Album Review - Ride the Lightning by Metallica

Brief Introduction
Hey all! Like I’ve said before, i’ve been listening to a lot of Metallica’s first 4 albums recently so I took the decision to review each of the first 4 albums. That, and the site’s still got a serious lack of entertaining posts. If I feel like it, I might also review ALL of their studio albums. Including St. Anger and Lulu. Though, don’t expect me to listen to the entirety of Lulu. That album fucking sucks. It might as well be among the worst music I’ve ever listened to.
Anyway, Ride the Lightning is the second studio album of Metallica released in 1984. Lets get to the review.
The Review
Ride the Lightning is an album that’s perfect for me! My main (and basically only) complaint with Kill ‘Em All is that it’s a bit too raw and that it’s repetitive, and Ride the Lightning definitely improves on those aspects. Ride the Lightning is still pretty aggressive, but has a more complex and less raw sound. It’s not as aggressive as KEA, but it still is really aggressive. Along with that, the album is a pretty varied one, too. The album is filled with emotions, from the aggression in Fight Fire With Fire, to the sadness of Fade to Black. No two songs sound too similar. The instrumental and vocals (aside from Call of Ktulu which doesn’t have vocals) convey the emotions of the songs very nicely. This album may be my favorite Metallica album ever, the other contestant being Master of Puppets, which I will review soon.

Overall, Ride the Lightning is a phenomonal album that answers all my problems with its predecessor. It retains the aggression, but has a more refined and complex sound than KEA. I strongly recommend anyone who’s into thrash metal or metal in general to listen to it. 10/10