717. Metallica / Ride the Lightning. 1984. 5/5

1983 had heralded the meteoric rise of Metallica, through imperious gigging in the growing metal hot spots of the US, the sacking of their volatile lead guitarist / vocalist in Dave Mustaine mere days before entering the studio to record their debut album, drafting in Kirk Hammett to replace him (on guitar at least), and then more touring including Europe following the release of “Kill ‘Em All”. All of that interesting story can be found on the episode on this podcast dedicated to that album in Season 5. Check it out, it’s worth it.
Given the position the band holds in the music industry in the modern day, it is sometimes difficult to reconcile that at this stage of their career, the band had no money, barely able to afford food and often crashing at fans houses on tour to save having to pay for accommodation. It’s easy to forget that all bands start out this way, that they all have to scrimp and fight to keep the dream alive. Despite the fan base growing through the exposure of the band due to their debut album, it barely raised a ripple on the charts due to almost zero exposure on radio. It meant that the band had to make their money on club gigs wherever they could book them and in trying to pick up prime support slots. Less than a decade later they were headlining their own stadium tours, but at this point they were like every other band starting out. They also twice had gear stolen while on tour, and even had to borrow gear from fellow rising stars Anthrax to complete a tour. It was also a time when James Hetfield was still unsure about continuing as both lead vocalist and guitarist, at least in the live setting, and the story goes that he approached John Bush, lead vocalist for Armored Saint, and offered him that role in Metallica. Bush apparently turned him down, referring to stay with his band who was made up of friends e had grown up with in school. It wasn’t the only time vocalist/guitarist in other bands considered the same problem. With the course set now, however, Hetfield moved past this and solidified his legacy.
The band had begun to write new material while on tour to support their debut album, and now looked towards their sophomore album. They brought in Flemming Rasmussen to act as producer, purely through Lars Ulrich who had enjoyed the sound he had brought to Rainbow’s album “Difficult to Cure” and felt he could add something to Metallica’s sound as well. It was to be a decision that proved fortuitous over the coming three albums. The band moved to his studio, Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen – almost literally. Unable to afford accommodation, the band slept in the studio during the day, and then recorded there at night, as the studio was booked out at the time for all daytime sessions. Though they already had some tracks written and had indeed already begun performing them live – others had to be composed in the studio, something that the band had not done prior to this. It makes it even more remarkable that the album was completed in just three weeks, a time schedule that had been necessary as they had more touring already booked in for not long after this finishing date.
And through all of this, Metallica and Rasmussen put together the album that was to become the first great mark of the band. And it became “Ride the Lightning”

“Ride the Lightning” was a step up from Metallica’s debut album “Kill 'Em All”. And yet, they did not compromise the thrash roots that the band had helped to inflame on that first record. Rather, the band took the fast, heavy and complicated guitar and drum patterns from that opening stanza and found a way to take their music a step further without losing the elements of thrash that the band had come to create. It has been noted in interviews and books over the years that a lot of this had to do with bass guitarist Cliff Burton, who was able to bring more of his influence into the writing for the second album. By helping to bring in a harmonic and melodic approach to the guitaring, the composition of the songs took on a more mature style than the out-and-out speed and aggression that formed the debut album. That isn’t to say that the songs here lose that, it's just that it is a more tightened and formulated style. Take “For Whom the Bell Tolls” as an example. It is not a furious thrash song, and is overall a rather simplified song for the drums and the guitars, with Cliff Burton's bass riff being the dominating factor throughout the track. The drums sound heavy through the major use of the toms and the ‘duh-duh-duh-DAH" timing which is exacerbated by the guitar riff, and James’s vocals that cry out to the audience, willing those listening on in anthemic style. It is still a terrific song, but not one that would have fit in with the whole package of the debut album. It has always been played faster live, where it needs to be, but here on “Ride the Lightning” its mid-tempo speed still harnesses the energy of the electrified performances around it (bad pun, yes).
Lars Ulrich’s drumming has also been reigned in on this album, with Rasmussen encouraging the young upstart to stick to his timings without slowing or speeding up during a song. This helps the tempo in songs such as “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Fade to Black”. It also becomes more intricate when the song requires it rather than just going for pure speed. His drumming during “The Call of Ktulu” in particular is spectacular, filling holes and enhancing pieces with his rolls and fills.
