It was inevitable – I would someday write about the first Metallica album, as I’m pretty well assured to write about them all at some point. Today is the day for the first one.

Metallica – Kill ‘Em All

Released July 25, 1983 via Megaforce Records

My Favorite Tracks – The Four Horsemen, Jump In The Fire, Whiplash

There is a lot of history behind the rise of Metallica, and that can be accessed in any number of interviews, videos and books so I’ll spare a lot of it here. Essential to this album – A Metallica line-up of James Hetfield, Lars Ulrich, Cliff Burton and Dave Mustaine went cross-country from San Francisco to New York to record this album. Mustaine was let go from the band in New York and replaced by Kirk Hammett in what is probably the most discussed line-up change in heavy metal history.

Megaforce Records founder Jon Zazula (Jonny Z) had put up every dime he had to finance the recording, which is why Metallica hauled ass that far to record in the first place, as Metal Blade Records head Brian Slagel couldn’t quite afford the costs. After necessary re-mixing, Jonny Z was totally out on his ass financially and it took awhile for him to find distribution for this album. I guess many record label execs wanted “Passed on Metallica” as a line item on their resumes.

Metallica wanted to call the album Metal Up Your Ass but Jonny Z convinced them to rename it for marketability purposes, thus Kill Em’ All was born. Once Metallica’s stock began to rise they sold plenty of Metal Up Your Ass t-shirts as well as copies of Kill ‘Em All.

Kill ‘Em All is a fairly hefty album with 10 songs coming in at 51 minutes. There are now several other versions around but I’ll handle the base version today, as I typically do. Dave Mustaine is credited on four songs, he would attest to having been involved with more in what is heavy metal’s biggest argument ever. All I know is that I was about to enter kindergarten when they recorded this and I have no clue who did what.

Hit The Lights

The opener comes in with a grand bit of noise and then kicks into a whole lot more noise. The lyrics are simply a verbal account of what the song and Metallica’s first album will do, which is to play loud, fast and get the crowd whipped into a frenzy. Mission accomplished.

Hit The Lights had a few other versions before the album release so this song was out there a bit. This was a song James Hetfield brought to the band from his prior band, he and Lars re-worked the tune for Metallica.

The Four Horsemen

The next track is one of Mustaine’s contributions and a song he originally brought in. His old version was called Mechanix and had much different lyrical themes. For post-Mustaine Metallica, the band reworked the song into a tale of the riders of the Apocalypse. This is a lengthy track, showing off early that Metallica were unafraid to challenge the conventional length of songs. And the riffs here are totally New Wave Of British Heavy Metal on steroids, showcasing the direct influence of one metal movement on another.

Motorbreath

This is an all-out banger in both music and lyrics. Not subtle at all, this one pounds the point home from start to finish. It’s all about living fast and hard, the inspiration for and rallying cry of this new form of heavy metal back in its infancy. It would seem as though Metallica pulled the title as tribute to their massive influence Motörhead, though band members have said this was coincidental as it relates to this song.

Jump In The Fire

This was another song Dave Mustaine brought into Metallica. It was originally a song about sex, but after Mustaine left it was re-written to be about being damned to Hell and literally “jumping into the fire.” This one really shows off how Metallica could deftly walk the line between savage heaviness and catchy songwriting – sure this is super heavy, but those riffs are attention-grabbing.

Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)

This is a Cliff Burton bass solo. It’s not some typical bass work either – this is effect-laden and shows Cliff using the instrument like a guitar. Burton was a massive part of Metallica’s early legend and remains a mythical figure. Burton played this a lot in his early days and it was what first drew attention from Lars and James.

Whiplash

Celebrated music journalist Mick Wall wrote in his Enter Night: A Biography On Metallica that Whiplash was the moment thrash metal was introduced to the world. He’s totally correct, this is total breakneck stuff that set the template for heavy metal’s 1980’s course. This was also the first single released from the album. Lars has cited Venom as a primary influence for the speed of this song.

Phantom Lord

This is another song that shows off the NWOBHM influence mixed with Metallica’s early savagery. It is a menacing tale of a warmongering tyrant, something that would become a thrash trope over the years. This is another one credited to Dave Mustaine.

No Remorse

This one hangs out mid-tempo for most of its run, the almost marching feel of the rhythm compliments the lyrics about excelling on the battlefield without feeling remorse or regret for one’s actions. In the last few minutes this song explodes out of its mid-paced shell and goes off the rails for a crazy finale.

Seek And Destroy

This extended cut would become a venerable classic in Metallica’s huge live catalog. This one keeps it pretty simple, with a riff that jumps out and grabs hold as the lyrics paint a tale of terrorizing whatever unlucky souls happen to be out at night. It is Metallica’s third most-played song with nearly 1,600 live airings, and assuredly more to come.

Metal Militia

The closer is another thrash monster that celebrates the leather and denim clad legions found at the early thrash shows. This army would grow to millions as the ’80’s went on and Metallica ascended to the kings of the heavy metal mountain.

Kill ‘Em All got the attention of music critics on release, who loved the heavy yet still somewhat refined sound of Metallica’s delivery. Commercially the album sold better than expected out of the gate, allowing Megaforce Records to get more solid financial footing and quickly spreading the word about Metallica. As Metallica gained in stature, Kill ‘Em All was along for the sales ride, eventually breaking 5 million copies worldwide, with 4.5 of those being in the US.

This album is more raw than the band’s offerings afterward, and of course Metallica would conquer the world with a sound more trimmed down from the thrash period of the ’80’s. But this record is a massive landmark in the development of heavy metal. While the mainstream of the 1980’s would be known for hairspray and ballads, Metallica would be the flag-bearers for a far heavier version of metal that spawned countless scenes and offshoots in the decades since. It was ok to play as heavy and fast as you could or wanted, there was an audience for it.