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From: guitarhero0804
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  • James' vocals are awesome, compared to the studio

  • what fucking tuning????

  • @strix9011 standard!!!!

  • I.... need this shirt

  • That has to be lars

  • where did you get this demo? i want it so bad!

  • i think this is just james lik recording the first idea of it before doing any actual changes to it

  • Damn, I haven't seen this album cover in about 20 yrs!! I remember my brother gave it to me. It was an EP.

  • Comment removed

  • this version sounds so fucking classick

  • I Rule the midnight air the destroyer of all you fools. ME! ME! ME!!! For I have discovered the mystery of the fish that lives within the panty hose. The recording has been sped up, either by faulty equiptment or on purpose by the dude mastering it, thinking he was slick, or they just wanted to speed it up. What ever the case, it has been written and has been done, I am the chosen one. FOOLS! You shall all die by my hand. MUAH HA HA HA HAAAAAA!!!!!

  • The comment below is supposed to follow the one below that.

  • So yes James' voice does sound weird for a reason. I know his voice was developing and a mans voice gets more timbre in it as you get older, but compare this too 83 live footage. live recording devices were awful in the early eighties and anything you watch from them from back then is going to be distorted from what it actualy sounded like at them shows. Also on the ride the lightning demos were the title track, call of ktulu, and fight fire with fire, check em all out and compare then stfu.

  • Oldcomputer666 made a great observation below that may put all you know it alls and shit talkers to bed, This recording is in F, any live recordings from 1983 are in E. James' voice doesnt sound like alvin the chipmunk either, like it kinda does here. I checked all four of the ride the lightning demo tracks, hey are all a half step high. Either crappy recording, mastering or mass producing machine was to blame for speeding it up or someone intentionaly did it, none of the songs live are in F.

  • dave mustaine rules the midnight air

  • @darkkngtbr To bad Mustain had nothing to do with how great of a song this is.

  • I had this in cassette tape....

  • this is defff james lol you guys are dumbasses if you cant tell XD

  • thats not james

  • @Shadows191238

    YES you NEWBIE, this IS JAMES. THIS IS HOW HE USED TO SOUND... ALL their live concerts from 1982 and 1983 will PROVE THAT. God, I hate how kids who just got into Metallica claim fake when they have no fucking clue what they are talking about. SOME OF US remember THIS Metallica and saw them live when they AND James ACTUALLY SOUNDED LIKE THIS KID.

  • @Danimal300zx hey hey..im a kid and i know metallicas earlier stuff and when james voice was the shit

  • @drunkenthrasher666

    Well, you've done your research bro. One of the few. Well done!

  • @Danimal300zx first of all dude i aint sum fckin kid who barely got into metallica i am young only 18 but ive been to metallica since i was little fucktard i have a demo with hit the lights on it and his voice sounds fckin different if im wrong chill the fck out we cant always be right fckin dumbass

  • @Shadows191238 Your not wrong, that jack ass just thinks he's somebody.

  • @steveymac69 lol thanks bro...

  • @Danimal300zx Hey smart guy re-look at live concerts from 83, his voice is higher on this. It has been determmined that the four songs on the ride lightning demo are faster and in a key higher than there actualy played in, making james' voice sound slightly higher. Sure as shit this has to be due to crappy recording equiptment or in post production possably on purpose, But They would not have tuned there shit up.

  • @Danimal300zx Yes, I checked each song, Fight Fire with fire, Ride the Lightning, Call of Ktulu, Creeping death there all fast and in F tuning, The only examples of Metallica tuning F, wich they would not have. So your post to Shadow realy lodges your foot firmly in your ass there, CHIEF! Hey Shadow, Your right his voice sounds a little weird, because the recording was slightly sped up. Speed it up more you'll have the chipmunks.

