Reply #16: Ride the Lightning was Metallica's breakthrough album

[Gatchaman]

It's the polished followup to their more thrash-oriented debut, Kill 'em All. It was originally released on Megaforce records, but was picked up by Geffin. Standout tracks are Creeping Death (a song about Moses bring the pestilence to Eqypt) and For Whom the Bell Tolls. It's widely considered a classic, and paves the way for their true masterpiece, Master of Puppets.

After Master of Puppets, bassist Cliff Burton was killed in a bus accident in Sweden. He was replaced by Jason Newstead of Flotsam and Jetsam, another band from the same scene. After ...And Justice For All, which was mostly written before Burton's death, Metallica abandoned the long form speed metal formula and moved towards a more radio friendly hard rock format with the Black album.

Metallica have pretty much self destructed by now. Drummer Lars Ulrich's war on Napster pissed off their fan base, who transformed Metallica from a northern California thrash band to an international sensation through tape trading. Newstead is gone, replaced by Rob Turijillo (sp?), who has yet to actually play on a Metallica album. Their last album, St. Anger, was very poorly received. They have supposedly ditched longtime producer Bob Rock (who doesn't) for miracle worker Rick Rubin.

So basically, what this all comes down to is:

Ride the Lightning is a good album.

If you like it, get Master of Puppets and ...And Justice for All next.

If you like Ride the Lightning, you probably won't like St. Anger.