From day one, Metallica was formed in the minds of James Hetfield and Lars Ulrich. No matter the lineup changes or drastic shifts in style between albums, nothing would appear on a Metallica record without getting the approval of Hetfield and Ulrich first. Although the singer and guitarist was known as the master of riffs, Ulrich’s role is a lot more nuanced than the man who plays the drums.
Despite his ability as a player getting called into question these days, Ulrich has been known as one of the foundational parts of Metallica’s business model. Rather than just looking after the percussion, Ulrich has a fundamental understanding of how a Metallica record should sound, whether it is how the drums work or which riffs sound better when connected. Even though Ulrich understands the big picture now, the band was still figuring things out when crafting Ride the Lightning.
Having recorded their debut album, Kill Em All, on a shoestring budget, half of the sessions were comprised of sloppy playing on everyone’s part so that they could have a product by the time the session ran out. When working on the follow-up, the band had more wiggle room to craft a fine set of songs that would define thrash metal for years.
Putting furious metal like ‘Fight Fire With Fire’ alongside ballads like ‘Fade to Black’, Ride the Lightning has earned a spot just behind Master of Puppets as one of the band’s finest moments. Although nearly every song on the record holds up in metal circles, there’s a case to be made that the title track is the definitive Metallica song.
Featuring a blistering solo from Kirk Hammett, every previous member had a hand in crafting the song, from Ulrich and bassist Cliff Burton writing the intro to the riffs being written by James Hetfield and former guitarist Dave Mustaine. To add a little sonic flavour to the mix, Ulrich stepped into the vocal booth for the first time.
While Ulrich will admit that he’s not meant to be in front of the stage, he wouldn’t add vocals in the traditional sense. Since the song deals with themes of a wrongfully accused person being sentenced to death by electrocution, Ulrich provides the man’s screams as he meets his end.
As Hetfield screams the line “I don’t want to die”, Ulrich can be heard yelling in agony in the background, which becomes difficult to hear amid the chugging riffs and bass flourishes by Burton. When taken out of context, Ulrich’s yelps are bone-chilling, perfectly depicting a man at the end of his rope as he bids farewell to his life.
Even though Metallica did have a few more sonic experiments across their thrash glory years, their recordings tended to get tighter once Bob Rock joined the fray. Having been a seasoned pro of the studio environment, Rock was a stickler for getting the best performance possible and would often tidy up any mistakes or Easter eggs left in the final mix. Although Ulrich can be heard trying to reprise his scream in the documentary Some Kind of Monster, there’s no equaling what he brought to his first turn behind the mic.
