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[Metallus Maximus]

Metallus Maximus � Maximus Archivus � Classic Album Of The Day Archive (Moderator: Hellboy)
Classic Album Of the Day 10/21/08: Metallica - Ride the Lightning

[Klschmann]

Yeah, count me in as a bigger fan of Puppets as well.  That album is perfect.  Even though, song by song, it's very much a copy of the formula introduced on Lightning.

Acoustic intro that makes not much sense
Title track song #2
Ballad song #4
Instrumental near the end

etc.

 

[Venom]

It has been well documented that I feel Master of Puppets along with Slayer's Reign in Blood are the 2 best albums of all time. Metallica's Ride the Lightning would be the 3rd on the list!

[Venom]

Good points Klsch, I totally agree.



Hey V, can you make this same thread over on the other board so we can see the reactions? 
I'm kinda curious about what people are going to say.

It has been done. Sorry must have missed this post earlier, thanks for the PM

[Release]

Wow, some good responses over there.  I'm actually kinda surprised to tell you the truth.  I knew there would be people who love it but so far, no negative responses. 

[anti nowhere punk]

Mine was almost negative  I really do not rank it as anything amazing at all...

[Venom]

Mine was almost negative  I really do not rank it as anything amazing at all...

[Auciello]

An amazing record that will forever be in my top 20... maybe even top 5.  Sorry, Venom, I don't get that specific with the all-time classics!

Anyhoo, as I wrote in another thread, I first heard this as a brand-spankin' new release in '84.  I was 15... and just wasn't ready.  I thought Fight Fire With Fire was ridiculous and lunkheaded.  A few years later, I looked at the guitar tab for Fade To Black, thought it looked interesting, and pulled out the record again for a listen.

I was hooked.

This remains my favourite Metallica release, and is what I consider a milestone in the evolution of heavy metal.

[Hellboy]

Ride The Lightning has always been my favorite METALLICA release! 

As great as Master Of Puppet is, I always thought it was too much a carbon copy of RTL (aside from the instrumental switcheroo on the B side), which kinda lessened the overall impact of the album to a certain extent.

IMHO every song on RTL owns it's MOP counterpart except for Trapped Under Ice and Escape...

Fight Fire With Fire > Battery
Ride The Lightning > Master Of Puppets
For Whom The Bell Tolls > The Thing That Should Not Be
Fade To Black > Welcome Home (Sanitarium)
Trapped Under Ice < Disposable Heroes
Escape < Leper Messiah
Creeping Death > Damage Inc
The Call of Ktulu > Orion

[mak28]

We all know that this is universally known as a landmark album but I really have to wonder if the newer fans of metal even realize how influential and forward thinking this album was at the time it came out.

They have no idea.  This is just one example but, I have a 13 year old that comes to my room after school to talk metal.  He loves Job For A Cowboy and when I burned some Suffocation, Pestilence, Obituary, Malevolent Creation, etc. tracks for him he came back with, "They aren't that heavy."  Trying to explain to him that in the early 90s that this was the pinnacle of brutality didn't make a dent.

You can't relive that history, that progression.  I didn't grow up with this album but when I first heard after my brother brought it home in 92' it was still way more heavy than anything I'd heard.  Now a days it's just ordinary and the shock value that helped make that impact on many you isn't there at all for today's young fans.

As for the album, it is incredible.  The flow is perfect.  I still never get a whole lot from Escape or the lauded Call of Ktulu but I can't deny the brilliance of the rest.  Fight Fire With Fire is just stunning, a legendary opener.