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 KILL 'EM ALL

James Hetfield - Kirk Hammett - Cliff Burton - Lars Ulrich

METALLICA has always been the in the forefront of the thrash movement, ever since they recorded their legendary No Life 'Til Leather demo in 1982. Ron McGovney and Dave Mustaine had to leave the group and Cliff Burton and Kirk Hammett joined. After appearing on Metal Blade's Metal Massacre compilation with the song Hit the Lights, Metallica signed a deal with Megaforce Records. They then travelled to east coast and recorded Kill 'Em All at Music America Studios in Rochester, New York. The album was originally going to be called Metal Up Your Ass, but the bands label didn't like the idea, so Metallica dedicated the Kill 'Em All album to the record label executives.

The album was a success, especially over time. To promote the album Metallica released Whiplash and Jump in the Fire as singles, Metallica then joined Raven for the "Kill 'Em All For One" co-headlining tour. Gigs with Venom followed before the band flew to Denmark to record Ride the Lightning. This is our article about Kill 'Em All, one of the greatest and most significant debut albums of all time.

HIT THE LIGHTS (1981)

In 1981, in Southern California, James Hetfield and Ron McGovney was in a local band called Leather Charm. While in the band Hetfield wrote parts of "Hit the Lights".  Leather Charm was soon disbanded and James kept the riffs. During the summer of 1981 Lars Ulrich was travelling Europe and in London he discovered Motörhead and Lars hung around to see them record write songs for their Iron Fist album. That inspired Lars to return to California and look for band members to start a band.

James Hetfield  were also looking for new band members, so he posted an ad in The local paper "The Recycler". Lars Ulrich answered and he auditioned, James Hetfield wasn't that impressed by Lars Ulrichs drumming so at first they went seperate ways. Lars Ulrich was in contact with Brian Slagel (of Metal Blade Records), Brian was a self-made Record label owner whom was about to release a compilation of unsigned metal bands on vinyl. Lars asked if he could have a song on the album if he put a band together and Brian Slagel agreed. So Lars called up James Hetfield again and asked if he wanted to give it another go and to record a song for the upcoming Metal Massacre compilation. James Hetfield was extremely interested in having a song pressed on vinyl so he agreed. They got together and got to know each other better. Both were quite disenfranchised, Lars was awkward and James was shy, but together they had a common interest in music. James was quite the songwriter and Lars acknowledged that. Lars introduced James to European metal bands, especially those up and coming bands from the British isles such as Raven, Tank and Saxon. James said in an interview that those bands were speaking for him, they were loud and fast. They were giving him a voice. In late 1981 Metallica was established by Lars Ulrich and James Hetfield.

Lars knew a Jamaican / American guitarist by the name Lloyd Grant, whom he had rehearsed with in Orange County, California. So Lars asked Lloyd Grant to come and rehearse with him and James Hetfield. Lloyd was quite busy but he agreed to play with them. During their first rehearsals Ron McGovney hadn't joined the band yet so James was playing the bass, Lars the drums and Lloyd the guitars. Lars and James introduced Lloyd to their song "Hit the Lights" and Lloyd was impressed so they rehearsed a few times together. Then Lars asked Lloyd Grant to record the solos for the song Hit the Lights, which they would send over to Brian Slagel, to be a part of the Metal Massacre compilation. After contributing the solos, Lloyd Grant parted ways with Metallica. The Metal Massacre compilation was released in 1982.

James Hetfield knew Ron McGovney since their days in Leather Charm so they asked to join the band. Ron joined Metallica in October of 1981. During that time, the Los Angeles metal scene with like Ratt and Mötley Crüe were quite far away from the metal sound that came from the United Kingdom. The early lineups of Metallica was frustrated that softer bands like that became popular with all their makeup and that the scene was all about looks and getting laid and not about the music's integrity.

GARAGE DAYS (1982)

The guys in Metallica understood they needed a lead guitarist so they posted another ad in The Recycler and Dave Mustaine answered. Dave had previously been in a band called panic but their drummer Mike Leftwych was killed in a car accident, So Panic disbanded.

The lineup of Hetfield, Mustaine, McGovney and Ulrich started rehearsing in Ron McGovney's garage. Metallica then played their first gig in March, 14, 1982, at Radio City in Anaheim. The gig went terrible and Dave Mustaine broke a lot of strings during the show. There were approximately 100 people attending. Metallica only played two original songs: Hit the Lights and Jump in the Fire, the rest of the seven songs the band performed was different NWOBHM covers.

