The yr was 1984. Simply twelve months after the discharge of their iconic Kill ’Em All album, thrash steel pioneers Metallica had captured the eye of the world’s steel neighborhood, their quicker, extra aggressive strategy to heavy steel injecting a brand new sense of pleasure into the considerably stagnant US scene of the early 80s. Selecting up from the place the likes of Iron Maiden and Motörhead left off, the group was on the cusp of fixing the blueprint of the heavy steel style endlessly with their sophomore launch, Experience The Lightning, launched on July 27.
Simply previous to ending a tour with UK black steel pioneers Venom in June 1982, Metallica arrived in Copenhagen to start pre-recording rehearsals and writing materials for Experience The Lightning in Candy Silence Studios, with producer Flemming Rasmussen on the helm.
The resultant album cemented Metallica’s separation from their denim- and leather-clad friends. Clearly additionally step up from its predecessor by way of manufacturing, Experience The Lightning evidenced a extra superior and highly effective supply which is now deemed a genre-defining cornerstone in the way in which that the thrash and pace steel subgenres sound as we speak.
The album’s opening observe, “Fight Fire With Fire,” units the tone, its subtle – however nonetheless brutal – sound creating a superbly balanced masterpiece. Abandoning the then-dominant heavy steel material of demons, wizards and fantasy, Experience The Lightning’s lyrical content material was impressed by politics, historical past, struggle, and capital punishment.
The latter permeates the title observe, which explodes with a catchy groove-infested riff and an anthemic refrain that also rings out loud as we speak – the work of a maturing band pushing the boundaries of heavy steel and exploring uncharted territory throughout the very style that they had helped create. Elsewhere, songs cope with the concept of residing dying by means of cryogenics (“Trapped Under Ice”), self-empowerment (“Escape”), and tales of Biblical prophecy (the timeless anthem “Creeping Death”).
With out warning, the opening sequence to the thunderous, stadium-bothering third observe, “For Whom The Bell Tolls,” solidifies the impression of Experience The Lightning as one of many group’s most iconic albums, marrying the unlikely types of then bassist Cliff Burton’s traditional rock and jazz influences with the remainder of the band’s steel drive. It results in the album’s midway mark, which signifies essentially the most poignant second in Metallica’s profession with the courageous introduction of a thrash steel ballad, “Fade To Black,” marking yet one more new strategy to thrash steel. Not like something that had hitherto come out of the style, the music’s sluggish, melodic association, from its opening chords to the grandiose, heart-soaring finale, helped the band achieve a brand new stage of respect from music critics across the globe.
The album’s remaining tracks proceed to pulse with innovation and momentum; components of soulful magnificence and depth are in abundance, not least with the usage of classical guitars on the prelude to “Fight Fire With Fire,” earlier than the brutal assault of Hetfield and Hammet’s buzz-saw guitars, accompanied by Ulrich’s machine-gun drumming. In the meantime, nearer “The Call Of Ktulu” (initially titled “When Hell Freezes Over”) delivers 9 minutes of thunderous instrumental passages impressed by influential horror fiction author HP Lovecraft, making it abundantly clear that dying is the album’s predominant material – albeit delivered it in a extra refined and understated format in comparison with the over-the-top imagery and graphic lyrics utilized by Metallica’s contemporaries.
With their 1983 debut having uncovered the steel scene’s want for one thing heavier and extra aggressive than what was on supply, Experience The Lightning’s improvements have been greeted with refreshing enthusiasm by each the rock media and followers alike. A look on the songwriting credit reveals Cliff Burton’s elementary contribution to the group’s evolving sound: having co-written almost three-quarters of the album alongside James and Lars, Burton was very a lot a catalyst in pushing the band into uncharted musical territory and breaking down the boundaries of heavy steel, one music at a time.
The end result was an album on which every of the eight tracks have been all, in their very own proper, cornerstones of not solely thrash, however your entire heavy steel style, proving that there was extra to the music – and this band – than ingesting beer and banging your head. Metallica’s skill to compose quick, crushingly heavy and complicated music, loaded with an abundance of delicate, soulful, and deeply transferring preparations, dramatically separated them from the competitors.
Experience The Lightning will be purchased right here.
