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List Price: $45.98 | | Label: Universal Japan
Salesrank: 486910
Released: September 10, 2008 |
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| Media: Audio CD |
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Ride the Lightning Track Listing:
1. Fight Fire with Fire
2. Ride the Lightning
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls
4. Fade to Black
5. Trapped Under Ice
6. Escape
7. Creeping Death
8. Call of Ktulu
Editorial Review:
Japanese-only SHM-CD (Super High Material CD) paper sleeve pressing of this classic album from the Bay-Area Metal legends, originally released in 1984. SHM-CDs can be played on any audio player and delivers unbelievably high-quality sound. You won't believe it's the same CD! Universal. 2008.
Description of Ride the Lightning:
Don't let that classical-guitar-ish opening to "Fight Fire with Fire" fool you--Ride the Lightning packs a heavy-metal wallop. While not as ambitious as the subsequent Master of Puppets, this early Metallica album is indubitably one of their best. Thematically, it explores death and dying from myriad points of view: nuclear war ("Fight Fire with Fire"), electric-chair execution (the title track), and drowning ("Trapped Under Ice"). Interestingly, the best track on this album is probably "Fade to Black," a slower, more introspective song about suicide. There's also "Creeping Death," which remains a concert favorite. An excellent mix of rapid-fire guitar riffs, rip-roaring solos, and singer James Hetfield's trademark growl, this is thrash metal at its finest. Very highly recommended. --Genevieve Williams
Ride the Lightning Reviews:
It's Good 
2009-12-08 - This is Metallica's second album of their career and is one of their best. The music is much more inspired and truer to their thrash/speed metal origins. Noteworthy tracks are Fight Fire with Fire, the title track, For Whom the Bell Tolls and Fade to Black. The other songs are almost as good though less famous. Unlike most of their contempraries, Metallica wasb not very controbersial. The music makes a statement from a band in their prime.
The only Metallica album that I really love. 
2009-11-06 - Metallica's 1984 album Ride The Lightning was and is much better than their debut album Kill 'Em All, released the year before. The lyrics on RTL are both darker and more mature (in other words, less commercial). RTL is also, in my opinion, better than Master Of Puppets and ...And Justice For All and is the only Metallica I would rank among my favorite metal albums. Personally, I prefer Slayer to Metallica, but RTL is just as good as any of my favorite Slayer albums. It has many of the same elements of a great Slayer album - speed, heaviness, brutality, and a guitar solo on every song - but also acoustic guitar, beautiful melodies, and even actual singing. The album starts out strong with the relentless Fight Fire With Fire, a song about nuclear war that hopefully will never happen. The second song is also about death, specifically execution by the electric chair. This song has one of the best riffs of all-time and was written, in part, by Dave Mustaine before he was kicked out of the band and went on to form Megadeth. The third song on RTL is For Whom The Bell Tolls, which features a great instrumental intro and of course, the boom of a ringing bell, much like the one heard on AC/DC's Hell's Bells. Next comes my second-favorite song on the album, Fade To Black, which is about suicide. However, the lyrics are not about wanting to commit suicide, but are rather an exploration of why others want to. Take, for example, the lyric "emptiness is filling me, to the point of agony", which is sung by James Hetfield with passion and a sense of deep sorrow. The second half of the album begins with a much faster and heavier song called Trapped Under Ice, continuing the theme of death with lyrics about drowning in freezing cold water. Next is the song Escape, which is all about a prison break, complete with the sound of police sirens. Escape is probably the only song on RTL that couldn't be considered a classic, but it is by no means a bad song. Following Escape is the concert staple Creeping Death, which actually tells part of the Bible story of Passover. Perhaps this biblical reference was inspired by the Iron Maiden songs Revelations and The Number Of The Beast; I don't know. The final song on the album is my personal favorite Metallica song, the epic instrumental The Call Of Ktulu. Every song on RTL is at least 4 or 5 minutes long, but Ktulu is nearly 9 minutes long. It is an unrelenting display of the band's incredible musical talent. It just keeps going and going, like the f***ing Energizer Bunny or something. It is very complex, but has a solid structure, and perhaps the most interesting thing about it is that, since it has no lyrics or vocals, it can be about whatever you want it to be about. It doesn't matter if you don't know what its title refers to (most people don't, myself included). The Call Of Ktulu was also written in part by Mustaine, but once again he doesn't actually play on it. Ktulu is quite possibly the best instrumental heavy metal song ever recorded and it brings the album to one hell of a close. Ride The Lightning is considered by many to be one of Metallica's best and Amazon has honored it with an 'essential recording' label. I highly recommend it as well, especially if all you've heard of the band is more recent releases like St. Anger and Death Magnetic. So buy this album, put in your CD player, and be prepared to ride the lightning!
Awesome
2009-10-17 - This was exactly what I was looking for. the seller ibfo was spot on and in the condition I asked for with a great delivery time. I am very happy with Amazon sellers and amazon. I have nothing short of a great experience using Amazon. Thank You greg
Greatest Bootleg Ever
2009-10-09 - If you dont know why Metallica's Ride The Lightning is the album that put them on the map then you need to buy this album immediately. Its amazing that this album came out in the early 80's and metal bands are still trying to steal their sound 20+ years later.
However, my used copy from somewhere in Las Vegas was a copy made in South America. The booklet appeared to be color photo copied with Spanish instead of English in the insert. The cd played fine but I couldnt help but think something looks a little unusual about this cd. Hence 4 stars instead of 5
Awesome!!!
2009-09-11 - This is the best Metallica album. Essential for all Metallica fans and hard rockers. Truly a great album of music. Fantastically well done.
