Kill Em

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The thuggish lyrics on Kill 'Em All updated Motörhead's roaming-pirate vibe for a younger generation of brash American kids, as reflected in lines like "The show is through, the metal's gone / It's time to hit the road / Another town, another gig / Again we will explode" from the headbanging anthem "Whiplash." Fueled by hatred for L.A. hair metal and a pop mainstream that the band never could have dreamed would embrace it eight years later, Kill 'Em All raised a middle finger in the air while sounding a trumpet of unity for metalheads everywhere with its us-against-the-world mentality. Now, of course, its youthful persecution complex seems silly and sophomoric. So, what deep, harrowing topics does the songwriting on Kill 'Em All cover? life in the fast lane, and...more life in the fast lane, mostly. Just about every song is about how great it is to live fast, or how great it is to be Metallica, or just how great thrash metal is. And in the end, isn't that the noblest of causes?

Kill Em All was a fast album, more aggressive than anything that had been released to date, garnering the band a fair amount of attention in the Bay Area scene, building them a nice following. The album was something entirely fresh for its day, with songs such as Hit The Lights showing exactly how fast and heavy music could be played, without ever sacrificing its musical integrity. Hit The Lights was the original thrash metal song, a blueprint for everything else that was to follow, opening with the sound of the band jamming, before diving headfirst into a fast series of riffs that demolish everything in their path. Whilst not quite as mature musically nor lyrically as the albums that would follow, this was more than an adequate song, standing the test of time as one of the bands best songs, with the immortal sound of James Hetfield's tortured shriek of "hit the lights". Highlights of the album include The Four Horsemen for its galloping rhythm and complex song structure. No Remorse was also great because of its crunching heavy beginning and its high speed thrash section near the end, and Metal Milita had some of the best riffs Metallica had written.

This album is ground-breaking as it has been called the first album of the thrash/speed metal movement. This statement can be debated, but it is a very early thrash/speed metal album indeed. Yes, there had been demos before with this sound, even the band Stress from Brazil claim to have preceded this album with their debut studio album in 1982 titled "Stress". Even if that is true, this album was the match to the fuse for American speed and thrash metal. There is good reason for that statement. Let me go into detail and explain this. The year was 1983, and the stage was set for a phenomenon. An up and coming band had just fired their guitarist Dave Mustaine and called upon the services of former Exodus man Kirk Hammett for the recording of their ten song debut. The band was Metallica, taking their influences from the brash style of Venom and Judas Priest, they were to push the boundaries of what was acceptable in heavy music of its day to the absolute limit, creating a raw, powerful debut album that is generally considered to be the absolute birth of thrash metal.

Getting to our lineup, James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett, Cliff Burton, and Lars Ulrich all preform fantastically, for the most part. James’s performance here is very much different from how he sings on later albums as he is much more raw here. He’s just full of screeches and shrieks as he more so yells at you than he does sing at you. He does have some more melodic singing like he’d utilize on later albums, such as in “No Remorse” and “Seek & Destroy” but for the most part stays pretty powerful and raw in “Kill ‘Em All”. James is also on rhythm guitar and his skill is excellent here as he keeps up with Kirk’s impeccable leads. Cliff Burton is fantastic here as his bass lines really help shape the songs and give the music a extra dimension. Fun fact, Cliff’s only writing credit here is“(Anesthesia)- Pulling Teeth” as he would join the band shortly before the recording of the debut. Never less, his performance here is a stand out in the genre and he’d only get better with his next release. Vertigo EU 89 reissue "DMM": Great version to listen the album. Contains the best mastering of "Bod Ludwing". On other hand, the lyrics here are hilarious. While not speaking about Satan and darkness and killing goats, their lyrical subjects were, hm, just laughable, really. Behold. Released in 1983, this is the album that placed Metallica on the map. It's where Metallica finally got their true style, as their previous demo "No Life 'til Leather" is where they experimented a bit with a variety of sounds. While much better thrash metal albums would come out years later, their debut album still holds up today.

