Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine has spoken warmly about Metallica’s legendary album Ride the Lightning, offering high praise for the title track and specifically highlighting singer James Hetfield’s original vocal performance.
In a recent conversation about Metallica’s early catalogue and its influence on thrash metal, Mustaine didn’t mince words about the significance of Ride the Lightning — a record that helped define a generation of aggressive, technically ambitious heavy music.
“Ride the Lightning is a hell of a song,” Mustaine said, emphasizing both the track’s compositional strength and the impact it had on the genre.
What stood out most to Mustaine was Hetfield’s vocal delivery on the original recording. He described the performance as “really tremendous,” pointing out that Hetfield’s voice captured the intensity and emotional grit required to make the song resonate with fans and fellow musicians alike.
Mustaine’s comments are notable coming from someone whose own early career intersected with Metallica’s. In the early formative days of both bands, Mustaine and Hetfield were part of the same Bay Area thrash metal scene, with Mustaine even contributing early riffs that would eventually appear on Metallica’s debut album Kill ’Em All. Though his departure from Metallica in 1983 led to the creation of Megadeth — and a well-documented rivalry — Mustaine has often spoken with respect about his former bandmates’ accomplishments.
Ride the Lightning was released in 1984 as Metallica’s second studio album and marked a significant evolution from their debut. It featured a broader emotional range and more complex songwriting, with tracks like the title song, “For Whom the Bell Tolls”, “Fade to Black”, and “Creeping Death” becoming staples of Metallica’s catalog.
Mustaine’s praise reflects a recognition of how Ride the Lightning elevated not just Metallica’s profile, but the expectations of thrash metal as a whole. His comments underscore how, even amid competition and creative tension, musicians within the same scene can admire one another’s contributions to the art form.
By crediting Hetfield’s performance specifically, Mustaine draws attention to an element of the music that goes beyond technical skill — the emotional conviction behind the vocals. In heavy music, where aggression and precision often get much of the spotlight, Mustaine’s focus on voice performance highlights how essential emotional delivery is to a song’s lasting power.
For fans of both Metallica and Megadeth, Mustaine’s comments are another reminder of how intertwined the early histories of these influential bands truly are — and how even rivalries can coexist with mutual respect over time.
