--[  Songs - InterPretations  ]--

Kill Em'all
Ride The Lightening
Master Of Puppets
Garage Days Re-Visited
..And Justice For all
Black Album
 

KILL 'EM ALL (Megaforce, 1983)-
 

"Hit The Lights"-
An auspicious opening to their legendary debut, the song also appeared in rougher form on the Metal Massacre I compilation before either Cliff Burton or Hammett joined. A great opener for the band's early live shows, lyrically the song is immature by present day Metallica standards and is now rarely performed.

"The Four Horseman"-
The original version of this Metallica epic was called "Mechanix,"co-written by original guitarist Dave Mustaine and appears[in that form] on Megadeth's debut Killing Is My Business...And Business I Good.

"Motorbreath"-
This thrash classic was rumored to be inspired by cocaine, but is actually about being a loyal fan of the band's music.

"Jump In The Fire"-
From the perspective of the devil, Hetfield sings of how easily people give in to temptations.

"(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth"-
Supposedly written by original bassist Ron McGovney, this bass solo was adopted and augmented by Cliff Burton and would became his trademark.

"Whiplash"-
This headbanging anthem-titled after what over-zealous fans often experience the morning after a concert-is still a major part of the band's live set.

"Phantom Lord"-
The song that begins side-two of the vinyl version of Kill 'Em All, is the arrogant war cry of a mythical heavy metal creature. The most musically mature song on the album, it hints at where the band's sound would head.

"No Remorse"-
Metallica's first anti-war song, it talks of people who go off to war for the sake of killing;guiltless and numb to the pain of their vistims.

"Seek & Destroy"-
During the band's current concerts-with vocals now handled by Jason Newsted-this song is part of the audience participation portion of the show. Fans lucky enough to be at the front of the stage or in the Snake Pit are given the chance to emulate their heroes by chiming in with the song's title, while Hetfield holds the microphone and judges each attempt.

"Metal Militia"-
Co-written by Hetfield, Ulrich, and Mustaine, the album's closing track is a call-to-arms song for metalheads.
 
 
 

RIDE THE LIGHTNING (Megaforce/Elektra, 1984)-
 

"Fight Fire With Fire"-
Acoustic guitar turns into into a full-on thrash assault in this song of revenge and Armageddon, a common topic among metal bands of that era.

"Ride The Lightning"-
An epic that graphically details death by electrocution, Written by Ulrich, Hetfield, Burton, and Dave Mustaine, who has often said that he tried to teach Hetfield the song's famous, intricate guitar break without success.

"For Whom The Bell Tolls"-
Driven by Burton's bass, this war song was inspired by a film of the same name.

"Fade To Black"-
The band's first ballad, it's about the grim contemplation and execution of suicide. Although anti-final solution, the song has been singled out, with Ozzy Osbourne's "Suicide Solution." The band maintains that they have received letters from fans who were dissuaded from taking their lives by this song.

"Trapped Under Ice"-
This nightmarish epic uses a person simultaneously drowning and freezing to death to symbolize a person living zombie-like, burnt out and perhaps a drug addict.

"Escape"-
The story of an absolute loner, it is the album's shortest track at 4:33, hinting at the style the band would eventually embrace.

"Creeping Death"-
Classic Metallica, although parts of this song is borrowed from the rarely heard Exodus song "Dying By His Hand." The lyrics to Metallica's version are based on the film "The Ten Commandments" more so than the bible.

"The Call of Ktulu"-
With lead bass by Burton, this song was inspired by the Necronomicon and H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos. Originally called "When Hell Freezes Over"
 
 
 

MASTER OF PUPPETS (Elektra, 1986)-
 

"Battery"-
Trying to move away from being known merely as a speed metal act, Ulrich once hesitantly referred to this song as "thrashy."

"Master of Puppets"-
A classic epic of the horrors and downfalls of drug dependency.

"The Thing That Should Not Be"-
Another song based on horror author H.P. Lovecraft's Cthulhu Mythos and his classic short story "The Shadow Over Innsmouth."

"Welcome Home (Sanitarium)"-
The band's second ballad, this one tells of being forced to be at home in an insane asylum.

"Disposable Heroes"-
The band's acclaimed anti-war song that details the struggle of individualism against authority.

"Leper Messiah"-
Dave Mustaine claimed he wrote the song's main riff and was not given credit. The matter was settled quietly.

"Orion"-
A favorite of the late bassist Cliff Burton, this instrumental that displayed his talents was played at his memorial service in San Francisco.

"Damage, Inc."-
This thrashy, fight song spawned a variety of t-shirts, named a few street gangs, and became the title of a comic book.
 
