Metallica (Black Album) Vinyl 2LP vs Metallica Ride the Lightning LP

Buy the Black Album if you want the hits and a quieter, more melodic record; buy Ride the Lightning if you want the thrash classic and Cliff Burton's bass up front. The Black Album is a 2LP at 180g with a lyric insert and a download card, so it plays longer and comes with more extras. Ride the Lightning is a single 180g LP, remastered, and widely held to be the stronger album by metal fans. Both are standard Blackened pressings; owners report clean, flat vinyl on both, and neither is an audiophile cut.

• Choose the Black Album if you want the 1991 record with "Enter Sandman" and "Nothing Else Matters," spread over two 180g discs with a lyric insert and a download.
• Choose Ride the Lightning if you want the 1984 thrash album with "Fade to Black" and "For Whom the Bell Tolls" on one 180g disc.