“Half the crowd left, and it was, like, ‘Wow.’ And I was just blown away.”

Fear Factory guitarist and co-founderDino Cazares recently explained why he prefers Metallica’s “Ride the Lightning” album over “Master of Puppets.”In an interview with the “Wired in the Empire” program of 96.7 KCAL-FM, Dino was asked which of the two albums he believed to be superior. The guitarist responded (via Blabbermouth):

“Well, the first time I’d seen Metallica was actually on [the tour in support of] ‘Ride The Lightning’. I was freshly off the boat in Los Angeles. I was 18 years old, and [the concert took place] right across the street [from] where I was working. I was working at a sandwich shop right across the street from the Hollywood Palladium. It was called Togo’s sandwiches. And I was working there. And I had met [Megadeth mainman] Dave Mustaine. I met [Megadeth bassist] Dave Ellefson. I met everybody in Mötley Crüe and all the L.A. local bands.

“And I was working, and some of the crew guys for Metallica came over. I made ’em some sandwiches, and I asked ’em a bunch of questions, of course. And I went to see the show across the street, and I was, like, ‘Fuck.’ And I was just blown away. Because they opened up for Armored Saint.”

Cazares noted that Metallica blew away the band they were opening for:

“Now, I love Armored Saint to death. But that day, Metallica on ‘Ride The Lightning’ killed Armored Saint. Half the crowd left, and it was, like, ‘Wow.’ And I was just blown away. And I think that experience, to me, to see the band raw, just ripping and just destroy a crowd, it would have to be ‘Ride The Lightning’.”

The guitarist continued, noting the “rawness” of the tracks gave “Ride the Lightning” its strength:

“Now, ‘Master Of Puppets’ is a great record — don’t get me wrong; it’s a masterpiece — but it’s something about the rawness in ‘Ride The Lightning’; ‘Fight Fire With Fire’, which is ripping. But a year or two later, I saw them open up for Ozzy [Osbourne], and at that point, Ozzy was kind of transitioning to a little glammy. He had his poofy, curly hair, and he kind of was wearing this sequins thing; it almost looked like a dress. And it was, like, ‘Oh my God.’

“But that was in a bigger arena, so I was further away. So that experience was much more different. So, I would have to say ‘Ride The Lightning’. Of course, the production got better on ‘Master Of Puppets’. They had longer songs on that record; it was only eight songs in that record. But still, I would still say ‘Ride the Lightning’.”