This song is one of Metallica's least of all live performed Metallica songs.

Album:
Ride The Lightning

The song live:
This song has been only performed live for three times ever in its entirely length. The first two times the song was performed live were at the 17th and 18th November 1984 and surprisingly it was performed as the show's closing song in Chicago on January 5 2000. James commented on that Metallica suprisingly set up that song once again on their live show's setlist on stage with: "Some guy asked us to play this song before the show. We haven't played it in like 15 years. So don't blame us for the fuck ups." Apart from that this song had just its appearance on stage as a jam version.

The Impaler:
It is said that the song "Trapped Under Ice" is based upon a demo song of Kirk's former band Exodus which was called "Impaler".

The subject matter:
The song "Trapped Under Ice" is a nightmarish epic that uses a person simultaneously drowning and freezing to death to symbolize a person who's living zombie-like, burnt out and perhaps even drug addicted.