Released almost exactly a year after debut album "Kill 'Em All" hit the shelves, "Ride the Lightning" is quite easily one of the best thrash metal, and indeed metal in general, album of all time. All of the band had a hand in writing the songs, with former guitarist and now Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine gaining writing credits for "Ride the Lightning" and "The Call of Kthulu".
This album was the Metallica of old; a pure out and out thrash machine. But that's not to say there aren't any slower parts on the album. The amazing "Fade to Black" is an example of what many would call a 'thrash ballad', even though the band would probably have denied this at the time. The song starts slow and progresses through a heavy riff-laden chorus, and finally into a crescendo of furious soloing from Hammett. For fans of the heavier stuff, you don't get much heavier than album opener, "Fight Fire With Fire". As soon as the guitars kick in on overdrive, you know you're listening to a monster. "For Whom the Bell Tolls" begins with guitars and drums down-produced over the sound of a tolling bell and Cliff Burton's incredibly heavy bassline, and "Creeping Death" is also a thrash anthem for its high-intensity fretwork, written largely by Hammett.
If there are any downsides to this album, I've yet to hear them. I've been listening to "Ride the Lightning" since it was released and still come back to it time and time again. If you want an album than not only made people look at the Bay Area thrash movement and want to be the next band to make it, then this one of those very albums that inspired the likes of Machine Head into picking up instruments.
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