Kill Em

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I've got some reservations currently in writing this review. For one thing, it's kind of weird to know that you like an album less than every reviewer before you. People think very highly of this album, and why shouldn't they? Hell, I think highly of this album. I've got a tremendous amount of respect for what Kill 'Em All was able to do. It was one of the first thrash albums many people heard, it put Metallica at the forefront of a brand-new subgenre of metal that was attempting to play heavier and faster than the bands they were inspired by, and there's a lot of youthful energy on display here that is quite infectious. This is an important album in metal's history, to say the least, and for that, I give it all the credit in the world. 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”. Basically everything else on here ranges from either "okay" to "bland". "Whiplash" and "Phantom Lord" would both benefit from Metallica reining themselves in and focusing on their strengths, rather than trying to be metal for metal's sake. There's a lot of action going on, but they don't quite pull the vibe they're going for off. "Jump in the Fire", meanwhile, is a sort of recapturing of "Hit the Lights" but without the charm. 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 rest of this album is very good - ranging from frantic speed/thrash ("Metal Militia") to more controlled bludgeoning power-metal sound ("The Four Horsemen", "Seek and Destroy"). The opener, "Hit the Lights" (a Tanner/Hetfield Leather Charm song, along with Motorbreath) is probably the best song on here, and "Whiplash" the most ironic (see Destruction's treatment of the song for how it should REALLY be interpreted).

Phantom Lord is notable for its mellower bridge, and No Remorse for its pre-chorus riff, which I really enjoy. Cannibal Corpse has a cover of this song, and they do a good job. As for Seek and Destroy, it’s a solid piece, but its catchiness is really the only reason it’s played so often in concert. To conclude, a classic album that is worth owning for historical influence , listening pleasure, and the simple but rather rad album artwork. It's not perfect but it's quite great.Metallica is an exception to this rule. All of the songs from their first demo made it onto Kill Em All, and this stuff is pretty solid. The riffs are memorable and the solos excellent, the songs are fast and furious; everyone performs well, even Lars. His drumbeats are the typical generic patterns, but he works in some cool fills here and there. You can identify the album just by James’ voice. It has more of a shriek to it, but it’s well-suited to the music. I can actually hear the bass, and I’m not talking about just Anesthesia, I mean most of the album. There isn’t a decrease in quality over time, though you have standout songs. The album length (51 minutes) is just right for the amount of variation heard, and the song lengths themselves are short, the longest song only at seven minutes and Motorbreath at the shortest in their whole discography (barely three minutes). I wish they’d used this idea of shorter songs their whole career. There’s less experimentation with structure than in any of their other eighties works, but Kill Em All doesn’t need that. Its influences are obvious, and if you listen to it, it’s easy to tell that they were listening to lots of NWOBHM and punk when they wrote it. It literally defines thrash metal in a way that Metallica’s other albums don’t. As they went on, they became less and less thrashy, with this album the only pure thrash they’ve put out. Master of Puppets has about two complete thrash songs on it, and this is being generous because each of them have specifically non-thrash intros (Battery and Damage Inc). …And Justice For All should not be considered thrash at all, except for Dyers Eve. The Four Horsemen is another highlight. Since I was introduced to this version before hearing Mechanix, Megadeth’s recording of this song freaks me out. As much as I hate Kill Em All lyrics, at least James isn’t singing about cars as a metaphor for having sex. (Disclaimer: Megadeth is cool and without Dave KEA would be far different.) It’s also the longest song on the album, at only seven minutes. 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. There are a few albums – specifically debut albums – that work much better because of their simplicity. I’ve written something similar about Iron Maiden’s debut and I feel that Kill ‘Em All fits the mould too. Style, songs, cover art – none of it complicates the basic enjoyment of pure heavy metal. And, yes, I would classify Metallica’s debut as something closer to pure heavy metal than actual thrash metal as we know it today, because this (as the almost indisputable First Thrash Album) was a blank slate that described a kind of thrash metal without rules and restrictions. I like it all the more for that. Rhino 04:Very loud and punchy version. It sound little compressed and noisy to me. Remains fine vinyl

This album has some great lyrics in songs like The Fourhorse Men, Jump in the Fire, Seek & Destroy and Phantom Lord. They all speak of some sort of mayhem or pain and devastation. This sets a frenzied mood in the lyrics for the whole album. 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. RoadRunner 1st pressing without "MFN" logo:The most raw version of the album. It lags on bass because they use the "Tim Young" mastering and it was bad imo but "Roadrunner" did excellent job on the cutting process and this version it sounds very sharp and very lively. The production is not great of course but it's not bad either,you can hear everything loud and clear and guitars are barking pretty good.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. Nexus International Japan:Not the best version of the album. The instruments are pretty weak imo. This version can not fill your space.

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. The greatest songs on here fall into 2 categories, the Mustaine Catalog, and the former Leather Charm material penned by James Hetfield. The vocals add to the heaviness with James Hetfield going from whiny vocals reminiscent of the N.W.O.B.H.M. bands they adore and aspired to be like, to gruff and crude barks in the style of Cronos of Venom and Lemmy from Motorhead. Almost every song on this album has the two different styles displayed within the first 2 verses and chorus of each song. The vocals are very well delivered in general. Most phrasing feel comfortable and catchy. Metallica’s 1983 groundbreaking debut might be considered the first thrash metal album to many. While I didn’t live those days nor that scene in the flesh, I think thrash metal reached its definitive, purest form in 1984, by Metallica and Slayer’s hands. Of course, there’s no denying Kill ‘Em All was the starting point of thrash metal’s direct evolution. Sure, Sabbath’s “Symptom of the Universe” or Accept’s “Fast as a Shark” contributed greatly in its formative aesthetics, but they weren’t the finished product. One can certainly argue palm-muted rager “Whiplash” IS the finished product. In fact, the ‘thrashyness’ in this debut LP is dialed up from side A to side B, starting with the aforementioned side A closer. Just like fellow Californian thrash pioneers Slayer, whose own debut was released later in ’83, the flavors of the NWOBHM were still very strong in their formula, but in the case of Kill ‘Em All, one can distinctly realize that the further into the record, the heavier and harsher it becomes. 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?!

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Production on here is awesome. Raw, aggressive, thrash metal sound. Those crunchy guitars made famous from this album sound amazing. The drums sound really good. The bass is audible the whole time and the bass sounds really good. Kirk pulls off some awesome solos, and there are a lot of them on here. 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.