Saturday, February 07, 2009

Heyyyy, more old-school Metallica!

...at the Boneyard, Sirius Ch. 19: "Death is in the air, strapped in the electric chair, this can't be happening to meeeee..."
It was on this album, 1984's Ride the Lightning, that they started getting into the whole concept-album thing, with all the songs revolving around one central theme. In the case of this album, of course, the theme was death: suicide, war, and of course death by electrocution in the title track. Oh, yeah...here's that loooong-ass instrumental break, with all four of the guys going full-tilt. "Someone help me, oh please God, help me! They're trying to take it all awayyyyy..." I thought Master of Puppets was the best of James and the guys' early work, where they reached their full musical potential, but still I agree with what the review at Barnes and Noble said: If Kill 'Em All was the manifesto, Ride the Lightning was the revolution itself.