Metallica – Ride The Lightning

This is THE copy to own. Freaking insane in every way. I’ll treasure this forever.

Landed a VG+ copy of this piece of metal history. Sounds awesome. It’s a beauty and looks fantastic too- only it’s missing the original inner sleeve. If anyone has just the inner, let me know please.

I would be surprised if this pressing sounds better than the 45RPM one of 1987. Not sure this one really worthes 2300 bucks even in Mint conditions...

I finally got a copy of this legendary pressing, i had the deluxe boxset and hated the sound, but on this one, everything is well defined, very bright too, maybe lacks a little bit of bass but my god cliff's parts here...you can really hear the growl, the attack of his bass is amazing, also, this pressing is just a really great piece of history, my copy came with the flyer so it's always nice to have something so important for music history, i give this pressing 10/10 on the Historical aspect of it and 9/10 on sound, cause it sounds beautiful, but maybe i would've liked a little bit more bass.

So, trying to figure out the difference between this silver label version and the gray label version that was released 3 days later, according to Discogs. Neither make any mention of Elektra, as they didn’t press their versions until November. They were both mastered at Frankford Wayne New York and both pressed at the same plant: Hauppage. The labels are about the only difference. The runouts on this version end in A-1 both sides. The runouts on the gray label version end A- both sides, no “1”. Maybe they planned to press a certain amount (silver labels) and orders came in way over their plan, and they had to rush job a bunch more labels to meet demand (gray)?
The only other difference is this one sells for more and has 5,500 more people wanting it.
There’s a story there, anyone know what it is?

I found a copy in the bottom of this huge mixed items bin in one of the most hectic thriftstores ive ever been in. The sleeve and cover are both sort of wrecked, and the record is cracked through the first two songs, but it still plays pretty nice! Definitely everything after track 1 on both sides. Possibly the best fifty cents ive ever spent !! Sound is honestly pretty great, even on a beat up copy

Not their best. Make no mistake, this is a great, highly ambitious album that certainly has its moments, but as the follow up to Kill Em All, it is rather underwhelming.

The first thing that bothers me with this album is how very few moments of thrash metal are on here, and yeah, at the time this album was made, thrash metal barely existed as a term, let alone had a definition, but a few of the songs barely sound made by the same band that made Kill Em All. I'm convinced that (the songs) "Escape," and "Creeping Death," weren't made by Metallica, but by a symphonic metal band playing speed metal. This is what I mean when I say this album is disappointing compared to Kill Em All, which is an album that I love. Ride the Lightning is an ambitious metal album that tries to do a little too much, and I honestly think Metallica lost their way with this one.

James Hetfield made some of the greatest riffs ever for the songs on this album, and while most of them are pure aggressive genius, a few of them are bombastic. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" sounds dangerously close to power metal, and it tests my patience considerably, though the riffs are awesome! "Escape" is...I do not even want to talk about that track, it is just awful. Hetfield himself is also responsible for bringing down his own riffs by trying to sing like Rob Halford. He sounds terrible, and there is not a single song on this album where he sounds anything above a poor imitation of Halford.

Anyway, here are my opinions on each of the songs.

"Fight Fire With Fire": That acoustic intro belongs on a power metal album, and definitely not the opening to this song. The rest of this song is pure thrash metal, and pretty much the only pure thrash metal song on this album. If the entire album sounded like this, that'd be great, but no. 5/5

"Fight Fire With Fire": I like to call this song `how to write metal riffs 101,' and "how not to sing thrash metal." I really do not understand this, but apparently I am the only Metallica fan that thinks Hetfield's singing sounds absolutely worthless on this song, but I have tried and tried to get used to him, and I cannot. Hetfield. Sounds. Terrible. Those solos sequel rather than shred as well. 3/5

"For Whom the Bell Tolls": That bell is a dumb addition to this song, the riffs are awesome, and Cliff Burton's bassline is sick. One of the few bright spots on this album is this song. 4/5

"Fade to Black": the first part of this song is not even metal, therefore, it automatically is awful, but once that epic riff comes in just before the 4-minute mark, then the song takes on a whole new dimension and it sounds so fantastic I'm willing to overlook the first part. 5/5

"Trapped Under Ice": that riff is cool, and it is nice to have a solo at the beginning rather than the end, and an excellent thrash solo at that, and as good as this song is, the intensity starts to fade a great deal halfway through the song, like, a lot. 2/5

"Escape": *sigh* more downpicking with a dearth of heaviness. Next.
2/5

"Creeping Death": The first use of downpicking by Hetfield that doesn't fall flat after a while, though Hetfield's singing is still very annoying. 2/5

"the Call of Ktulu": an instrumental track...that totally destroys! As bad as some of the songs on this album are, this song closes the album very well. 5/5

Best Metallica album every song is so good and it is worth it

Finally got one, and have to say, this first press sounds unreal. Blown away by how powerful / vicious this is!

I own variant 2 listed here. FWIW, I purchased it new and while it came with the merchandise flyer it also came in a clear plastic inner, not the printed one. It's my recollection that most, if not all, of the Megaforce releases I bought around then had clear inners.