Metallica released the single “Creeping Death” on November 23, 1984. Issued through Music for Nations in the UK and France, the 12-inch paired a track from their second studio album, Ride the Lightning, with two covers. Its title track captured the band developing longer, more detailed arrangements; the reverse side pointed directly to their British metal influences.
“Creeping Death” had already appeared on Ride the Lightning that July. Its lyrics tell the story of the plagues of Egypt from the perspective of the destroyer, moving through slavery, warnings and devastation before reaching the killing of the firstborn. That perspective gives the central chant a specific character: the voice belongs to the force moving through the land.
The music took shape through contributions that predated the recording sessions. Recalling the writing for Guitar World, Kirk Hammett said James Hetfield had played him an early riff after they recorded Kill ’Em All. It was much slower then, and gained speed as the song developed. Hammett supplied the breakdown riff from material he’d written during his Exodus years, estimating that he’d been 16 or 17 when he came up with it. Metallica listened to both his riff tape and an Exodus demo while assembling their new songs. He also credited bassist Cliff Burton with the harmony passage in “Creeping Death,” another distinct contribution to an arrangement built from several players’ ideas.
At Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen, engineer Flemming Rasmussen helped shape how those parts reached the record. Hammett recalled Rasmussen suggesting that he double-track the guitar solo to give it more weight. The group vocals made an equally strong impression on Hetfield. In a separate interview first published by Guitar World in 2009, he remembered listening from the control room after the chanting section had been recorded. “That was our first real big, chanting, gang-vocal thing,” he said. The passage’s force came from the voices working together as well as the riff underneath.
That combination became a reference point for another song. Discussing “Master of Puppets” in the same interview, Hetfield said the band had wanted to write something like “Creeping Death,” with open chords supporting the vocals and a memorable chorus. The earlier song had given them an approach to develop further.
The single’s other side showed where some of Metallica’s musical education had begun. Diamond Head’s “Am I Evil?” originally appeared on Lightning to the Nations in 1980. “Blitzkrieg” had been released by Blitzkrieg in 1981 as the B-side of “Buried Alive.” Metallica were already performing both songs in March 1982, well before the “Creeping Death” single. Their inclusion gave listeners two recordings of material with an established place in the band’s repertoire, collected under the B-side heading “Garage Days Revisited.”
Metallica returned to that name with 1987’s The $5.98 E.P. – Garage Days Re-Revisited. In 1998, Garage Inc. collected those five EP tracks and the two “Creeping Death” B-sides on its second disc, alongside other earlier covers. Its first disc contained 11 new recordings, while “Am I Evil?” and “Blitzkrieg” remained together under the original 1984 “Garage Days Revisited” heading.