  • @steveymac69 lol thanks

  • Lol, they tuned their guitars to F I ve never seen this before

  • @oldcomputer666 What I realy think is that they sped up the recording, listen to live creeping death in 1983, thats why his voice sounds annoying. When you said F I had to check. Today you can change the speed of a recording with out changing the key, not true then, wich I think they were trying to speed it up, any faster they would be in chipmunk territory. Nice observation.

  • @oldcomputer666 There were four tracks on the ride the lightning demo, all are in F, I have it on cassette never noticed. Of course it has prabably been almost 20 years since I listened to it. But I think your observation explains why James' voice sounds a little high.

  • Nice going Lars...oh wait.. xD \m/

  • You guys are fucking retarded... James didn't even want to sing until '83. How do you expect that roaring voice he has now from a 19 year old boy still not knowing to play a guitar properly..? Go read some Wikipedia or something, educate yourselves a bit.

  • fcking idiots its JAMES! listen to "No life til leather" demo.. u just found metallica??

  • dude james sounds like a badass

  • Damn, Metallica's history seems ancient, i keep finding new shit of theirs all the time

  • Nice cover.

  • @MegaAndreyy

    Its NOT a cover you fucking ignorant fool. It's EARLY Metallica. This is how they used to sound. Do some research NEWB.

  • The chorus is inverted!

  • he sounds like in the metal militia days live :D

  • Creeping Death... A Classic Forever.

  • better than the studio version?

  • Shows how much can change in a studio right?

  • @zzzhuh

    Very true.

  • God they've made the Demo in F. Half Step up For the win.

  • @ViniciusGT4 Yes! Everything sounds better in F. Except Stairway to Heaven that one time they played it in F.

  • no wonder they wanted to remove James as vocalist.. haha.. but dunno why i just love this version Hail Metallica \m/

  • @develia <<<Ignorant...

  • much faster....

    METALL!!

    hail the old metallica!!!!!!

  • both of you shut the hell up.....the two songs dave helped write were the call of ktulu and ride the lightning.....now shut up and laugh with us at james voice haha

  • WTF with the tuning XDDD 

  • I hope James Hetfiled sings like that on their next album( if theres gonnna be one)!

  • KICK'S THE STUDIO VERSION'S ASS

  • As long as I remeber, this demo was recorded by Dave Mustaine. I got a bootleg tape back in 1986. But I'm sure that`s James singing....

  • @ponchorp dave was kicked 1983 so thats not possible.

  • @MrShaboo22 The single was released 1984. So this demo could have been recorded by Mustaine. But looking for the credits, it was written by Kirk. You're right. Thanks.

  • @ponchorp The only two songs off Ride the Lightning Mustaine had involvement in are Fight Fight with Fire and Ride the Lightning as both songs were written before the release of Kill Em All. Mustaine was gone before KEA was released so I highly doubt Mustaine released any demo containing any RtL demos save for Ride the Lighting and Fight Fire With Fire. Any demos made post 1983 absolutely do not feature Mustaine.

  • @GoongalaGoongala

    Dave wrote the interude and opening to creeping death.....

  • @GoongalaGoongala

    scatch that.....Kirk wrote the interlude with exodus but i know Dave did write something for this song..

  • @frobinhood Dave had nothing to do with this song. They made it after they kicked him out.

  • It's James singing dumbass'!! Just listen to anything off of 'Kill 'Em All' and you'd know. Stupid children...

  • Dafuq?! Is this James' voice?! No fucking way dude! This must be Lars or someone!

  • @Decipher900 Lookup Am I Evil with Lars on vocals. No fucking way it's Lars. And Kirk sucks at singing. It's James. The tape was probably sped up when the mp3's were made because mine sounds like this too.

  • @cubby3o5 Dude, I do know that's James, I was just trying to say that I was shocked. And as far as I know Am I Evil was sung by James as well.

  • @Decipher900 I was talking about a live version where they switch instruments(Jason:Guitar, Kirk:Bass, James:Drums,Lars,Vocals")

  • @cubby3o5 Right after making my second comment, I checked it out.

