Metallica - Ride the Lightning

Oh yeah - PROTO-PROG-METAL THRASH!

It's like this baby: Metallica helped define thrash metal in the 80s. With Kill 'Em All, they proved that they could play hard, fast, and with reams of energy. However, the subsequent release of Ride The Lightning proved to be a more thought-out collection of songs. Hetfield's peerless riffing is more refined, and his growling vocals are coming along (he still wasn't too great, though). Hammett's solos are mostly exciting, and he became one of the most copied lead guitarists around (in metal). Even Ulrich, whose drumming was always relatively simple and clunky, fits well with the music and gives it hard percussive edge. Metallica has never been too focused on bass, so I feel sorry for Cliff Burton he doesn't really get too much attention. He still plays an important role in adding extra punch to the riffs, and as a compositional influence. But one thing that's nice about Metallica's newer work is that the production is more accommodating to the different instruments. (Just a small gripe.)

Anyway, this album tells you what Metallica was all about. The highlight of Ride the Lighting one of my favorite Metallica songs, "Fade to Black." It's a great anti-suicide song, that starts with slow, lugubrious guitar that builds up into heavy, powerful riffs. It concludes with exhilarating, punchy riffs and a glistening solo. Fans have written to Metallica saying that this song deterred them from taking the course of suicide...that's how good it is!

"Call of Ktulu", the big instrumental, is almost symphonic in its interplay (which is why it works so well with the orchestra on S&M). "Creeping Death" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" are heavy, clomping thrash songs with interesting progressions and killer riffs. "Fire Fire with Fire" is mindless thrash with lots of kick. "Trapped under Ice" is tight speed metal. "Escape" is kind of a mid-tempo rocker that makes me think of a dude getting a new truck.

Ride the Lightning isn't as ambitious or complex as Metallica's follow-ups, Master of Puppets or ...And Justice For All. However, most of the songs are great one way or another. Here, Metallica is driven by pure intensity and delivers a great, great metal album.

Metallica - S&M

Metallica's 'greatest hits' with a symphony is a mixed bag.

I like most of a lot of Metallica songs and I think S&M is an interesting twist on the Greatest Hits/live album concept. Bolstering their powerful music with the addition of a full orchestra serves to make their music even more intense...at least sometimes. I love classical music as well as metal, so this album was instantly very intriguing to me. I was blown away the first time I heard it, and as I devoted more time to discovering the vast plethora of intricate orchestral adjuncts, my enjoyment soared.

But I must say that, like most Metallica fans, I enjoyed their pre-Black Album days more than anything they've released with producer Bob Rock. Bob Rock sucks for Metallica, that's a fact. Their music was toned down and simplified with the Black Album (as well as with the subsequent Load and Reload), which is -- inadvertently -- the problem with S&M. The orchestra does a beautiful job complementing Metallica's older songs. Songs like "Master of Puppets", "Call of Ktulu", "One", and "For Whom The Bell Tolls" work exceptionally well, because the lush soundscapes of the orchestra effectively bolster the musical complexity of these songs. Those songs were kind of proto-progressive metal; they were at least a little 'symphonic' in the first place. However, tracks like "Fuel" and "The Memory Remains" are boring plods that gain nothing with a symphonic contribution. Battery, a great thrash song, just doesn't work with strings and brass clashing with the thrash.

The two new songs, "No Leaf Clover" and "- Human" are a mixed bag too. "No Leaf Clover" is an above-average piece, primarily because of the incredible string arrangements, but it feels otherwise uninspired. "- Human" seems completely out of place with an orchestra, and I wonder what it would be like without it. Actually, I don't even really care because that song is pretty lame.

Song choice is also a problem, I think. While I can understand wanting to choose songs that were accessible to Metallica's newer fans, the overall album would have been better with more tracks from the bands glory days. ...And Justice For All got screwed big time...only one song? Granted, that song is one of the band's best ("One") but I would have loved to hear that album's title track here. I think Metallica just hates that album because they got lazy and the songs are long. Lars used to whine in all the interviews about how tired he would get playing AJFA songs. "Kill 'Em All" didn't get a single song. This is mostly understandable, but I could really see "The Four Horsemen" being played here. I think a more even selection of songs would have been appropriate.

In the end, despite the faults I've pointed out, S&M's merits overshadow its flaws. The production is excellent, Hetfield sings like never before, and the sheer amount of work that went into this show is purely commendable. If your a longtime Metallica fan or a newbie wondering where to start with one of the industry's most definitive metal bands, get S&M.