On top of this, Hetfield’s lyrics take on a more world aware drive than from the first album, where the majority of songs are about music and their fans. Here he runs a full gamut, with his first shot at nuclear war on “Fight Fire with Fire” and a further war tome in “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, the ode of a man on death row in “Ride the Lightning” and referencing consideration of suicide in “Fade to Black”, cryogenics in “Trapped Under Ice” and a mental health battle in “Escape”, and a return to the bible tomes of the first album’s “The Four Horsemen” in the brilliant “Creeping Death”. As a result of Hetfield’s lyrical overtones, the songs become more interesting as a result, and combined with the maturing of the music writing and performing, it elevates this album to another level than their fans would have seen since the band’s inception.
The beginning of the opening track "Fight Fire with Fire" draws on that immediately, the clean acoustic guitar beginnings lulling the listener into a state of ambiance, before cranking into the thrashing guitar riffs that envelop the speakers into the heart of the song. Just brilliant. Immediately the band has shown it is willing to change things up a little, but on their terms, and only for a short breath of a moment. The title track "Ride the Lightning" segues straight following this in the best possible way, and now showcased an ability to not have each song based purely on speed, and yet not lose the intensity that each track is submitted. The solidity of the verses is then topped ff by the increase in tempo and down-picking into the bridge. It remains one of the band's great tracks. “For Whom the Bell Tolls” follows, the solid, no-nonsense track that, as discussed, is a foundation to the slight tweaking Metallica have made with their out here on this album.
There are two tracks on this album that do highlight what made Metallica stand out from the crowd as a result of this album. The first of those is "Fade to Black", a song that in the modern day might be categorised as a ‘power ballad’, and what some people in the mid-80's called Metallica's 'sell-out' song. How wrong they were. "Fade to Black" instead showcased all the strengths of the band, without losing the intensity and power of their music. It has become one of their signature pieces, because it showed that as a thrash metal band, they were able to diversify their sound without compromising their roots and the music that their fans had been drawn to them because of. It is arguable that this did eventually occur down the track, but that is a conversation not required here. Instead, “Fade to Black” combines thoughtful lyrics on a difficult subject with a mix of acoustic and clear guitars into a thrash heavy riff crescendo, and an exit solo cascade that is one of the finest in the band’s history. Power ballad my arse, this is the result of a top shelf thrash metal band climbing to another level, to a peak that other bands of their ilk could only dream of reaching, and one of course that Metallica itself continued to rise above.

Shifting onto Side 2 of the album, and the album keeps on giving. Opening up with the brilliant "Trapped Under Ice", the speed returns in true style and hammers along with glee. Listening to the speed that the guitars are being down-picked at causes cramps in fingers just thinking about it. Kirk’s exquisite soloing in this song is superb. Hetfield’s young high-pitched vocals reaching mid-scream throughout also make this song such a great ride. This is another example of a Metallica song that sometimes gets lost under all of the other amazing songs they have written, and doesn’t deserve to be. Back in the day, I know in my friend group at high school it was one of our most favourite songs by the band.
The hugely underrated "Escape" follows. It seems to be a song that has slipped through the cracks of Metallica folklore, and I for one have never really understood that. Hetfield's vocals in particular are great in this song. Okay, so maybe it is this album’s “Quest for Fire” or “Crush” or even Judas Priest’s version of “Johnny B Goode”, but that doesn’t make it unlikeable. Perhaps part of the reason this song is so undervalued is that Hetfield himself has come out and said it is his most despised Metallica song, and as a result the band has only ever played it once live, when they played the entire “Ride the Lightning” album in 2012. I hate to say this, James, but there are albums worth of songs coming up that are worse than this track! It also has "Creeping Death" following it, which is a pretty unfair task. “Creeping Death” is certainly one of Metallica's most favoured songs, and surely one of the best five they have ever written. Everything about this song is epic – the opening riff, the verses and story telling, the singalong chorus, the solo section, the middle bridge with built in stomping crowd chant designed en masse, and then the awesome ending. It is impossible to amplify exactly how amazing this song is. Forty years later it is still as good as it was back when it was released. A gem.
