10 Metal Albums With ONE Bad Song
5. Phantom Lord - Metallica
It's understood that we cut most artists some slack when it comes to their debut album. While they may go on to do amazing things down the line, this is the moment where most acts are just trying to figure themselves out and write the best tunes that they can with the material they have. When you're on the verge of some of the greatest metal music of all time though, it's hard to act like the duds don't exist.
Out of all of the songs on Metallica's Kill Em All, Phantom Lord tends to feel a bit half baked by comparison. That's not to take away from the actual song though. Looking at the raw music, there are a lot of great riffs on here, including some that were left over from the days of Dave Mustaine. No, where this song goes wrong is how the whole thing is constructed.
Opening up with a weird electric piano, the arrangement of the tune jerks you around too many times to really get in the groove of the song. Just when you're latching on to one piece of the puzzle, they completely flip the groove around for the chorus and you never really find your place again. Since most of the epic songs in Metallica's catalog feel like building skyscrapers of riffs, this sounds like the riffs were stitched together with duct tape.