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This is a speed metal album with thrashy parts. The speed is what really catches anyone from the start. Next, the crunchy and ripping guitar tones make this almost automatically heavier than any predecessor (excluding maybe Venom and Motorhead). The guitars are also extremely catchy at points with songs like The Fourhorse Men, No Remorse, Whiplash, Etc. No band up until this point had this sort of mix. The solos are both easy to listen to and technical. They are not too special but they defiantly get the job done here. In conclusion, Kill 'Em All is the mark of a band still in artistic development, but one that showed incredibly promise for what's to come. Despite that the album itself overstays it's welcome, and is a bit too repetitive to justify it's 51 minute run-time. On lead guitar we have Kirk Hammett, and while Kirk may not be the most well-respected lead guitarist among metalheads, he does quite the sound job on KEA, with my favorite solo of his being on "The Four Horsemen". The tone of his guitar matches the other instruments and he synchronizes quite well with Hetfield's rhythm guitar. The rhythm guitar riff-work provided alot of base for other thrash metal bands (at the time) to follow and improve upon; as I'd say due to Metallica being big into NWOBHM at the time the riffs are closer to British heavy metal rather than what would be seen on later thrash releases. This applies to the solo's as well though there's definitely much more thrash in the solo's then the riffs. I couldn't imagine one of Kirk's solos on this record being in, say, an Iron Maiden album. Here the guitars sound as raw as ever and the sound is ultra sharp. Surely the best guitars you can have from this legendary album. The cons is the bottom end. This pressing like the 1st "MFN" pressing, hasen't big bass and the reason for that is because "Tim Young" mastering was like that in the beginning. But this "Roadrunner" pressing has little more bass and warmer sound against the "MFN" 1st pressing. Is much more better pressing with very natural sound.

Now, we've gotten past the album cover and instrumentation, and the songwriting process is where people get divided. Yes, we all know about Dave Mustaine contributing to some of the songs on the album, and "Mechanix" being renamed "The Four Horsemen" after he was fired from the band, but some of the most CLASSIC metal lyrics are found on this album: Hit The Lights,Metal Militia,Phantom Lord,No Remorse....every song on this LP is strong and stood the test of time even 40 years later.Vocal is raw and undeveloped as is Lars drumming,lots of Dave Mustaine in songs and great bass solo by Cliff. First. I'd like to say that James Hetfield is a riff machine! Hetfield's riffs are in vein of Diamond Head's Brian Tatler but faster. Hetfield clearly shows his inspiration from the NWOBHM. Hetfield's vocal delivery is also raw and unhinged, he shouts with a raspy edge; unlike his Sean Harris vocal delivery of the demo days.Hit the Lights” is a great opener, cymbal and guitar nonsense, a really simple but awesome riff, lots of speed and about 15 different solos equals an amazing song. “The Four Horsemen” once again has some pretty simple riffs but wow this song is good. Kind of NWOBHM sounding. This album has the most thrash ever put on a Metallica album. “Hit the Lights”, “Motorbreath”, “Whiplash”, “Phantom Lord”, “Metal Militia”, and “No Remorse” all have some insane speed in them. “No Remorse” probably has my favorite thrash part of all time. You’ll know what I’m talking about. “Jump in the Fire” is another slower song that has some of James’ best vocals. “Motorbreath” has an awesome drum intro and has some very punk influenced riffs and is full speed ahead the whole song. “Anesthesia” Pulling Teeth” is just a bass solo. Don’t get me wrong, Cliff is my idol, but I just don’t see the point. As far as bass solos go, it’s an amazing solo but I don’t really wanna listen to a bass solo. “Metal Militia” is definitely the fastest song on here. This song should be the thrash metal anthem. The outlier on this album is obviously Cliff's bass solo, dubbed "Anesthesia" (Pulling Teeth". Technically it's quite a display, but unfortunately it's too long for it's own good and there are only 2 sections that really provide a dynamic contrast, and that is helped along by the drums entering. Joey Demaio did a much better job a year before this album with his rendition of the William Tell Overture, which was probably technically more difficult than this song is as well, though obviously it wasn't original. Regarding the production, I personally like it very much, a perfectly audible bass and aggressive and dirty guitars just like Hetfield’s voice. Perhaps the drums are the weak point of the production, the drum bass is sometimes difficult to hear, but still it was pretty decent. The album has no ballad as happens in the the following Metallica records, but I don’t think it’s necessary here because the album flows incredibly well because of the combination of aggression and melody which I talked of before. You don’t get bored while you're listening to the album, it’s not monotonous, the songs are very original and worked. They are made with desire to destroy your ears, as Hetfield says: “With all our screaming, we’re gonna rip right through your brain, we got the lethal power, it’s causing you sweet pain”. I guess the last thing I should mention is the elephant in the room; good ol’ Davey Mustainey. It would be disservice not to talk about Dave’s contributions for Metallica as he did greatly help shape their sound early on. You know his distinct style of writing when you hear “Jump In The Fire”, “The Four Horsemen”, “Metal Militia” and “Phantom Lord” as those songs have a little more, technicality to it? More meat and bones to the riffing I suppose? I mean you just listen to that melodic solo and the slow melodic break in “Phantom Lord” and you know that Dave’s sweaty fingers were all over it. In the end, I’m glad that Dave was fired from the band as it gave us some of the best riff writing and solos in the genre over in the Megadeth camp.

