Metallica - Ride The Lightning

Metallica turned the metal world on its ear with their debut album, Kill 'em All and then blew its mind with the follow-up, Ride the Lightning. The riffs and arrangements are more intricate, the lyrics are more intelligent and biting and James Hetfield's growl is meaner. The set starts out with two tunes that would have been right at home on Kill 'em All, but the next two are slower and more involved. Ride the Lightning is a slow (by Metallica's standards) dirge about the futility of war. 'Fade to Black' is a ballad that builds to an instrumental coda featuring the guitar melodies that the band would later base their sound around. It's also Hetfield's first attempt at singing in tune. The most ambitious song is a dense instrumental, 'The Call of Ktulu', that starts with a single arpeggiated guitar and slowly adds layer upon layer, building in intensity until it all comes crashing down nine minutes later.