Also in March of 1982 Metallica recorded their "Whiskey Audition Tape" in Ron's garage. Which was two cover songs: Savage - Let it Loose and Sweet Savage - Killing Time. The tape helped the band to get the opening spot when Saxon played the Whiskey A Go-Go in Los Angeles on March 27, 1982. Not bad to open up for Saxon on your second gig.

Metallica recorded another demo tape in Ron's garage in March, They recorded Hit the Lights, Jump in the Fire and four Diamond Head songs (Helpless, Am I Evil, The Prince and Sucking My Love.) The tape was never officially released but it has been in wide circulation.

In April of 1982, Metallica recorded another demo in Ron's garage, it was named Power Metal by bootleggers because the band had pressed the title Power Metal on their first business cards. Metallica's music was called Power Metal in the beginning because the term Thrash wasn't invented yet. The Power Metal demo was never officially released either. This demo had four original songs on it: Hit the Lights, Jump in the Fire, Motorbreath and Mechanix. The song Mechanix was written by Dave Mustaine. When Dave was fired from the band the song Mechanix was re-worked into the track "The Four Horsemen", which appeared on Metallica's debut album Kill 'Em All. This further infuriated Dave Mustaine and he released it in it's original form on Megadeth's 1985 debut album "Killing Is  My Business... And Business is good!".

On June 14, 1982 Metal Blade Records released Metal Massacre. Metallica was spelled wrong on the compilation. Metal Blade had spelled their name as Mettallica. It was Hit the Lights that Metallica performed on the compilation. It was James Hetfield, Dave Mustaine, Lars Ulrich and Lloyd Grant that played on the recording. The Metal Massacre compilation was a huge success and Metal Blade continued releasing more Metal Massacre albums, which helped build the Metal Blade label into an important heavy metal label. Other bands that appeared on the original Metal Massacre compilation were: Steeler, Bitch, Malice, Ratt, Avatar, Cirith Ungol, Demon Flight, Pandemonium and Metallica.

The No Life 'til Leather demo was recorded on the 6th of July in 1982. All the songs on No Life ' Til Leather would later end up (in re-recorded versions) on Metallica's debut Kill 'Em All. The songs on No Life 'Til Leather was: Hit the Lights, The Mechanix (an early version of The Four Horsemen), Motorbreath, Seek & Destroy, Metal Militia, Jump in the Fire and Phantom Lord.

The demo was a huge succes and it spread like wildfire in the underground scene. Soon after the demo was released Metallica wrote No Remorse and Whiplash in late 1982.

At the time Ron McGovney was getting more and more frustrated, he didn't get along that well with Dave Mustaine and Lars Ulrich, he felt that he was just a photographer and a driver and not a respected member of the band. So on the 10th of December in 1982, Ron McGovney left Metallica and he sold his equipment and retired from music.

LINEUP CHANGES (1983)

While searching for a bassist, Brian Slagel suggested the band to go and check out a San Francisco band called Trauma and their bassist Cliff Burton. Trauma had also appeared on the Brian Slagel's Metal Massacre compilation. So when Trauma came to Los Angeles a few weeks later. Lars and James were there to watch Cliff perform. They knew instantly that they wanted Cliff in their band with his wild finger-playing and overall great performance. Cliff was mildly interested in joining Metallica unless they would re-locate to San Francisco. Said and done, Metallica moved to San Francisco in February of 1983. They lived in El Cerrito, San Francisco, in Mark Whitaker's house (Exodus manager). The house was known as the Metalli-mansion.

By then they had already written all the song for their upcoming debut album, except from the bass solo (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth. On the 5th of March, Cliff played his first gig with Metallica at The Stone in San Francisco. Exodus and Laaz Rockit were opening acts. On the 16th of March, 1983 Metallica recorded the Megaforce demo, it was a two track demo and the songs on it was: Whiplash and No Remorse. Metallica's debut was originally planned to be released on Brian Slagel's Metal Blade records on an 8000 dollar budget, but he was unable to finance it so Lars sent the Megaforce demo to Jon Zazula in New Jersey, whom was a record store owner and and a promoter of heavy metal on the east coast.  Jon and Marsha Zazula were the owners of Megaforce Records and they liked what they heard so they offered Metallica a record deal. The band  hired a U-haul truck and drove to New Jersey in March of 1983.

On the 22th and 24th of April, 1983 Metallica were the supporting act when Venom played the Paramount Theatre in New York twice. Venom were on their USA Invasion tour in 1983. The two bands got along well so when Venom decided to go on their legendary Seven Dates of Hell Tour throughout Europe in 1984, Metallica was invited once again to open up for Venom.

