Fight Fire With Fire
Ride The
Lightning
For Whom
The Bell Tolls
Fade To Black
Trapped
Under Ice
Escape
Creeping
Death
The Call Of
Ktulu
(1984)
| Detta
andra album handlar om deras (mest James’)
funderingar om döden och de fyra gruppmedlemmarna blev
verkligen nöjda med resultatet. Visserligen skrevs
några få av låtarna bara just innan albumet skulle
spelas in, så de hade nog kunnat arrangera dem lite
annorlunda om de hade fått möjligheten att spela in dem
på band först och sedan lyssnat genom dem i lugn och
ro, innan de gjorde albumet. Deras första bekymmer
angående ljudet tillkom när all deras utrustning blev
stulen tre veckor innan de kom till Köpenhamn under
deras föregående turné. Det var med denna händelse i
baktanke som de sedan skrev låten 'Fade To Black'. James
förlorade sin unika Marshallförstärkare och fick
verkligen problem med att få det rytmljud som då
kännetecknade Metallica. De letade genom praktiskt taget
varenda Marshall i Danmark innan de hittade en ny som
passade. Albumet spelades in i Danmark, mest eftersom de
var på turné där och de stannade för att det skulle
bli billigt att spela in. Flemming Rasmussen var något av både producent och tekniker och han gjorde båda för en ganska liten summa pengar. Han visade dem en del nya saker och de lärde sig en hel del under den inspelningen. Den slutliga skillnaden mellan 'Kill 'em all' och 'Ride the lightning' var att låtarna inte gick i samma höga fart som 'Metal Militia'. De hade nämligen insett att det inte beror på hastigheten hur kraftfull och tung en låt blir. Låtar som 'For Whom The Bell Tolls' och 'Ride The Lightning' är bra exempel på den attityden. Dessutom är det senare albumet mer melodiskt. |
Do unto others as
they have done to you
But what the hell is this world coming to?
Blow the universe into nothingness
Nuclear warfare shall lay us to rest
Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear
We all shall die
Time is like a fuse, short and burning fast
Armageddon is here, like said in the past
Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear
Soon to fill our lungs the hot winds of death
The gods are laughing, so take your last breath
Fight fire with fire
Ending is near
Fight fire with fire
Bursting with fear
Fight fire with fire
(repeat)
| En låt som handlar om en oskyldig person som dömts till döden, och nu sitter i elektriska stolen utan möjlighet att stoppa avrättningen. |
Guilty as charged
But damn it, it ain't right
There is someone else controlling me
Death in the air
Strapped in the elctric chair
This can't be happening to me
Who made you god to say:
"I'll take your life from you!"
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Wait for the sign
To flick the switch of death
It's the beginning of the end
Sweat, chilling cold
As I watch death unfold
Consciousness is my only friend
My fingers grip with fear
What am I doing here?
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Someone help me
Oh please God help me
They are trying to take it all away
I don't want to die
Time moving slow
The minutes seem like hours
The final curtain call I see
How true is this?
Just get it over with
If this is true, just let it be
Wakened by horrid scream
Freed from this frightening dream
Flash before my eyes
Now it's time to die
Burning in my brain
I can feel the flame
Baserad på Ernest
Hemingways bok med samma namn.
(svensk titel ‘Klockan klämtar för dig’).
Make his fight on the hill in the early day
Constant chill deep inside
Shouting gun, on they run through the endless grey
On they fight, for they are right, yes, but who's to say?
