Kill Em

Product Information

In 1983, when this was unleashed upon the world, Metallica had already built up a huge reputation around the bay area. Word of mouth about the band was buzzing around various cities on the west coast as well. From the onset, it was hinted at that this band would become huge eventually. 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". The lyrical aspect of this release has nothing really to do with Satanism, just filled however with hatred towards humanity without any compromise in that respect. Hetfield's vocals go well with the music especially the high-end screams. I don't consider this release their best of the 80's I'd say "Ride the Lightning", "Master of Puppets" and "...And Justice for All" were their absolute best releases. However, this was a beginning for the band and showed their awesome potential at such a young age. When people bought this album and dropped that needle on the record, ( or place the CD in the CD player or cassette in tape player. ) they heard a new form of metal which would later act as a major change to what we knew as heavy metal. That new form was known as thrash metal. Words can't describe how much this album has had an impact on heavy metal. This is what blew the minds of whoever bought and played this album for the first time.

Elektra of 88 reissue "DMM": Very bright version and it lags on bass because "DMM" process. Still fine material. 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. Kill Em’ All”, just maybe the most influential thrash metal album of all time? Well some would agree, some would disagree. I think we can all agree that this album is one the most important thrash metal albums of all time. Introducing the masses to this new thing called thrash metal with some help from Overkill and Exodus, but demos aside, Metallica, for me at least, takes the glory when it comes to first full length thrash album ever.

Regarding bassist Cliff Burton he does a good job on all the songs, Pulling Teeth of course being his instrumental masterpiece, which accompanied with Lars Ulrich's drums makes a good break from James and Kirk's thrashy madness. I once heard someone say Cliff plays bass as if he's a lead guitarist and I'd say that's true for this and Metallica's follow-up album Ride The Lightning. As always, it's a shame he died so young, but for what we do have on this record, it fulfills. 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. 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. And, though the rough mixes vary in quality, the more fully-developed songs provide a startling new perspective on the material. Classics like "Motorbreath" and "Hit the Lights" actually sound fuller, meatier, and more vital. In this more organic form, the music breathes more. Apparently, the conventional wisdom of the time dictated that this sound was too crude for public consumption. But today, bands put a lot of effort into getting this kind of loose, raw sound on purpose. Now, we finally get to see that perhaps the final Kill 'Em All mix that the public got was too constricted, which makes sense given this music demanded a new approach to production values that hadn't been invented yet. But the new mastering job doesn't serve the main mix especially well. If anything, it only exposes the clenched and unnatural quality of the reverb that's applied to pretty much every instrument. Any time a vocal or snare hit rings out (like when frontman James Hetfield screams "PESTILENCE" on "The Four Horsemen"), the echo tail abruptly closes shut. If you were used to listening to this album on a shitty cassette or in a car or a noisy work environment, you probably never noticed. Here, the clunky gated reverb becomes the music's most noticeable feature. The production doesn't feel polished and it works. Compare the guitar tone to Master of Puppets and ...And Justice For All. Benefiting from less dimension, Kill Em All sounds like an all American V8 muscle car, screaming down the highway. This is probably the only Metallica album where the bass is of satisfying clarity, providing a chunkiness that doesn't exist on the rest of 80s Metallica releases. Listen to 'Metal Militia' in comparison to 'Dyers Eve'... where did the bass go?!

Overall, Kill Em All doesn't disappoint, the album is just full blown old school thrashing madness, over the 51 minutes that the album spans, there isn't a single boring moment to be found. It's all killer, absolutely no filler! If you want a classic album to rage to look no further! Bang that head that doesn't bang!

On The Go

MFN 86 reissue:Repress from the 1st press "MFN" pressing. Same sound but lower surface noise. See below more details about the sound.

There were many bands in the same musically aggressive vein of Metallica, even from the same location in the States, who were out to disarm the glam/hair "metal" scene and wipe it off the map.. And this album was the first real blow to the glam scene, and the catalyst that would fuel an army of bands who would eventually develop the thrash metal tag that would contribute greatly to the death of anything glam-related. However, unlike nearly all of the rest of those bands who joined Metallica in glorious musical battle against these drag clowns giving the genre a bad name, Metallica were the first to go the full mile and actually record a studio album and drop the first nuke on glam country, instead of firing demo missiles left and right, which bands like Exodus were guilty of. was a pretty good year. Maiden’s released the great ”Piece of Mind”, and Metallica released their debut. And Slayer. But that one wasn’t any good, so nevermind. Metallica consisted at the time of the same people as now, except for Cliff Burton, the deceased bassist. “Kill’em All” was a revolution within the metal genre, and helped invent what is now known as thrash metal. It has aged quite well, too.

Tracklist

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. Kill 'Em All marks the start for one of the most well-known thrash metal acts of all time. A band which I don't think I have to introduce, since you're here already, anyway. As I was saying, what we have here is a prime cut of pure thrash from a former giant, and it is good.

The vocals to the album are done by the renowned James Hetfield. His vocals are a mix between a shout of might and power, and a shout of rage and anger. The vocals fit perfectly with the aggressive atmosphere. In "No Remorse", the song's lyrics about not showing remorse when fighting in war are enhanced with the harsh vocals of Hetfield. His vocals in this album would be the start of his many memorable moments in Metallica's later works. 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 01 reissue:Great all around version. Not the best from the "Vertigo 01" series but still great sound. It also contains "Bob Ludwing" mastering. Compared it with the "Columbia house" it has worst cut and it is not so lively and atmospheric. But in fact, that attitude seemed silly even by 1984, when Metallica released Ride the Lightning and pretty much left its youthful naivete behind for good. Yes, Hammett and late bassist Cliff Burton's fascination with comic books and Dungeons and Dragons-style fantasy rears its head on "The Call of Ktulu," but on Ride the Lightning the band no longer comes across like a street gang but like a group of frightened young men using their hellacious sound as a shield against life's unsettling realities. Now for the music, this stuff is rough around the edges, but not in a way that makes the album feel underbaked. It gives it a youthful charm that few albums had once the technical thrash movement began taking place. Even Metallica themselves would lose touch with their unhinged, manic personas that are on full display here. When Hetfield shrieks on "Hit the Lights" or Kirk misses a note or two in the "Seek and Destroy" solo, you don't even notice because the band is playing with so much more energy than anyone else in the world. But this isn't to paint young Metallica as musical slouches either- they had the chops. The "Phantom Lord" riff and drum game of tag is excellent (even if Mustaine wrote it) and the "Whiplash" solo is one of the most underrated in all of Kirk's career. When people criticize him for overuse of the wah pedal, however justified, this album should be excluded. Even when he uses it here, it sounds fresh and exhilarating.The tone of the whole album is set by the killer first riff to 'Hit The Lights', to this day one of the greatest riffs of all time, and the song itself is a thing of sheer visceral beauty, climaxing with a spiralling solo. Mustaine has been mysteriously credited by a majority for decades, as the sole innovator for this album's concept, although if you listen to the early demos and then compare to the official release, it's no secret that the solos that Kirk fixed were his own, and it times even shared little to no similarities to what Dave was responsible for. It was during this time that the genre known as Thrash metal was born, and it was all 100% unapologetically Motorhead influenced, although many of the bands in it took their more active bass cue from Sabbath, and the guitar solo sections from Deep Purple. From start to finish, Kill Em' All is a manifesto of sorts for this exact style of playing. 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. 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.