After 10 hours at Bader Field in Atlantic City on Saturday for the first day of Metallica's inaugural Orion Music + More festival, I headed back for more on Sunday, for a lineup that, for my money, was stronger and more varied, and turned out to be thoroughly satisfying.

Day 2 of the Orion Music + More Festival 2012 at Bader Field in Atlantic City, N.J., was nothing short of an explosive show and now we have the pictures to prove it.

Metallica, which co-curated the two-day festival, closed both nights with sets that reaffirmed the band’s power and musicianship, as well as its firm hand with a morbid metaphor. Before snarling from the gigantic Orion main stage, the four band members established their amiability: They were everywhere, posing for pictures, greeting fans and happily introducing performers on the undercard.

The crowds were a little redder and a little more hoarse on Sunday at Orion Fest in Atlantic City, with a fair amount smelling as if they’d spent the night under the boardwalk. What they lacked in hygiene and sunblock, they made up in sheer numbers.

This weekend, Metallica will perform 1984's Ride the Lightning and 1991's Metallica during their Orion Music + More Festival in Atlantic City. In the spirit of reviving those albums, frontman James Hetfield and lead guitarist Kirk Hammett agreed to look back on a few tracks from both. Here's some dirt on several of the tunes from Ride the Lightning.

The afternoon sun was beating hot at Bader Field on Saturday when Black Tusk, a sludge-metal trio from Savannah, Ga., played the first ear-assaulting notes of the Metallica-headlined and -curated two-day Orion Music + More festival.

The crowds were a little redder and a little more hoarse on Sunday at Orion Fest in Atlantic City, with a fair amount smelling as if they’d spent the night under the boardwalk. What they lacked in hygiene and sunblock, they made up in sheer numbers.

This weekend, Metallica bring their first Orion Festival to Atlantic City, New Jersey. The two-day event will feature over twenty bands, a monster car show, a display of horror film memorabilia, comedians, a film festival and more.

There may have been plenty of bands to see throughout the day, but Metallica was the main draw for the Orion Music + More festival Saturday in Atlantic City. The group took over Bader Field for their inaugural event and did not disappoint, performing the entire 'Ride the Lightning' album to finish out night one.

Metallica set the bar high after they finished their set on day one of the Orion Music + More festival in Atlantic City, N.J. Fortunately for fans, day two exceeded all expectations. Sunday night, mighty Metallica tore through their ridiculously successful 1991 self-titled disc (better known as the Black Album), and to no one’s surprise, they played it backwards, just like they did with ‘Ride the Lightning’ the night before. Delivering another night of 2 hours of solid rock ‘n’ roll, how anyone left Orion without their faces melted off is an absolute mystery!