Metallica - Kill 'Em All (1983) Album Review

Brobusky Hi everyone, I'm Brobusky, and today we are going to review what is arguably one of the greatest thrash debut albums ever, Metallica's Kill 'Em All! This LP came out on July 25, 1983, released by the independent label Megaforce Records, who had, and would go on to, produce metal giants like Anthrax, Danzig, Ministry Manowar, and Skid Row. Megaforce had found the band after hearing their 1982 "No Life 'Till Leather" demo. Oddly enough, while this album didn't chart at the time of it's release, 3 years later with the release of the band's masterpiece Master of Puppets, it landed a #155 spot on the charts. The intended title was going to be "Metal Up Your ***" and you can tell how that went over with the record execs. While many of you know that Dave Mustaine, who would go on to play in the OTHER commercially successful thrash band, Megadeth, some of you don't know about a small band James "Jaymz" Hetfield was in before Metallica. Leather Charm was a small thrash band that had written the title track on Kill 'Em All, Hit the Lights. Another member that joined after Mustaine was fired, is Kirk Hammett, who played in yet ANOTHER successful thrash band, Exodus. As for the drummer, Lars Ulrich, he formed the band and posted up a flyer asking for someone to jam with. James accepted the flyer, Dave joined, and the rest is history. Well, almost. Some of you are saying "But Brobusky, what about Cliff Burton?" He actually didn't join at the time of the band's formation. Ron McGovney, the Pete Best of Metallica, was the original bassist, until he was fired because he just "stood there and played". He was sacked, and the trio were watching some people play, when the met Cliff shredding his infamous "Anesthesia" bass solo. After he joined, Dave was kicked for being an alcoholic and they got Kirk, it was only uphill from there. Well, until September 1986, but we'll get to that in another album review. Anyways, enough introduction, on to the review! The first track on the album is the phenomenal "Hit the Lights", a thrash anthem played at 160 BPM! While that not sound like much compared to today's grindcore 3,000 BPM and Drop-L Tunings, back then it was CRAZY FAST! Anyways, the song's lyrics are about...metal. Yes it's a metal song about metal. The best part? There's 2 other songs on the album also about metal. This album just SCREAMS METAL! The next track, The Four Horsemen, is quite the change in pace compared to Hit The Lights, because the titular Four Horsemen are the Four Horsemen of the apocalypse. And some of you Megadeth fans out there might be saying, "Hey, this sounds like Mechanix!" Well, young metalhead, it IS Mechanix. Well, almost anyway. Basically, when Mustaine got kicked from Metallica, they kept all his songs, Horsemen included. He needed to write a huge "eff you" to Metallica. But why innovate, when you can duplicate! He took TFH, sped it up, and changed the lyrics to...um...sex in an auto-repair shop. Yeah, I don't really know either. The third track, Motorbreath, is another song written during the days of Leather Charm, penned by Hetfield about his life on the road. It is one of the fastest tracks on the album, (beaten by Whiplash and Metal Milita) but contains some of the most impressive drumming on Ulrich's part. It is also the only track to not have Lars Ulrich credited, written only by James. Another song written partly by Mustaine, Jump In the Fire was also a track that had an EP named after it. This song contains lyrics about the Devil himself looking out on to the world and telling people to join him, or, "Jump In the Fire". As with Horsemen, these lyrics are changed from the original, written by Mustaine with crude lyrics similar to that of Mechanix. The only instrumental on the album, Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth) is a solo written by Cliff Burton, and played by him since high-school in his days with Agents of Misfortune, and later, Trauma. Chris Bubacz, introduces the track and tells us it was written in one take, uttering the immortal words, "Bass solo, take one". The next song, and the first single, Whiplash, played at 200 BPM, is one of Metallica's fastest songs, and one of my personal favorites. It tells the story of Metallica's life on the road, performing at gigs and playing concerts. It is also cited by many as "the first true thrash song". Slowing it down a bit is the MASTERPIECE Phantom Lord, with lyrics similar to Jump In the Fire, about devilry. It also has one of Hetfield's best screams, "BOW TO THE PHANTOM LOOOOOORD!" and is very similar to the N.W.O.B.H.M. songs of the late seventies. This next song is probably the most underrated of the album, No Remorse. It stands out though, for a few reasons. One being that it has a solo at the beginning, unlike many metal songs. The other reason doubles as a piece of trivia. The main riff of No Remorse is used as the main theme for the video game Doom. Doom's theme is many times mistaken to be the riff to be the riff to Master of Puppets, but it is actually this hidden gem. It is about not feeling any regret of killing in battle, similar to some of Metallica's later works, Disposable Heroes and Damage Inc. The next track is probably the most famous, because it is played at the end of almost EVERY SINGLE Metallica concert. Seek and Destroy another track just about metal, and the riff is recognized by every metalhead almost instantly. It was based on a song what was probably Metallica's biggest influence, Diamond Head. The song in question being Dead Reckoning. The Seek and Destroy riff was written by Hetfield in his truck outside of an L.A. factory, and quickly became one of Metallica's most legendary tracks. The closing track, (at least until 1988, where Am I Evil? and Blitzkrieg where added to the album), Metal Militia, is YET ANOTHER track about the greatness of Heavy Metal. It rivals Whiplash in speed and aggression, and has also became a well-known thrasher. This track became famous for James' INSANE vocals and screaming on the track. Overall, I give say this is a VERY good debut album, and a must-have for any metalhead.

After careful evaluation of each track, listening to countless demos, and headbanging 'till I bleed I give this album a 9/10

Stay tuned for next time, where I will be reviewing Metallica's 1984 album Ride the Lightning. Rock on, fellow metalheads!

Comments

Nice review. I reviewed it as well. Killer album! - Alpha101