Metallica
Ride the Lightning

Release Date: 1984 | Tracklist

I've never understood how people who really love music can dislike metal. Mostly people seem to say that they can't connect with metal like they can with other genres and, on a certain level, I get that. Metal has always been an alienated (and alienating) genre, looked upon as a soundtrack for social outcasts who neither understand other people nor are understood by them. And honestly, it couldn't have turned out any other way. One of the biggest draws of metal is the strength and motivation that it inspires; it makes perfect sense that some would need that more than others. But to me, rather than being a negative, that's the very thing that makes metal so amazing. I think it is music in its purest form, not in any aesthetic sense but in a symbolic one. On the surface, music is meant to be enjoyed, sure, but its true purpose is to be connected with. Genres like indie, folk, etc., might be perfect for, say, breakups, with lyrics so personal that you've got to wonder if you wrote them yourself, but metal provides confederation without pandering, without considering if listeners will be able to relate or not.

For all the flak they've gotten these past two decades, Metallica's earlier work stands tall as a perfect justification of the love people have for metal. While I might roll my eyes to hear someone use a phrase like “die for metal,” I also know why they'd say it. There is such power in this music, such a confident swagger that somehow never becomes overbearing or off-putting. That fine line between egotism and relativity was always one that Metallica walked quite well in their early days. Ride The Lightning is the rare metal album that is as charming as it is powerful; there is nostalgia in this record for the days when metal was fun without being a gimmick, when it was hard-hitting without being suffocating. “Trapped Under Ice” is as much punk as it is thrash; no band has ever been able to pack as much desperation into a song since. And “Fade To Black” is so gorgeous, the chord progression so perfect, and the song is even more beautiful because it never loses its bite or devolves into a token ballad. James Hetfield is never given the credit he deserves as a vocalist (people are usually too busy debating about whether or not Kirk Hammett's solos are good or not, as if that's even the point). His work on this album and Master Of Puppets especially is so versatile and wide in its range; he could really do it all with his voice, capable of startling vulnerability in one moment and bared-teeth aggression in the next. And it doesn't hurt that Metallica were firing on all cylinders as a band on this album; “Creeping Death” is a fantastic embodiment of its title, with numerous tempo changes and ending, of course, with slinking leads and a final explosion followed by a deafening silence.

At its best, metal provides a distinctly different – but no less important – escape. While other genres rely on the interpersonal to forge connections with listeners, metal relies on bigger and broader issues, ones that require a bit more attention to find. It's why I'm never surprised to see people who listen to metal and nothing else. The genre is so unbelievably deep and so easy to get lost in, and a mere one or two albums can forge a lifelong search for the next great metal album. It's also why I'm surprised when those who love music for emotional reasons can't seem to get into the genre, or rather, aren't willing to put in the effort. When I think of a “metalhead,” I think of someone who only listens to metal, and I don't fit that definition. But I love metal. No matter how long I sometimes go without listening to it, it always holds a high place in my heart. Metal is strength, metal is solidarity, metal is acceptance. It is “For Whom The Bell Tolls” - the knowledge of mortality, the unstoppable tolling, yes, but also it is the means with which to reckon with unchangeable facts – a strike of electricity in the darkest nights.

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