The closing song on the album is the second of the two songs that helped Metallica pull away from the crowd. The instrumental "The Call of Ktulu" is an amazing track, combining every great aspect of the Metallica legacy. It too combines those clean and acoustic guitars with the thrash and heavy metal throughout different stages of the song, telling its own tale even without lyrics to do so. At almost nine minutes in length, it simply shouldn’t work, and yet it is arguably the cream on top of the rest of the album. A long full instrumental track to conclude an album? Madness! And yet, following what could be considered the band’s first instrumental in “Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)” on their first album, this magnificent track encapsulated just how amazing Metallica had become in such a short time. The building crescendo to finish the album is majestic, and puts down several exclamation points on what is a classic album.

“Ride the Lightning” was the first Metallica music I ever heard, albeit it was at the beginning of 1986, some 18 months after its release in mid-1984. I had returned to school for the start of Year 11 and was a couple of weeks into the new school year. My friends and I had started on a quest towards discovering the love of heavy metal music. Some had started earlier than others, and my own initiation had only really begun towards the end of the previous school year. On this day, we were discussing what we had all done on our summer holidays, when one of our number said he had heard of this band called Metallica, and had read good things about them. Another of our group, who was and remains my heavy metal music dealer that I often mention on these podcast episodes, concurred that he had heard similar things, and that we should try and get some of their music. It was then that the first informant did a deal with his accomplice, suggesting that if one of them went out and bought the newly released album entitled “Master of Puppets” then the other could go out and buy the band’s previous album “Ride the Lightning”. And so, it was agreed. That morning conversation, sitting on plastic school chairs gathered in a circle underneath the trees in a corner of the senior common area, is still crystal clear in my mind. I can still see and hear it all now. And within the week, through the magic of two people each buying a vinyl album and the rest of us throwing blank cassettes at them to record them for us, we all had copies of both of these albums, and a lifelong love affair had begun.
There are other memories that this album brings to me whenever I listen to it or discuss it. I will never forget the day when, on a school bus trip to some outing that had been preordained for us, we asked the driver to put this album on over the bus’s stereo system. The beginning of the album, the acoustic opening to “Fight Fire with Fire”, brought responses from many of the girls on board of "Wow, isn't this nice music!"... before the anguished cries of "OH, what is THIS shit!" as the real guitars kicked in and the frantic headbanging of those who knew the album began in earnest. It was the perfect response to the start of the album, from lovers of metal and its detractors alike.
Another is how I have gone about buying each new stereo system I have ever owned – three of them to this point in time, but also various other smaller boom boxes and the such. Every time I have gone out to buy a new system, I have always asked the in-store staff if I could play something on it, to judge if the system is right for me. And that song has always been “Fade to Black”. Because if a stereo system can handle the power and intricacies of that song, then it can handle anything. It caused some ruckus at a couple of stores in doing that, but I refused to buy a system without hearing this song on it first.
I rarely go too long without having this album on my stereo. But over the last month, in preparation for this episode, I have played it a LOT. At least twice a day over that four week period. And I never get tired of it. Every song is a gem, every moment is a pleasure. Each listen transports me back to those days at the end of high school, sitting with my friends at lunch times, listening to albums on repeat, with this one at the top of the queue with “Master of Puppets”, along with “Piece of Mind”, “Powerslave”, “Somewhere in Time”, “The Ultimate Sin”, “Tribute”, “Heaven and Hell” and “Sacred Heart”. Such great memories every single time.
Forty years on from that release date, and everything that makes "Ride the Lightning” one of the best and most admired albums of the metal genre is still there and relevant to listeners new or old. It still stands the test of time, and is still as important as it was when it was released. The memories and nostalgia that it brings up for me whenever I listen to it continue to make this one of my favourite albums of all time.

716. Dio / The Last in Line. 1984. 5/5

When you are on a roll, you are on a roll. While at the time it was occurring it was unlikely that Ronnie James Dio thought that he was, the retrospective look back at the material and albums that he had been a part of during the time span of 1976 through to 1984 is incredible. And, having to try and follow up each album or each project, in itself must have been both traumatising and electrifying. The first great album came with Rainbow’s “Rising” album, a seminal point in time with songs that still resonate through to the modern day. Then they followed that up with “Long Live Rock and Roll”, again with songs that are still so powerful today. It is hard to believe that Dio could possibly have been moved on from the band at that point, but he was. And so he joined up with the singer-less Black Sabbath, and helped create the amazing “Heaven and Hell” album, that brought the band back from the dead. Then they followed that up with “Mob Rules”, another incredible feat given how big the previous album had been. And then of course, it is hard to believe that Dio could possibly move on from the band at that point, but again, he did. This time, he set up his own band under his own name, and THEY happened to produce an album by the name of “Holy Diver”, one that again is still heralded in the metal fandom. Most of these albums already have episodes dedicated to them on this podcast, and if they don’t already, they certainly will have.