At the same time the frustration grew between Dave Mustaine and the rest of the band so Dave was fired from the band after a gig in New York. He was fired after an argument with James Hetfield. Dave was an alcoholic and a drug user and despite Metallica were referred to as Alcoholica, Dave's problem was so bad that they couldn't keep going forward with him in the band. But that didn't hinder Metallica from using Dave Mustaine's riffs on their first two albums. Dave co-wrote these songs Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, Jump in the Fire and The Four Horsemen of Kill 'Em All and Ride the Lightning and The Call of Ktulu of Ride the Lightning. Dave was angry and sad that he was fired from the band, especially when things were going great for Metallica after his dismissal.

Metallica recruited guitarist Kirk Hammett from the local metal band Exodus whom they had gigged with in San Francisco.

During this time the guys in Metallica were heavily influenced by the British metal sound, especially the NWOBHM movement. Bands like Sweet Savage, Angel Witch, Iron Maiden, Diamond Head, Saxon, Raven, Tank and Savage. They were also heavily into Venom, Misfits, Motörhead and Mercyful Fate.

RECORDING KILL 'EM ALL (1983)

In the spring of 1983 Metallica travelled to the Music America Studios in Rochester, New York to record their debut album. The band had written all songs before entering the studios, 7 out of 10 songs were recorded back on their "No Life 'Til Leather" demo and two songs were written soon afterwards. The tenth song was (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth, which was Cliff Burton's contribution to the album. The band entered the studio on the 10th of May in 1983 and they were finished on the 27th of May.

Originally the band had an idea to call the album Metal Up Your Ass, but Megaforce refused that title so Cliff said "Kill 'Em All" about the executives at Megaforce Records. So Metallica decided to call the album Kill 'Em All instead. The band even had an artwork made for their Metal Up Your Ass-album, that remained unused. The artwork was a toilet with a knife sticking up. The band changed the title to Kill 'Em All. The album was released on Megaforce in the U.S. and Music For Nations in Europe. It was released on the 25th of July in 1983.

The album was recorded with in New York with producer Paul Curcio on a rather tight budget of 15.000 dollars. Jon Zazula was the executive producer, Chris Bubacz engineered the album and Andy Wroblewski was the assistant engineer. Kevin Hodapp took the photos used on the inner sleeve and Gary L. Heard made the artwork.

The "Bang that head that doesn't Bang" quote on the back of the LP was something that Ray Burch had said, he was a San Francisco native and a fan of the band. He was known for his headbanging at the band's early shows.

Whiplash and Jump in the Fire was released as singles. The album's title and artwork was criticised for being offensive.

The album was a success and it had shipped 60.000 copies by the end of their 1984 tour, although the initial shipment was 15.000 copies in the United States. Kill 'Em All was the bands lowest selling album, but that is because this was their first album and they yet hadn't built their insanely large following yet. Initially the album was no financial success. The album sold out quickly. The album entered the Billboard list, but it wasn't until 1986 when the band had released Master of Puppets, that Kill 'Em All peaked at 155 on the Billboard top 200.

TOURING AND PROMOTION (1983-1984)

After the recording of Kill 'Em All the band went on a two month long tour in the United States with Raven called the Kill 'Em All For One tour, which they co-headlined. The tour was organized by Jon Zazula of Megaforce Records. Metallica played 32 cross-country dates during the tour, which was sponsored by Megaforce Records. During the tour Metallica played songs from their Kill 'Em All album, but also one song from the upcoming Ride The Ligtning album: The Call of Ktulu, which at the time was called "When Hell Freezes Over". During this tour the band gigged with bands like Anthrax, Twisted Sister, Venom and Armored Saint.

The Ride the Lightning Demo was recorded on October 24, 1983, Which was the first demo the band recorded with Kirk Hammett in the lineup. The demo featured original songs that weren't included on their debut album "Kill 'Em All". The songs included in the demo was Fight Fire With Fire, Ride the Lightning, Creeping Death and When Hell Freezes Over.

When Hell Freezes Over was later transformed into "The Call of  Ktulu". Metallica decided to keep the riffs Dave Mustaine wrote when he still was a member of the band, much to Dave's frustration. Dave had written riffs for the songs Ride the Lightning and When Hell Freezes Over. All four songs on the demo would end up on the bands 1984 album Ride the Lightning.

During these sessions Metallica also recorded Whiplash and Jump In The Fire to be used as fake "live" b-sides for their Whiplash and Jump in the Fire-singles.