  • Is that Lars singing instead of James?? If not wtf happened to James voice??

  • @LadyIracix lol are you death oor something? its james ofcource

  • @LadyIracix i meant deaf*

  • @LadyIracix : you don't know anything about metallica except the new, aren't you?

  • @LadyIracix Bob Rock made James get singng lessons when he produced the black album, thats why Metallica first for album, James sounds more raw and spits stuff out instead of making everything a ballad like he does now, and for those that think dave had nothing to do with maybe you need a history lesson. this demo as stated in the title is from the year 1983. The day Dave got the boot 4-11-1983. Dave is also acredited for call of Ktulu.

  • @reelphresh Cool story bro!! Tell it again!!

  • @LadyIracix

    What happened to his voice? Did you just get into Metallica kid? That's how James sounded in the early 1980's.

  • @Danimal300zx Shhsh.. Grown ups are talking.. And no, that's not James, that's not how he sounded at all. Be a good boy and let grown ups talk about this and go play outside.

  • @LadyIracix I think it's Mustaine on the vocals :D

    Mustaine sounds horrible live

  • @RatedRBrendon try actually listening, the vocals may not be as polished on this version but it's still quite clear to anyone who's not deaf that that's Hetfield singing not Mustaine

  • its tuned up half a step!

  • like a znes videogame song

  • NOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!! IS VERY AWESOME SONG , THUMBS UP FOR THIS DEMO

  • it sucks that i wasn't born 25 years earlier

  • Dam if i had only one wish, it will that Cliff would have never died on that accident, so Metallica wouldn't sell out go from Thrash Metal to Hard rock.

    "Why should we change onstage? We're not trying to be something big and fancy, it's just us, doing what we do, we'd like to keep it that way." - Cliff Burton

  • @momscarface2 ur a fail.. cliff was the most diverse person in metallica

  • @thrasherlml nigga plz....with out dave mustain and cliff burton, metallica wouldnt be where they r right now!

  • @momscarface2 yeah ik.. im just saying that cliff liked the most different music of anyone in metallica

  • @thrasherlml have u seen him in LIVE videos....that guy used the headbang like a BOSS...and made James and Kirk like noobs, in a way....basically, i think he put more thought in this music than the others did

  • @momscarface2 yeah. i know. cliff was an awesome headbanger. i know a lot about metallica, cilff probly would have wanted them to stay more metal, but he was influenced by other music more than the rest of metallica. so he took the most from different kinds of music. which is why he was so great. and as for the headbanging part, watch the videos when mustaine and cliff were both in the band, look how much dave and james headbanged together haha.

  • @thrasherlml Well back to my first comment, u just agree with it.... if cliff didnt died, Metallica might have been in the Thrash Era for a bit more longer...

  • @momscarface2 yeah. i do. but im saying that cliff might have made it more likely to go mainstream.

  • @thrasherlml there is a difference between mainstream and sellout.. >_>

  • @momscarface2 stupid comment asshole. It's been 25 years since both of them are gone. They were both great musicians, yes, but there is no way that the both of their legacies is the main reason Metallica made it this far. Next time when you say something this stupid, try to be smarter about it, dumb ass.

  • @serhathoca Nigga plz,If you dont know your stuff from metallica,you shouldnt even fuckin try and argue. Metallica sold about after AJFA, Cliff has been given credit on every album made in the 80's (Kill em all to AJFA) and Mustaine helped make most of the Kill em all album and bits of ride the lightning, with out cliff there wouldnt be no Master of Puppets! I love Old school metallica, but you have to fuckin admit they wouldnt be close to where they r if they have NEVER meet Mustaine or Burton!