 
 

GARAGE DAYS RE-REVISITED (Elektra, 1987)-
 

"Helpless"-
The band's second Diamond Head cover, it actually improves on the original.

"The Small Hours"-
Arguably the band's most obscure cover, this song was originally recorded by Holocaust in 1983, the same year that saw the release of Kill 'Em All.

"The Wait"-
Metallica's re-working of the Killing Joke classic is much harder and not as "poppy" as the original.

"Crash Course In Brain Surgery"-
A cover of the Budgie classic where Jason "Newkid" Newsted gets to display his abilities to Metallica fans not familiar with his work on Flotsam & Jetsam's debut, Doomsday For The Deceiver.

"Last Caress"-
A duo of contrasting Misfits covers, the first, a morbidly humorous parody of the pop song format, the other, pure hardcore. It all ends with the band's hilarious, but painful, false start of Iron Maiden's "Run To The Hills."
 
 
 

...AND JUSTICE FOR ALL (Elektra, 1988)-
 

"Blackened"-
After beginning two albums with an acoustic riff, this one starts with high intensity build up. This song was co-written by Newsted, though you would never know it from listening. The sound is so poor, the bass is nearly absent from the mix. It is the band's first ecologically-minded tirade.

"...And Justice For All"-
The title track is critical of American ideals. Something the band will contradict on its next album.

"Eye Of The Beholder"-
Freedom is only as true as you perceive it. Released as a single, its flip-side features a raw run through of Budgie's "Breadfan."

"One"-
Metallica's most popular, well-known song, is an anti-war story of a soldier who has lost all his limbs, is deaf, blind, and mute, yet is still alive and aware. After the album's release, fans informed the band of a movie with a similar plot ("Johnny Got His Gun"). Rights to film were purchased by the band for use in their first music video.

"The Shortest Straw"-
A song of contemporary blacklisting.

"Harvester of Sorrow"-
The story of a drunken and drugged man who torments his family before finally cracking and murdering them.

"The Frayed Ends of Sanity"-
Its intro lifts the march of the Evil Witch's soldiers from The Wizard of Oz, which, ironically was also later used by Prince. The song deals with reappearing insanity and the growing inability to distinguish fantasy from reality.

"To Live Is To Die"-
Cliff Burton's post-humorous contribution is an instrumental that features his poetry-spoken by Hetfield-and a riff which the band composed around. Also, clocking in at 9:48, it is the band's longest epic.

"Dyers Eve"-
Rumored to be inspired by Dyers Avenue in Manhatten, New York City, it is about the ultimate act of teen angst, a violent suicide.
 
 
 

THE BLACK ALBUM (Elektra, 1991)-
 

"Enter Sandman"-
A nightmarish-lullaby dealing with a child's fear of entering the dreamscape, it was the album's first single and video clip and also the first of many hits from the record, quickly finding a home in the top thirty.

"Sad But True"-
Pure power stomp., its a song of obsessive manipulation.

"Holier Than Thou"-
The albums most aggressive track, the song's message is "those who live in glass houses should not throw stones." Is it a crack against music critics?

"The Unforgiven"-
The band's first song to include orchhestral instumentation, it details the life of a person brow-beaten into conforming to society while being denied the chance to be open-minded or creative.

"Wherever I May Roam"-
Beginning with an electric sitar, this road song is the edict of a person who is constantly on the go, who never has the chance to plant his roots or settle down in one place. The song's narrator eventually admits that anywhere he pauses is his home.

"Don't Tread On Me"-
Taking its name from the revolutionary flag that bears the coiled snake, it is the album's most controversial track. Its patriotic stance starkly contrasts the anti-Americanism slant of And Justice For All.

"Through The Never"-
Another frantic track, it's about the never-ending pursuit of knowledge, no matter how unfeasible it may seem in the perpetual universe.

"Nothing Else Matters"-
The closest the band has ever come to writing a love song, this ballad is arguably the band's most accomplished song featuring vocal harmonies and strings.

"Of Wolf and Man"-
A werewolf song, it symbolizes the hunter who believes he is one with nature.

"The God That Failed"-
Bass-driven tirade on people who believe in Christian Science and thus deprive their child of medical attention. It is also a thinly-veiled autobiographical song involving Hetfield's strict religious parents.

"My Friend of Misery"-
Outsider view of someone reveling in self-pity and maintaing a pessimistic view of the entire world.

"The Struggle Within"-
With a drummer's march intro, the dramatic conclusion of Metallica's fifth album deals with a person suffering from a self-defeating personality.

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