In February of 1984 Metallica would hit the road again, this time in Europe as a supporting act to Venom on their Seven Dates of Hell Tour. Together they played Milano, Paris, Nuremberg, Zurich, Zwolle and Poperinge. In Zwolle in the Netherlands they played in front of 7000 people. In Nuremberg the crowd was only 1000 people. After those six gigs Metallica went to Denmark to record Ride the Lightning with producer Flemming Rasmussen. When the album was finished Metallica played two gigs at The Marquee in London. They also played the seventh gig with Venom at the legendary Hammersmith Odeon.

Metallica continued playing gigs throughout 1984, before embarking on their Ride the Lightning tour in 1984 with Tank as support through Europe and Armored Saint and W.A.S.P. as support in the United States.

  

RE-ISSUES

In 1988 Elektra reissued Kill 'Em All with two bonus tracks. The bonus tracks were two NWOBHM covers, Am I Evil? by Diamond Head and Blitzkrieg by Blitzkrieg.

The album was released as a digital reissue too, it had the same two bonus tracks as the 1988 release by Elektra, plus two live tracks from Kill 'Em All, both recorded in live in Seattle in 1989, with Jason Newsted handling the bass.

In 2016, Metallica released a remastered deluxe box set of Kill 'Em All, which included 4 LPs, 5 CDs and 1 DVD.

LEGACY AND IMPACT

Since it was the first thrash metal album to be released (Sorry Venom and Exciter) it was a huge deal. A lot of bands in the Bay Area around Francisco started playing this new type of metal. San Francisco was known for their hippie music in the seventies so Metallica definitely influenced the music around the area.

In 1999 the album had sold three million copies in the United States, according to RIAA.

Municipal Waste named their 2003 debut album Waste 'Em All after Metallica's Kill 'Em All.

On Metallica's 2016 album Hardwired to Self-Destruct Metallica looked towards Kill 'Em All for inspiration.

A ton of bands have mentioned Kill 'Em All as an influence, including Slayer, Anthrax, Death Angel, Exodus, Destruction, Flotsam and Jetsam, Dark Angel, Tankard, Rage, Testament and Pantera.

TRACK BY TRACK

HIT THE LIGHTS 

Hit the Lights was written back in 1981, Some of the riffs even pre-dates Metallica as parts of the song was written while James Hetfield and Ron McGovney still played in Leather Charm, which makes it one of the first thrash metal songs of all time. Despite being that old, it's a really fast track, played at 160bpm. Traces of NWOBHM can be heard throughout the song but performed at high speed. The song ends with a bunch of short solos that flies by in lightning speed. The lyrics is about getting up on stage and kicking ass and playing metal, a typical metal anthem.

THE FOUR HORSEMEN 

The Four Horsemen were originally called The Mechanix, but when Dave was fired from the band, Metallica re-arranged it and wrote new lyrics and changed the title to The Four Horsemen. Metallica also added a mid-tempo part in the middle of the song, which was not a part of the original that Dave Mustaine wrote. The lyrics of Mechanix differs a lot from the ones of The Four Horsemen, Mechanix was about a mechanic and his work on improving his motor car, Metallica's version is about The Horsemen of the Apocalypse, from the New Testament in the bible. I would say that lyricwise, Metallica improved the song greatly. The Four Horsemen is the longest track on the album.

MOTORBREATH 

Motorbreath was written by James Hetfield, the song is about living life in the fast lane and taking chances. Motorbreath also has it's roots back in the Leather Charm days. Motorbreath is the shortest song on the album. The chugging guitar onslaught combined with breakneck drums makes Motorbreath the quintessential song to bang your head to. "Life in the fast lane . . . hard and heavy/It’s dirty and mean," Hetfield sings, punctuating the track's sonic intent.

JUMP IN THE FIRE 

Jump in the Fire has this great and quirky NWOBHM-like main riff. It's one of the least thrashy songs on the album. The song was co-penned by Dave Mustaine but Metallica re-arranged it and changed the lyrics. The song is about luring people down to hell, written from Satan's perspective. Jump in the Fire was released as a single in January of 1984. Les Edwards painted the artwork for the single.

(ANESTHESIA) PULLING TEETH

Most songs on the album was written before Cliff joined the band so he missed out on co-writing any material for the album. Instead Metallica decided to include one of Cliff's characteristic "lead" bass solos. He played the bass like a guitar a with wah-wah pedal and tapping, so many people thought it was a guitar solo at first. Cliff's techniques was unheard of at the time. He also played with his fingers instead of using a pick. According to the voice (Which is engineer Chris Bubacz speaking) in the beginning of the song, it was the first take that ended up on the album. This was also Metallica's first instrumental song and their following three albums all had one instrumental track on them. (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth was written by Cliff Burton while he was still with Trauma.  It was performed on stage when Lars and James first saw Trauma and Cliff Burton perform live.

