for my own to live my own way

Rape my mind and destroy my feelings
Don't tell me what to do
I don't care now, 'cause I'm on my side
And I can see through you
Feed my brain with your so called standards
Who says that I ain't right
Break away from your common fashion
See through your blurry sight

Out for my own, out to be free
One with my mind, they just can't see
No need to hear things that they say
Life is for my own to live my own way

See them try to bring the hammer down
No damn chains can hold me to the ground

Life is for my own to live my own way

07   Creeping Death (06:36)

Slaves
Hebrews born to serve
To the pharaoh
Heed
To his every word
Live in fear
Faith
Of the unknown one
The deliverer
Wait
Something must be done
Four hundred years

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first-born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death

Now
Let my people go
Land of Goshen
Go
I will be with thee
Bush of fire
Blood
Running red and strong
Down the Nile
Plague
Darkness three days long
Hail to fire

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first-born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death

-Solo-

Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first-born man
Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first born man

I
Rule the midnight air
The destroyer
Born
I shall soon be there
Deadly mass
I
Creep the steps and floor
Final darkness
Blood
Lambs blood painted door
I shall pass

So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first-born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death

08   The Call of Ktulu (08:54)

-[Instrumental]-

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Other reviews

By wwwhatemoornet

 "Almost twenty years have passed since this album was released, and much water has flowed under the bridge in the meantime."

 "It’s a pity that a perfect album is ruined by the qualitative void left by Trapped Under Ice and Escape."


By Sir Psycho Sexy

 Ride The Lightning can be listened to by both those who are not genuine fans of the genre and by the most convinced metalheads.

 Metallica manages to construct decidedly beautiful and full of character songs with only three or four riffs, not impossible to reproduce, but then they insert guitar solos worthy of the best Kirk.


By AR (Anonima Recensori)

 In this second album, Metallica come into play with all their technique and fury.

 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' and 'Fade To Black' are indisputable masterpieces of the Four Horsemen discography and the history of metal.


By Alvaro Il Metallaro

 Ride The Lightning, released in 1984, in my opinion is a masterpiece in the history of music, mainly thanks to the genius of Cliff Burton, the bassist.

 In my opinion, it is Hetfield’s best vocal performance.


By FedeHetfield

 This is indeed Metallica's darkest album, a mix of death, despair, war, and suicide.

 'Fade to Black'... one of the most beautiful and saddest ballads ever written.