  • @momscarface2 Dave only has credit for 6 songs from Kill'em All and Ride the Lightning. There are 18 songs on both. I don't see how you can say that Metallica wouldn't be where they are today with out Dave. Not saying that Dave wasn't or isn't a great guitarist but to say that the 6 songs that he had is hands in is what made Metallica?, That's just absurd. Cliff on the other hand, couldn't agree more. If it hadn't been for Cliff and his knowledge of music theory, Metallica would have vanished 84

  • @momscarface2 Cliff liked Hard Rock bands such as ZZ Top, and Rush though, Cliff wouldn't like the attention from all the media, and the sudden urge to make 4 music videos per album.....but, he would've liked the music Metallica was making in the mid 90's, not too heavy, and not too soft.

  • @LinkToon000 no one knows...he was alive back then....

  • @momscarface2 If Cliff we're still alive there's a good chance Lars Ulrich would be in another band or Cliff would've walked out more than likely. In my opinion, I thought Cliff was way too good to be in a band like Metallica.

  • i dont care if the guitars are tuned to F or if james singing is off its still the pure fuckin thrash that was metallica and its still fuckin

    awesome to listen too!

  • where can i get this demo?!?!?!?

  • During the "Die Die Die, Die by my hand" part James Sounds like Joey Belladonna for Anthrax singing lol

  • Very nice demo, but I think the recording is playing a bit too fast here. The guitars sound like they're tuned to F, which is very unusual for Metallica. Also, the tempo is slightly faster, and Jame's voice sounds a bit off & high-pitched, which leads me to believe that the recording is playing too fast, rather than Metallica simply tuning their guitars up to F.

    I will admit that F tuning does make the song sound much more dark and powerful IMO.

  • @Teraforce88 the whole album is up-tuned a bit, not sure if it's to F or not though

  • @gingerninja7246 It's definitely up to F. Now, is that because of a recording error or a lack of a good tuner/sense of where E is? Who knows.

  • @Teraforce88 they tuned up a little but or sped up for whom the bell tolls, so they could have done it on this demo and changed their minds for the album.

  • i used to have a version of creeping death i found online that had cliff singing all the vocals but i dunno where it went

  • F tune O.o

  • @Nego1996 Either that or the record is playing a bit too fast...

  • The old Metallica...

    I FUCKING MISS YOU!!!

    :(

  • love the vocal!

  • 5:26 they should have kept that in the record version, sounds wicked!

  • @seemorebuttz123 it is well the guitar part is

  • @seemorebuttz123 It is in the album version... The harmony part right?

  • This rips over the record. Ive have the picture-disk it dont rip half as hard as this. where does the time go?

  • i want this song to be the last song i here before i die.

  • who stole james balls^_^

  • @ivamprince i guess the recorded the demo on helium

  • That Wallpaper should've been the cover of Ride the Lightning

  • @MetalerwithAnger990 I think the single cover of Creeping Death is more fitting.

  • metallica is the only band that can up tune their guitars and sing in a high voice and still soud heavy as hell

  • @88fanforlife listen to more music.

  • What the fuck is goin' on with guitar tuning?

  • @miculinho They didn't have tuners back then. And they were always drunk.

  • @VisionXray23 Maybe, but I know if guitar is tuned too high even when I'm drunk.

  • i have a shirt with this on it

  • I have only one thing to say about this...Just FUCKING #EPIC

  • kick ass

  • i think they should of named the album after this song instead, this is thier best song ever.

  • The parts of the solo that mustaine wrote dont really fit too well

  • if that is true, any problem with that, I like Kirk as well, of course I prefer Mustaine, but this solo is fucking cool, and maybe better than the official recording.

  • haha demos, keep them and see how much they improved

  • lol James is so young here lol.

  • Thats Dave Mustaine on the solo!!!!

