Metallica's first four albums are among the most powerful and enduring documents of the genre, and although the band's debut LP, Kill them allIt was a milestone for thrash metal, Ride the lightning represented a quantum leap in terms of composition and structure.
Kill them all leaned heavily on elements of boogie rhythms borrowed from 70s Judas Priest and the fast-paced, riff-heavy swing feel that Dave Mustaine would eventually bring with him to Megadeth, but Ride the lightningReleased on July 27, 1984, it almost entirely eliminated the swung-boogie vibe of its mostly slower riffs, focusing instead on an almost neo-classical sense of grandeur lifted more from the pages of groups like Rush, Rainbow, Blue Öyster Cult, and even the more bombastic epics of Priest than from bands like Sweet or even the more rock 'n' roll end of hardcore punk, a genre of which the band members were vocal fans.
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This change would be inexplicable if it were not for Kill them all songs like “Four Horsemen,” “No Remorse,” and “Phantom Lord,” more programmatic tunes that sought to echo the miniature epics of NWOBHM bands like Diamond Head and darker groups like Savage. Ride the lightning Tunes like “Fight Fire With Fire” and “Fade to Black” can be seen as evolutions of this stylistic flirtation, deepening the atmospheric feel that was present in those earlier songs compared to the relatively straightforward heavy metal of songs like “Whiplash” and “Jump in the Fire.” This shift became the fundamental element of nearly every track on Ride the lightning (except for the band's hated song “Escape” (more on that later).
This change in Ride the lightning It would also prove to dominate Metallica's future songwriting, expanding the band's use of inventive guitar harmonies, progressive rock-inspired structures, and chord voicings, while slowing the overall speed to increase the complexity and roundness of transitional riffs and fills. These stylistic elements the group committed to in Ride the lightning became the foundation of their sound during that early golden period, being honed in Puppeteer before exploding to the maximum …And Justice for all.
Many argue that LightningTracking, PuppeteerIt is the best heavy metal album of all time, and therefore also the best Metallica album. And while this may be true, it is arguably not Metallica's most important album. Puppeteer It may have been a perfection of the forms that Metallica conceived in those early years, combining the psychopathic aggression of hardcore punk's more outlandish forms with the bombast and sophistication of progressive rock, all within the brutal, hard-hitting shell of the NWOBHM and Motörhead-inspired heavy metal, but those forms first erupted in Ride the lightning.
There is always a power and an appeal in those eruptive moments in history, whether it is the history of a band or the history of a group. That is precisely why, despite both Paranoid and Master of reality Although they are better albums, Black Sabbath's debut album still holds more mystery in the great history of heavy metal mythology. In the case of Metallica, while Kill them all It was the band's first album on paper, and also represented the last in a series of demo recordings that marked Mustaine's early years, in some ways making it more of an ending than a beginning. Ride the lightning that the Metallica that everyone truly loves was born, the Metallica that conquered the world and gave birth to a million varied forms of heavy metal from the crystalline shapes perfected by those first four albums.
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