For a hill men would kill, why? They do not know
Suffered wounds test their pride
Men of five, still alive through the raging glow
Gone insane from the pain that they surely know
For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls
Take a look to the sky just before you die
It is the last time he will
Blackened roar massive roar fills the crumbling sky
Shattered goal fills his soul with a ruthless cry
Stranger now, are his eyes, to this mystery
He hears the silence so loud
Crack of dawn, all is gone except the will to be
Now they see what will be, blinded eyes to see
For whom the bell tolls
Time marches on
For whom the bell tolls
| James
skrev låten efter att Metallicas utrustning hade stulits
i Boston, där de förberedde sig för sin första
Europaturné. Bland det stulna fanns en speciell
Marshallförstärkare, som var oerhört svår att få tag
på. Strax därefter skulle de spela in skivan ‘Ride
the lightning’, och behövde då en sådan
förstärkare. Låten handlar om någon som tappat lusten
att leva, och tar livet av sig. Den orsakade stor
uppståndelse, när flera ungdomar tog livet av sig efter
att ha hört den. Många föräldrar försökte stämma
Metallica och andra band med liknande texter, som ett
slags försök att skylla sina egna misstag på dem. Låten uppmärksammades mycket i media, men det var aldrig någon som skrev om de många tackbrev som Metallica fick. Det var tackbrev från ungdomar, som tänkt ta livet av sig men ångrat sig efter att ha hört ‘Fade To Black’. |
Life it seems, will fade away
Drifting further every day
Getting lost within myself
Nothing matters, no one else
I have lost the will to live
Simply nothing more to give
There is nothing more for me
Need the end to set me free
Things not what they used to be
Missing one inside of me
Deathly lost, this can't be real
Cannot stand this hell I feel
Emptiness is filling me
To the point of agony
Growing darkness taking dawn
I was me, but now he's gone
No one but me can save myself, but it's too late
Now I can't think, think why I should even try
Yesterday seems as though it never existed
Death greets me warm, now I will just say goodbye
| Handlar om att frysa ner levande människor, för att sedan tina upp dem flera år senare. |
I don't know how to live through
this hell
Woken up, I'm still locked in this cell
Frozen soul, frozen down to the core
Break the ice, I can't take anymore
Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice
Crystallized, as I lay here and rest
Eyes of glass stare directly at death
From deep sleep I have broken away
No one knows, no one hears what I say
Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice
Scream from my soul
Fate, mystified
Hell, forever more
Scream from my soul
Fate, mystified
Hell, forever more
No release from my cryonic state
What is this? I've been stricken by fate
Wrapped up tight, cannot move, can't break free
Hand of doom has a tight grip on me
Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice
Freezing
Can't move at all
Screaming
Can't hear my call
I am dying to live
Cry out
I'm trapped under ice
Feel no pain, but my life ain't
easy
I know I'm my best friend
No one cares, but I'm so much stronger
I'll fight until the end
To escape from the true false world
Undamaged destiny
Can't get caught in the endless circle
Ring of stupidity
Out for my own, out to be free
One with my mind, they just can't see
No need to hear things that they say
Life is for my own to live my own way
Rape my mind and destroy my feelings
Don't tell me what to do
I don't care now, 'cause I'm on my side
And I can see through you
Feed my brain with your so called standards
Who says that I ain't right
Break away from your common fashion
See through your blurry sight
Out for my own, out to be free
One with my mind, they just can't see
No need to hear things that they say
Life is for my own to live my own way
See them try to bring the hammer down
No damn chains can hold me to the ground
Life is for my own to live my own way
(repeat)
| Låten är baserad på en berättelse ur Bibeln, som handlar om hur Gud straffar egyptierna, som har förslavat judarna. Han straffar dem bl.a. genom att skicka en dödsängel, "Creeping Death", som dödar alla egyptiernas förstfödda söner. Metallica fick idén från filmen "The Ten Commandments". |
Slaves
Hebrews born to serve, to the pharaoh
Heed
To his every word, live in fear
Faith
Of the unknown one, the deliverer
Wait
Something must be done, four hundred years
So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death
Now
Let my people go, land of goshen
Go
I will be with thee, bush of fire
Blood
Running red and strong, down the Nile
Plague
Darkness three days long, hail to fire
So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death
Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first born man
Die by my hand
I creep across the land
Killing first born man
I
Rule the midnight air, the destroyer
Born
I shall soon be there, deadly mass
I
Creep the steps and floor, final darkness
Blood
Lambs blood painted door, I shall pass
So let it be written
So let it be done
I'm sent here by the chosen one
So let it be written
So let it be done
To kill the first born pharaoh son
I'm creeping death
| Demoversionen av den här låten hette 'When Hell Freezes Over', men det ändrades sedan. Låten är baserad på författaren H P Lovecrafts noveller om Cthulhu, ett monster med tentakler i ansiktet som vilar på havets botten i väntan på att åkallas av sina anhängare |
