PRONG's TOMMY VICTOR On METALLICA's 'Ride The Lightning': 'I Still Am Baffled By That Record'

In a new interview with Radioactive MikeZ, host of the 96.7 KCAL-FM program "Wired In The Empire", PRONG mainman Tommy Victor was asked which METALLICA album he thinks is better, "Ride The Lightning" or "Master Of Puppets". He responded (as transcribed by BLABBERMOUTH.NET): "It's 'Ride The Lightning'. I still am baffled by that record. I listen to it, and I'm, like, how did they do this? Where did this come from? How did this happen? It's so crazy good and just so different and so amazing. I mean, 'Master Of Puppets' is brilliant as well, but they never really captured that again. It was just a strange, weird, amazing album — the whole thing… The record sounds great, but it's like the rawness of it. But the guitar playing, obviously, is unbelievable on it. And it's the hooks, everything about it. And [it was made] on a low budget, so how did they do this? That was the main thing, was, like, how the hell they were able to do it and why and how. It always brings up a lot of questions with me, that record."

PRONG's thirteenth studio album, "State Of Emergency", came out last October via Steamhammer/SPV. Produced by the skillful hands of legendary producer Steve Evetts (SEPULTURA, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN),the LP surprises on the post-punk track "Disconnected" and then grooves on the title track. Originally released as a standalone single in early 2023, "Breaking Point" takes no prisoners with honest lyrics and cutting attitude, while hard-hitting "The Descent" is a lightning quick, classic ripper. The album closes with a cover of "Working Man", originally written and recorded by the legendary RUSH.

Victor told Decibel magazine about the decision to cover RUSH: "The thing is, when I was a kid, I didn't play guitar, so I was a bass player in bands when I was in high school and shit. So, of course, Geddy Lee was the guy. He was one of the top dudes, right? I saw RUSH so many times. There was no way of not having them influence you. It was impossible because they were so popular. They weren't on the big scale, but guys that were playing in garage bands, we were doing [LED] ZEPPELIN covers and BAD COMPANY and then RUSH songs, and that's the way it was back in the day. And 'Working Man' was the standard one. I know it's not with Neil [Peart], but the riff is so easy and it's so basic that it's a killer track. I mean, I love the lyric and everything. So that's one of the reasons why that one stood out to me. The lyrics fit into the whole 'State Of Emergency' [theme] too. It fit in for some reason, so I really wanted to do it."

Regarding why he chose to write all of "State Of Emergency" himself, Tommy told New Noise Magazine: "Honestly, anything collaborative is because of necessity, [being] pressed for time. I hate to go back and criticize records I've done recently, where I've warmly praised them, but yeah, I had to do [a couple of things on previous records] in order to get it done that I didn't really want to do. I sound like the biggest snob in the world, but in general, I'm very critical of other guitar players' riffs and ideas. Very few times I'm impressed."