So not only had Dio been involved in composing and recording some of the best albums of that age, he and his bandmates kept finding ways to follow up great albums with another great album. And following the amazing success of “Holy Diver”, it was exactly where the band Dio found themselves once again – charged with the task of trying to come up with a follow up to an album that, like those other albums, appeared impossible to follow. “Holy Diver” had sold and performed extraordinarily well, on the back of relentless touring from the new band, and many of the tracks on that album had already become classics. To then come out a year later and release an album that would be as remotely well received as it had been was quite a task.
One of the things that boded well for the band was that they had now been together for over a year, touring together and being able to gel on the stage, such that the quartet – which had now added a member in touring keyboardist Claude Schnell – knew everything that the others were capable of. They had ideas that were born of their touring time together and could now see that bear fruit in regard to the writing of stronger and more focused songs on the back of it.

There's not much you can say about the opening two tracks of “The Last in Line” that hasn't been said somewhere else a thousand times. "We Rock" opens the album in brilliant style, and became one of Dio's anthems and often the closing song of the live set, drawing the band and audience together through the lyrics and making you feel a part of the legacy. There aren’t many album opening tracks that you can say have opened an album brilliantly but can also act as a concert closer, but “We Rock” is definitely one of them. From the outset, Dio grabs you and pulls you along for the ride. This is followed by the masterpiece that is "The Last in Line" - heavy, loud, melodic, booming. Ronnie's vocals power the song along, Vinnie Appice's heavy-handed drumming, beats down hard, along with Jimmy Bain's gutteral bass guitar, and topped off by Vivian Campbell's squealing guitar licks. And that guitar solo in the middle – my word, just amazing. Still an absolute classic forty years later. And the film clip that went with it, as the first single released from the album, is still as 1980’s cheesy brilliant as it was back in the day playing on video shows all over the planet. When Ronnie cries “We’re off to the witch, we may never never never come home!” you are ready to charge off with the band wherever they want to take you.
Just as awesome as these opening tracks are the follow ups. "Breathless" is dominated by Vivian's guitaring, and despite all of the brilliant songs on this album, this remains my absolute favourite. I love Ronnie's vocals here, and the rhythm ties it all together magnificently. Jimmy’s bass line is terrific, and though I am woeful on that instrument it is my favourite song to play on the bass. This is followed by "I Speed at Night", which runs along at a speed that is worthy of the title. This is a terrific example of the best that Dio can produce. While the band (and most of Dio's work in general) don't usually dabble in such fast-paced songs, this is a beauty, and one of my only regrets with Dio's discography of songs is that he, and the band, didn't do more fast songs like this. Completing side one is "One Night in the City", a more typical tempo song of the band after the frantic opening, but still a great one that brings the heavier drum and guitar riff out to compensate for that, and a song that eventually hung around set lists for some years.
Just like “Holy Diver”, the strength of this album is not just in the songs that everyone knows and of the singles that were released from it, it is in the heart of the album, the songs that mightn't have been heard by casual listeners of the band's work. Not every song on an album has to be an epic. It doesn't have to be that you try and fit nine songs as memorable as "We Rock" on an album. Not every song has to be absolutely unforgettable or considered a timeless song in the anthology of the band. The strength of any album should always be judged by the songs that aren’t as well known, or aren’t as well publicised or played in the live environment. Those are the songs that make a truly great album, because if they can hold their own away from the spotlight, then the album can also do so away from its hit songs. And here on “The Last in Line”, that is certainly the case, in my opinion at least. Songs such as those mentioned - “Breathless”, “I Speed at Night”, “One Night in the City” - certainly have that. "Evil Eyes" and even the closing track on the album, the enduring and epic "Egypt (The Chains Are On)" may not be the first songs you think of when it comes to Dio's best, but they help to make this album as great as it is, because they meld into the fabric of the track list, and become enmeshed in the whole listening experience. What's more, if these songs happen to come up on a random mix at home or at a party, they immediately stand out to you, because although you may not think of them often especially in the framework of listening to the album from first track to last, when you hear them on their own out of that environment you absolutely appreciate them. I love them both.