WHIPLASH 

Whiplash was probably the fastest metal song (200bpm) in the world by 1983. When the fast guitar enters and the drums starts to pump, you'll know that you're in for something unheard of prior to the release of Kill 'Em All. The song is about headbanging and acting like a maniac at a metal show. Exodus also used the sentence "Bang Your Head Against the Stage" in their song Bonded By Blood. Metallica sings about Never quitting and never stopping because they are Metallica, which is funny when you think of what Metallica turned into in the nineties. Whiplash was also Metallica's first single ever, released on the 8th of August, 1983.

PHANTOM LORD 

Lyricwise Phantom Lord is about a war on the battlefield, we all need to bow to the Phantom Lord whom controls the land. Phantom Lord was co-penned by Dave Mustaine and it has influences of speed metal and NWOBHM. Phantom Lord was titled after one of James Hetfield's old bands. It’s all about the riff until the first solo break, which slows things down at the 2:30 mark, then revs it up again for more leads and heavy riffing.

NO REMORSE 

No Remorse was the first war themed song that Metallica wrote. No Remorse is a mid-tempo song that picks up some pace towards the end. No remorse, no repent, We don’t care what it meant, Another day, another death, Another sorrow, another breath...

SEEK & DESTROY 

Seek & Destroy has the most memorable riff on the album. A real catchy tune that is said to be inspired by Diamond Head's Dead Reckoning and Sucking My Love(?). The lyrics is about to seek & destroy someone who is unable to escape. Seek & Destroy is a staple at Metallica's concerts and the song has been covered by many bands.

METAL MILITIA 

The album closer Metal Militia is together with Whiplash the fastest and most aggressive song on the album. Lyricwise Metal Militia is a metal anthem about nonconformity and metal life, you will not feel marginalized as a metal fan after hearing Metal Militia. The album ends with the sound of marching soldiers, at least if you don't have the re-issues with the bonus tracks. Metal Militia was co-penned by Dave Mustaine.

THE RUTHLESS REVIEW

Metallicas first full-length release is a true landmark in thrash metal history. Kill 'Em All more or less kickstarted the whole genre and it's a huge reason why the genre became so popular in the eighties. Metallica was heavily influenced by the NWOBHM wave, which you can hear throughout the album. But Kill 'Em All ain't a speed metal infused heavy metal album (Like Anvil or Exciter) I think that Kill 'Em All was the first true thrash metal record, even if it has smaller hints of heavy and speed metal.

I really like the guitars on Kill 'Em All, The crunchy chainsaw sounding rhythm guitar tone combined with the speedy precise leads and add to that the worlds greatest bassist in Cliff Burton, but one must remember that his influence on this record is minimal because he joined the band when all songs except (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth were already written. I would say that Dave Mustaine's influence on the record is bigger, since he co-wrote four of the tracks. Sometimes Lars Ulrich is referred to as the bands weak point but his drumming is pretty impressive here. James Hetfield himself has been dissatisfied with his somewhat high-pitched vocal performance on the record. It might not have the same assertiveness as his vocal performance on Ride the Lightning or Master of Puppets but it was still pretty good, especially when you think of how terrible he sings these days.

The lyrics on the album is a little less controversial than your Exodus or Slayer debut album. Focusing on metal anthems and songs about war and destruction, which might have helped Metallica's popularity in the long run. Kill 'Em All is Metallica's fastest and dirtiest album, with an almost Motörhead-like feeling to it.

Kill 'Em all is a no filler, all killer thrash metal album. A landmark album that more or less single-handedly created the thrash metal genre. Kill 'Em All stands the test of time on all levels. It's not only one of the first thrash metal albums it's also one of the best thrash metal albums the genre has to offer.

10/10

Studios:

Recorded & mixed at: Music America Recording Studio in May, 1983.

Credits:

Cover art, Photography: Gary L. Heard

Engineering Assistant: Andy Wroblewski

Photography: Kevin Hodapp

Mastering: Jack Skinner

Mastering: Alex Perialas

Songwriting (tracks 2,4,7 & 10): Dave Mustaine

Producer: Paul Curcio

Executive Producer: Jon Zazula

Engineering: Chris Bubacz

Lineup:

James Hetfield: Guitars & Vocals

Kirk Hammett: Guitars

Lars Ulrich: Drums

Cliff Burton: Bass

"Bang your head against the stage

Like you never did before

Make it ring Make it bleed

Make it really sore

In a frenzied madness

with your leather and your spikes

Heads are bobbing all around

It is hot as hell tonight

Adrenaline starts to flow

You're thrashing all around

Acting like a maniac

Whiplash"

/ Ruthless