Since I was not familiar with Metallica at all when I first listened to Ride The Lightning, the song that made the biggest impression on me was actually “Trapped Under Ice” with its furious guitar solos throughout the track. This would of course be a big mistake as Ride The Lightning is not a one dimensional thrash record and in fact, many of the songs on the record have more than stood the test of time with usually three out of the eight tracks (“For Whom The Bells Toll”, “Creeping Death” along with either “Fade To Black” or “Ride The Lightning”) still in Metallica‘s live set to this day. Back then, I think that I was a lot more open to any new sounds since if I was hearing Metallica‘s Ride The Lightning today and particularly the opening track “Fight Fire With Fire”, I would likely dismiss the entire record as some sort of basic thrash metal album with little to offer in terms of melodies. In fact, I knew nothing about Metallica when my former elementary schoolmate Brian provided me with the three aforementioned albums. In other words, I listened to the record with no preconceived notions of what a band or label had identified as the lead song or single for the record. I point this out because when I got my “taped” copy of Ride The Lightning, I was not aware of what were the singles for that album. Metallica are now a household name and likely now the most popular heavy metal band in the world but back in 1984, they were a stubborn bunch who refused to release any videos in support of their albums. However, I have already mentioned this in two prior concert reviews ( Metallica in 2017 and Armored Saint in 2018) so I will reminisce about something else. Funny enough, I was going to start this album review celebrating the 35th year anniversary of the release of Metallica‘s Ride The Lightning record with a tale of how that album along with Armored Saint‘s March of The Saint and W.A.S.P.‘s self-titled debut album were the first “taped” albums that I got in cassette format and records #4 to 7 of my very small hard rock and heavy metal collection back in September 1984.
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