Fight Fire With Fire vs. Battery
BATTERY, for being one of the greatest metal album openers ever. And it's about--hitting people! Hard!
Ride the Lightning vs. Master of Puppets
MASTER OF PUPPETS, for being such an epic track. This is really miles beyond what they were doing on the first two records.
For Whom the Bell Tolls vs. The Thing That Should Not Be
FOR WHOM THE BELL TOLLS, just one of the most awesome Metallica tracks ever. That drum fill after "it's the last time you will" rules.
Fade to Black vs. Sanitarium
FADE TO BLACK. One of the all-time best guitar solos. No contest. Their best "ballad" ever.
Trapped Under Ice vs. Disposeable Heroes
DISPOSEABLE HEROES, some of the best lyrics in the band's career. Really underrated song.
Escape vs. Leper Messiah
LEPER MESSIAH. It's a song called "Leper Messiah"!!! You can't beat that! And it has a funky metal groove.
Creeping Death vs. Damage, Inc. (I'm shuffling the songs here to compare instrumental to instrumental).
DAMAGE, INC. Some people think Creeping Death is one of Metallica's best songs. I've never been a huge fan. My personal preference is for the Puppets track, and I honestly think it's the better song. The intro's amazing...this album is like the Revolver of heavy metal. The closest call.
Call of Khtulu vs. Orion
ORION. Hard to argue against this. Orion is their best instrumental, and maybe stronger than several of the songs with vocals on this album. Cliff Burton rules, and although Hammett is the lead guitarist, Hetfield's solo is quite soulful on this one.
Master of Puppets wins this head-to-head easily. Perhaps Lightning would have better luck going against And Justice for All. It's certainly better than that sell out Black Album and all the crap that came after it.
laz