Columbia House (Club Edition) https://www.discogs.com/Metallica-Kill-Em-All/release/3879844 : The best version of the album. Contains the best mastering by "Bob Ludwing". The version is ultra sharp, bright, aggressive with very separate instuments and very noticiable bass. Also it is the most lively, soudstage version of the album I have listen.

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However, there is no doubt the actual music is very solid thrash. Hit the Lights, despite having the dumbest lyrics I have ever heard (I am tempted to do a dramatic reading of it someday), is a really fun song with crazy soloing, and before you know it, you’re headbanging and punching your lamps. A definite highlight. But think about this: you’re fifty years old and you’re still performing a vanity song you wrote when you were a stupid kid. Honestly I kind of feel bad for them. But that’s their punishment for not releasing a song that their fans have deemed worthy of being played at all of their shows in, say, the second half of their discography, more than twenty years. You know, for all the shit that Lars gets as a drummer and as a human being, I truly cannot find any fault with his playing on this album (or any Metallica album really). Sure there are some unnecessary fills here and there, but a) what drummer hasn't done that, and b) I can think of at least two more respected by the underground bands who's drummers noticeably fall out of tempo in the middle of the song. This was 1983 on a Megaforce recording budget, I refuse to believe anyone involved in the making of this album had access to anything that could razor edit any instances of Lars loses time. Well here it is ladies and gentleman, the album that started thrash! Metallica successfully took NWOBHM and fused it with hardcore punk on their 1983 debut. This album is pure speed throughout, it just doesn't let up! Let's take a look at the album... And because they're the biggest, they're also the most visible and most controversial. Everybody has an opinion on the great dramas of Metallica's career, like how Dave Mustaine is the only good thing that ever happened to them (saying their early era was only good because of his influence is like saying The Courtyard of the Old Residency, Munich is only good because Hitler painted it), or how the commercialization would have never happened if Cliff Burton hadn't tragically died in that bus crash (he was a huge REM fan and wrote many of the melodic parts on Master of Puppets, he would have had no problem with, and in fact probably would have encouraged, a new direction), or how Lars is a wretched fame whore and money snatching gremlin who is a smooth talker but a crappy drummer (well... that one's true). The point is that no metal fan's development went by unblemished by the unmistakable scent of Metallica. They're just ubiquitous and profoundly influential on the development of heavy metal as a whole, and unless you entered the scene via Brenoritvrezorkre and Enbilulugugal, you've heard the first four or five albums at least once.