Metallica: Ride the Lightning (remastered) [BLACKENED]

Why you'll love it

Ride the Lightning is where Metallica turned from a fast, furious thrash band into something much bigger. "Fade to Black," "For Whom the Bell Tolls" and "Creeping Death" are live staples to this day, and the album is certified six times platinum in the US.

This edition

• Single LP, 8 tracks
• 2016 remaster on Metallica's own Blackened label
• 180g vinyl

About the album

Metallica made Ride the Lightning in three weeks in Copenhagen with producer Flemming Rasmussen, on a shoestring budget, while still signed to the tiny Megaforce label. Nobody would have guessed what it would become.

The title came from a passage in Stephen King's The Stand, and the music is a huge leap from Kill 'Em All: the band slowed down in places, added acoustic intros and harmonies and wrote longer, more ambitious songs. "Fade to Black" was a power ballad that horrified some of the faithful and won over everyone else, "For Whom the Bell Tolls" opens with Cliff Burton's famous bass-through-a-wah intro, and the instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" shows off just how far their ambitions now reached. It's the blueprint for Master of Puppets, and some fans would argue it's every bit as good.

Also at Kops: more Metallica on vinyl · browse Metal

Tracklist

Listen

On Blackened, a remastered reissue of the 1984 album.