Ride the Lightning is the second album by American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 27, 1984 by Megaforce Records and re-released by Elektra Records on November 19, 1984.[2] Ride the Lightning has sold over 5 million copies in the U.S. alone.[3]
Album information
In 1999, Ride the Lightning was re-released along with Master of Puppets in a remastered audiophile Gold CD edition mixed by engineer Steve Hoffman.
"The Call of Ktulu" is named after the short story "The Call of Cthulhu," by American horror/science fiction author H. P. Lovecraft, whose works were also a direct influence on a later Metallica song, "The Thing That Should Not Be." The original name of "The Call of Ktulu" as it appeared on the demos was "When Hell Freezes Over."
At the 2001 Grammy Awards, the version of "The Call of Ktulu" found on S&M won for Best Rock Instrumental Performance.
The song "Ride the Lightning" is featured in the Metallica 3-song pack that is downloadable content for the music video game series Rock Band.
"Trapped Under Ice" is featured as a playable track on Guitar Hero World Tour.
"Fight Fire with Fire", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Fade to Black" and "Creeping Death" are featured as playable tracks on Guitar Hero: Metallica.
Reception
Ride the Lightning is often hailed by fans as a classic of the thrash metal genre and a vital bridge between the band's albums Kill 'Em All and Master of Puppets, pushing the thrash metal of the debut into progressive territory more fully-realized on Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All.
Ride the Lightning retains the speed of Kill 'Em All on songs like "Trapped Under Ice" and "Fight Fire with Fire", but also contains the first of Metallica's longer, more symphonically arranged tracks, such as "Fade to Black" and the nearly 9-minute closing instrumental "The Call of Ktulu".
Ride the Lightning was listed at #3 on a list compiled by metal-rules.com of the Top 100 Metal Albums of All Time and #5 by IGN Music on the Top 25 Metal Albums.[4]
Q (Summer/01, p.127) - 5 stars out of 5 - "Reaffirms their status as the pre-eminent metal band of the modern era....They broke with the conventions of thrash metal to record the genre's first power ballad in 'Fade to Black'".
Kerrang! (p.50) - "[The album included] melody, maturity and musical intelligence. It was these traits which helped them broaden metal's scope."
Release
Upon the albums release, unknown to the band or production team, covers of the album were being released in green rather than the blue that the band had decided on, when this was discovered by James Hetfield about a week after release, the band was furious. These copies of the album are considered a collectors item.[citation needed]
Track listing
| Writer(s) |
| 1. |
"Fight Fire with Fire" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton |
4:45 |
| 2. |
"Ride the Lightning" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Mustaine |
6:37 |
| 3. |
"For Whom the Bell Tolls" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton |
5:10 |
| 4. |
"Fade to Black" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett |
6:57 |
| 5. |
"Trapped Under Ice" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett |
4:04 |
| 6. |
"Escape" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Hammett |
4:24 |
| 7. |
"Creeping Death" |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Hammett |
6:36 |
| 8. |
"The Call of Ktulu" (Instrumental) |
Hetfield, Ulrich, Burton, Mustaine |
8:54 |
Singles
Charting Positions
Album
| Year |
Chart |
Position |
| 1984 |
The Billboard 200 |
100 |
| 1985 |
UK Albums Chart |
87 |
| 2007 |
Finnish Album Chart[5] |
9 |
| 2008 |
Australian ARIA Top 50 Albums Chart |
37 |
Certification
| Country |
Sales |
Certification |
| United States |
5,598,000 |
5x Platinum |
| Canada |
200,000 |
2x Platinum |
Covers
"Creeping Death" was covered by Welsh glam metal band Tigertailz for a B-side in 1990, Welsh metalcore band Bullet for My Valentine on Kerrang!'s 25th Anniversary Higher Voltage compilation disk, the Italian Epic Black Metal band Stormlord as a live track on their EP "The Curse Of Medusa" and by alternative metal band Drowning Pool at Ozzfest 2002.
The Hard Rock/Metal band Disturbed has covered "Fade to Black" in concert on the live compilation album Music as a Weapon II. The Power Metal band Sonata Arctica and the Finnish cello metal band Apocalyptica have also covered "Fade to Black" on the EP Takatalvi and on the album Inquisition Symphony respectively.
"Escape" was covered by both death metal band Gojira on the Japanese edition for their 2005 album From Mars to Sirius, and the American metalcore band Hatebreed on their most recent 2009 album For the Lions.
"For Whom The Bell Tolls" was covered by punk band Shotgun Remedy on the album "A Punk Tribute To Metallica" and by Apocalyptica on the album Inquisition Symphony.
References