  • @sinestezia They wrote this song after Dave was kicked out... too bad, I'd love to hear him playing a solo on this song himself

  • @sinestezia They wrote this song after Dave was kicked out... too bad, I'd love to hear him playing a solo on this song himself

  • @sinestezia no. dave has nothing to do with this song cuz the riff idea was kirks from when he was in exodus, believe it or not

  • @1bol1 well, I read they wrote it in NY right before Kill em all's recordings, Hammett's contribution was just the intro, so he plays guitar here, but the solo was wrote by Dave, as most of the solos in Kill 'em all

  • @sinestezia no this solo is definatly kirks. can't you hear the classic kirk hammet pentatonic shred. and most of the solos that were written by dave in No life 'til leather was changed by kirk to suit his style

  • @1bol1 well somewhat but Kirks style probly was a little influenced by Dave seeing as he got famous doing DAVEs parts. really though I don't care either way but I think Sinestizia is right

  • at first i thought this was a speed up version because of the high tuned guitars and the high voice

  • Something tells me if you slowed this down just a bit, you'd get the actual demo.

  • Jeez Hetfield Wtf is with the vocals? He sounds like Tinman from Wizard of Oz

  • 2 dislikes...fuck justin biieber

  • This sounds better than the studio, Metallica should just play a step up, Im going to do that now on, It sounds so much better than standard

  • I'm digging this demo, extremely aggresive, and the F tuning (I want to say F, but whatever, the tuning is obviously a little higher than standard) gives it an interesting feel.

  • @MarkTheGuitaristDude It's the "eet Fuk" tuning :D

  • They're tuned to F in these demos, are they not?

  • Looks like this guy's voice

    /watch?v=ivMCDm7uP9Y

    He sells candies

  • WHO THE FUCK IS SINGING?? This is not James voice!

  • @Slimshadyfcb This is james, its 1984 :P

  • @Slimshadyfcb

    OH MY GOD THIS IS ANNOYING. YESSSSS...THIS IS JAMES. These stupid kids who know NOTHING about Metallica's early years keeping posting on here. FUCK....

  • So let it be writtaaaaaaa. So let it be daaaaa.

    Totally sounds like that's what James is saying.

  • this is not dave mustaine singing. that riff during "die by my hand, i creep across the land" was written by kirk hammett and used for an exodus song before he joined metallica. dave mustaine was already out of the band before the demo for ride the lightning was recorded.

  • This song sounds like Eye of the Tiger for some reason................

  • Comment removed

  • creeping death was my fav song from them, this demo is fucking AMAZING. its like stephen king, his new books is shit, his old books where THE SHIT 

  • Dave Mustaine is sining

  • @asdbasslinepukkiasd no he isnt dumbass

  • @asdbasslinepukkiasd Dave Mustaine never recorded vocals on any demo by Metallica.

  • solo fail

  • it`s thing this is a cover ;]]

  • Dio...? :D

  • way faster

    way stronger

    way bloodier

    is it dave mustain?

  • @blackmarvel94941 fuck no kirk wrote the bridge riff

  • You guys who have posted within the last week are a bunch of dumbasses. 1.) None of them were any older than 21. 2.) This is E tuning, but the recording raised the pitch by a half-step. This is now in F instead of E. 3.) The reason his voice sounds so manly on records is because they overdubbed his voice a couple times. That's a typical practice used to thicken guitar parts and vocals. Because they're now older than dirt, he probably doesn't need 47 overdubs, but it never hurts.

  • i know he does sound like a man without balls but you gotta remember they were still kids like 29 year olds and the reason his voice sounds so manly on the record is they enhanced it in the studio every band does it

  • @98DESTRUCTION

    They were 29 years old in 1983???? WHAT??? How hard is it to do a google seach??? James JUST turned 20 when this was recorded and Lars was still 19 years old...

  • if the vocals were a little better,this version would be the best

  • metallica stole daves music and his vocal style lmao

  • @DaveMustaine8 no they didnt, dave brought those riffs into metallica for metallica. Metallica has just as much right as Dave does. Dave was properly credited with his songs and he did w/e he wanted to with them. Besides Dave didn't really start singing until a little bit after ride the lightning was released.

  • i think they were hammered when they recorded this

  • die part is better than the original version lol

  • damn they fast