"Mystery" was one of the singles from the album and was often slated as one that was written directly for the commercial market, some believe as an attempt to create the same success as “Rainbow in the Dark” from the previous album. Whether or not this is true I don't know, but while it is the less heavy song on the album, I have always loved and still love it. As a retaliator, listen to Ronnie's vocals on "Eat Your Heart Out". Heavy lyrics, which Ronnie spits out with emotion. He really dishes it out on this song especially, in a fashion like those of the two opening tracks. It is the brilliance of both Dio and his band, that they are able to mould so many different aspects into their music without losing the focus and drive of each track.
Everyone on this album again stands up and performs their part brilliantly. Ronnie’s vocals are supreme once again, not only soaring when they need to but also being forceful and cutting when the mood of the song requires it. I am biased but he truly is a vocal God. Jimmy Bain’s bass lines again on this album are terrific, filling out the songs and giving them a real depth in the way Geezer Butler and John Deacon do for their bands, perhaps without the undeniable brilliance of those two performers. Vinny Appice’s drumming again is spot on for the way the songs are written, his drum fills and timings again sometimes get missed by those not paying enough attention. And Vivian Campbell reigns over all again, now not an apprentice but a true master of his instrument, playing riffs and solos that capture the imagination of all, and again prove how important he was to this band in the era of these albums.

Back in Year 11 in high school, about six months after my friend group went from having a couple of people who had listened to heavy metal music before, to our entire cavalry being on board, we had an exchange student from the US turn up for a few months. Fortunately for us, Steve arrived bearing cassettes of his favourite bands and albums. Amongst them we were first introduced to bands such as Night Ranger and Ratt. And also the band Dio through the two cassettes he brought with him, “Holy Diver” and “The Last in Line”. And after we had ALL gotten copies of these albums on cassettes of our own, the joy and obsession with the band Dio began. For me, at least. And it is a love that has continued to grow over the almost 40 years since, and an obsession that has never died.
I can’t tell you how much I listened to this cassette, over and over again. It was a time in my life that I had so much going on in regard to school and sport, and the amount of music that was flooding my existence as a result of discovering heavy metal was immense. It was overload. Maiden, Metallica, Ozzy, Sabbath, Megadeth, Purple. And yet Dio still kept up with all of them, constantly on rotation in the car once I had my drivers licence, or at home in my bedroom on my portable tape deck. This and “Holy Diver” just kept being played. And I never got sick of them. I knew every note, every word, every nuance of this album, singing along on the invisible microphone, playing guitar alongside Vivian on my cricket bat. Man I loved this album. Wait... what I mean is... man, I LOVE this album.
It has been there through awful times. This album, without fail, I can put on when I feel lost in the dark or at an emotional crossroad, and it fixes everything. It never fails to lighten or brighten my mood. It can bring me to tears whether I am joyous or sad, all for the right reasons. These days it is usually the song “Mystery” that does it to me. My lovely wife and I struggled to fall pregnant for many years, and at one point we felt we may never get to have children. Fortunately, through the miracle that is IVF, we were able to have our eldest daughter Jessica 21 years ago this month. And when she was young, and I was trying to send her off to sleep either by bouncing her on my knee or rocking her in my arms, I used to sing “Mystery” to her, because the lyrics spoke to me about the miracle of her conception, and the mystery of why and how she came to be with us. The result is that I listen to that song now and it still drags out tears, of just how lucky we are.
Ronnie's vocals here are at their peak, soaring at velocity. Vivian's guitaring too is just brilliant, driving the songs and taking over during the solo breaks. Those that only know him through his work with Def Leppard would not believe he could be this good. He is just brilliant on this album, unbelievably excellent. And, though you may not necessarily notice them between these two legends, Vinny's drumming and Jimmy's bass are as solid as ever here, providing the foundations for the other two to work their magic.
On first glance, when balancing the worth of the tracks on the first two Dio albums, most would probably say that “Holy Diver” is the better album, hands down. On closer inspection and listening, there is really not that much between the two of them. “The Last in Line” is a creeper, because the balance of the less famous songs stands up pretty well against those of the debut album. When push comes to shove, I find it very difficult to separate the two when it comes to choosing a favourite. Suffice to say that I still think this is a brilliant and, perhaps in many instances, underrated album. And this song is one of the best ever written.