Metallica were never meant to be the kind of band that was used to selling records on the same level as The Beatles. They had started as a garage band in the early 1980s, and by the time they reached the end of the decade, they had somehow been able to sell out stadiums without ever having a mainstream single to their name. That meant playing your music out to the people directly, but even Kirk Hammett had to admit that the band were hesitant to touch a song like ‘Escape’ for years.
Granted, when a band is starting out, there are only so many songs that you can choose from. All their fans had heard from them were the originals of the album Kill Em All, which now suffers from being bogged down by its production and only faint hints of what would come on songs like ‘Seek and Destroy’ and ‘The Four Horsemen’.
In fact, Metallica probably gained notoriety more for their covers than their albums at the time. Regardless of their amazing pedigree for original material, their version of Diamond Head’s ‘Am I Evil’ was so well done that many people started to mistake it for a Metallica original, which didn’t help when they didn’t say that it was by another group.
Once the band decided to move for the recording of Ride the Lightning, they had something else up their sleeve. Outside of the traditional thrash ragers like ‘Fight Fire With Fire’, there was a lot more depth to their newer material, like the massive instrumental ‘Call of Ktulu’ and their first attempt at a ballad on ‘Fade to Black’.
That wasn’t enough to make a complete album, so Lars Ulrich had to convince the band to come into the studio to create one more song. While ‘Escape’ is far from a bad song, it sticks out like a sore thumb on the track listing. It’s almost like you can hear the band going through the motions and not wanting to be there.
While the band unearthed it when they played the album in its entirety for its anniversary, Hammett said they would have gladly kept it on the shelf for a few more years, saying, “When we played ‘Escape’ at the Orion Fest, we collectively agreed why we never play that song: It’s not really a great song to play live. It’s in the key of ‘A,’ like “The Call Of Ktulu” and ‘Metal Militia,’ but the key of ‘A’ doesn’t really work well for us for some reason or another”.
It’s hard to argue with the guy who actually plays the song, but the fact that it’s not in a good key is far from the best explanation. After all, ‘Hit the Lights’ is in the exact same key, and that song kicks ass, and their signature ballad ‘The Unforgiven’ is also in the same key as ‘Escape’. Then again, maybe that is because the song goes to a major key in the chorus.
Metallica has always had a strange allergy to major keys, and hearing James Hetfield growl over something that sounds mildly happy feels wrong sometimes. ‘Escape’ is far from an unearthed gem or an undiscovered deep cut from one of metal’s greatest bands, but if they had decided to just stick with a seven-song album, there’s a good chance no metalhead would have felt shortchanged by it.
