Ride the Lightning | 
 enlarge | Artist: Metallica
Label: Elektra / Wea
Category: Music
List Price: $18.98
Buy New: $6.49
You Save: $12.49 (66%)
New (53) Used (33) Collectible (4) from $5.66
Rating:  803 reviews
Sales Rank: 291
Format: Original Recording Remastered
Media: Audio CD
Discs: 1
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 5.6 x 4.9 x 0.5
MPN: 075596039628
UPC: 075596039628
EAN: 0075596039628
ASIN: B000002H2H
Release Date: October 25, 1990
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Shipping: International shipping available
Condition: Brand New - Factory Sealed - Import Edition Shipped from Florida via USPS First class mail. We ONLY sell what we have in stock. NO back orders here.
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| Tracks:
| • | Fight Fire With Fire | | • | Ride The Lightning | | • | For Whom The Bell Tolls | | • | Fade To Black | | • | Trapped Under Ice | | • | Escape | | • | Creeping Death | | • | The Call Of Ktulu |
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| Editorial Reviews:
Product Description
No Description Available
No Track Information Available
Media Type: CD
Artist: METALLICA
Title: RIDE THE LIGHTNING
Street Release Date: 07/07/1987
Domestic
Genre: HEAVY METAL
Amazon.com essential recording
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
Amazon.com
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"), execution by electric chair (the title track), and drowning ("Trapped Under Ice"). Interestingly, the album's best track is "Fade to Black," a slower, 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. -- Genevieve Williams
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| Customer Reviews:
definetly their best next to puppets August 26, 2008
Carmen Schuetterle
I have never spent a better ten dollars than on this product! every song in it deserves praise and is a must for and metal fan!
1. fight fire with fire- probably one of their most fastest and heaviest songs! Awesome
2. Ride the lightning- Probably their best song on here! has the most epic solo ever made!
3. For whom the bell tolls- Amazing riffs, Amazing lyrics, Amazing song
4. Fade to black- sad but awesome solo and great riffs
5. Trapped under ice- A great song to scream along with!
6. Escape- Don't know too much about this song but its still pretty awesome
7. Creeping death- Simply amazing also one of their best on here
8. Call of the ktulu- its all instrumental but dont underestimate it! it has some really awesome riffs and a great solo
Their Most Exciting Work August 25, 2008
Oliver Carthage (Boysenberry, Michigan)
Ride the Lightning starts out slow, throwing the listener off at first, but comes in pounding with power after a few moments. Fight Fire with Fire is their best opener and one of their most intense thrashy songs. Then comes the title song, the best one on the album, loaded with solos and harmonies that sound like the epitome of electric guitar music. That cover art takes on real meaning while listening to this song, the lightning scorching the chair coming to life as you hear those harmonies. You can easily imagine the jolts ripping through you if you were sitting there. As a fan of metal you'd probably have that song stuck in your head as you roast for your crimes.
The music doesn't let up there as we have two slower songs that are still chock full of intensity and meaning. Unlike the slower cuts on Master of Puppets, these actually go somewhere and keep you interested for the duration. Then the album hits you with its thrashiest moment in Trapped Under Ice. Even Fight Fire with Fire can't match this for speed and impact. Right out the gate this song bangs your head. There is a quieter moment that was atypical for Metallica with the song Escape, but even this works better than the slow stuff on MoP. It's basically a rock song played by a metal band, something they would become notorious for later on, but here it works well as a breather before the grand finale. Creeping Death is one of Metallica's signature songs, and probably their darkest. Justice's songs were pretty dark, but this beats that entire album for all-out midnight-hour gloom. To close, they have the monster instrumental Call of Ktulu. It's great to hear, but Orion was more melodic, and Megadeth did this particular song better with Hangar 18 later on. Still--what a way to end an album! And what an album!
Metallica reached their absolute peak here, with great production and some commercial value without sacrificing their ability to create great music with integrity and intensity.
The Vinyl Has the Best "Pure" and "Unadulterated" Sound that you can hear... July 30, 2008
E. F. Rivera (Ponce P.R.)
This reisues of this past albums of metallica has the best sound!!!! If you had a great machine , you can hear the diference betwen digital vs analog recordings. This LP has the best sound that I ever heard of this album before. I Have the CD but this LP kicks the sound of the CD. Since I Heard this record , I Discover that the LP has the best "Pure" and "Unadulterated" sound , better that the CDs and the digital files like Mp3. So if you wanna to heard this "Pure" sound you only need to buy this record!!!!
 RECORD ARRIVED WARPED July 24, 2008
OLD ROY (IOWA)
NEW METALLICA ALBUM WAS PACKED IN A BOX THAT WAS TOO SMALL, ALBUM WAS PUSHED INTO THE BOX AND ARRIVED WARPED. ALBUM ALSO NEEDED CLEANED TO GET ALL THE POPS AND CLICKS OFF THE RECORD. IT TRACKS OK, BUT MY TONEARM RISES AND FALLS WITH THE WARP AND SOME DISTORTION IS AUDIBLE. A HASSLE TO RETURN I FEAR.......
Metallica (and perhaps even Metal) at its finest July 12, 2008
Scott Gengelbach (Madison, WI)
Metallica's second studio album, "Ride the Lightning", is my personal favorite from the band to date (it sounds like Metallica will release "Death Magnetic", their ninth studio album, later this year). Don't let the opening to the first track "Fight Fire With Fire" fool you, this album is fast and furious from the get-go. The three song tandem of "Ride the Lightning", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", and "Fade to Black" may be my favorite 3 song stretch from any Metallica album.
I won't discuss all of the tracks, but I'll cover some of my favorites. The title track gives a very strong performance from both the vocals of James Hetfield (I personally like his early work when he has a higher pitch) and Kirk Hammett's shredding ability in the middle of the song. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" is a stronger, heavier sound than is exhibited on the rest of the album, but it still fits in very well (in a side note, the opening of this song would be my entrance music if I were a pro athlete, it's pretty wicked sweet!). "Fade to Black" is a bit more reflective and is a personal favorite of mine. "Creeping Death" gives an interesting retelling of the plagues experienced by Egypt during the Jewish captivity of Moses time, and it features another killer guitar solo by Kirk Hammett.
However, having written all this, my favorite track on the album is last, "The Call of Ktulu". I enjoy this song in a similar fashion as I enjoy the orchestral piece "Bolero" by Ravel. It is purely an instrumental that starts with a very creepy guitar intro, then proceeds to building intensity through the repetition of a common patter, emphasized by different instruments. It builds to a climax 6 to 7 minutes into the nearly 9-minute song length. It concludes back with the "creepy" guitar and a huge finish, accentuated by Lars Ulrich's drums. I personally feel that a great band can do its most inventive work when vocals don't get in the way, and for me personally the brilliance of Metallica truly shines in this last track.
For me, this album represents the best mix of song-writing and musicianship in a Metallica album. It has many memorable songs, rocks harder than in subsequent Metallica albums, but has a more polished sound than "Kill 'Em All". This definitely gets a 5+ stars from me!!
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