“Fight Fire With Fire” by Metallica

"Fight Fire With Fire" comes off Ride the Lightning, the second Metallica album, which the independent Megaforce label put out on July 27, 1984. The record was cut in three weeks at Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen with Flemming Rasmussen at the desk, though the production credit on this track goes to Metallica themselves.

The writing credit tells a story: James Hetfield wrote the words and shares the music with Lars Ulrich and Cliff Burton, the bassist who brought the basics of music theory into the band and had a bigger hand in the songs this time. Hetfield sings lead and plays guitar alongside Kirk Hammett, with Burton on bass and Ulrich on drums, and the album, rooted in thrash but reaching past the sheer speed of Kill 'Em All, is the sound of a band growing teeth and brains at once.

Written with AI assistance from RockLists chart data, MusicBrainz.