So why should Slayer get all the coverage during Metal Month II eh? Eh? Tell me that. You can't, can you? Thought not. In that case, I'm going to take a leaf out of young Justin's book (see his really cool journal here)
http://www.musicbanter.com/members-j...-endeavor.html
and look into how it all began for Metallica.
Kill 'em all --- Metallica --- 1983 (Megaforce)
So what was the first indication impressionable young kids had on first playing this album that something amazing was happening to heavy metal music? The opening track acts for me like a mission statement, as indeed does the title of the album. Raw power, aggression and passion, but imbued with the kind of drama that opens operas and symphonies. The lead guitar of Kirk Hammet and the rolling, thundering drums of Lars Ulrich are the first sounds you hear, and as they pound out the introduction to “Hit the lights”, the general feeling I get, putting myself in the place of someone listening to this for the first time in 1983 in America is, hold tight, because you ain't never heard
this shit before!
And they hadn't. Before this, metal in the USA was still more or less faffing about trying to decide if it was hard rock or AOR. The likes of Kiss, Aerosmith, Journey and REO hd a firm grip, even a stranglehold on American stadium rock, and the NWOBHM, despite being four years old at this stage and beginning to wind down across the water had yet to make any sort of substantial inroads on the US, with only Iron Maiden and Saxon making the big leap over the pond and bringing the exciting new music of the UK to the land of the free. In fact, Maiden were one of Metallica's biggest influences when they decided to get together and play.
With Slayer's debut not hitting till four months later, and Anthrax actually supporting them on one of their first gigs, Metallica were truly the very first American thrash metal band, and in fact the term thrash metal was coined to describe their sound. The album, originally to have been titled “Metal up your ass”, could not get a release due to worries on the part of their record label and so they changed the title to “Kill 'em all”, referenced I guess in the fact that there is no track on the album with that title. I would have called in “The Four Horsemen”, but there you go. They didn't, and metal history was made.
In more ways than one, really. I may be wrong, but I can't recall another instance of a band member being fired before the debut album, as happened here. Dave Mustaine, who had written much of the original music for half of the songs, was fired in April, two months before the album was released and while it was still being recorded, and replaced by Kirk Hammet, who would go on to be Metallica's mainstay guitarist. Mustaine then huffily formed his own band, Megadeth, and the two have been at loggerheads ever since. As a result, Mustaine never actually plays on any Metallica album other than the demo “No life till leather”, and would not cross paths with his ex-bandmates for another twenty-eight years, when Megadeth would play onstage with Metallica, Slayer and Anthrax in Poland as “The Big Four” that they had become, and been dubbed as.
Back to “Hit the lights”. With a big guitar growl it then piles into full speed, the drumming of Ulrich driving the tune along as he roars the vocal, Hammet racking out riffs that were partly his, partly those of departed guitarist Mustaine. There's no real attempt at finesse --- this is, after all, what would grow to be known as thrash metal, and that's characterised by speed, power, aggression and often a sort of controlled chaos. The faster and harder you can play, seems to be the accepted wisdom, the better a thrash band you are. And Metallica certainly play fast here, with Hammet racking off some scorching solos, then slowing the pace down very slightly we're into “The Four Horsemen”, a song with lyrical fare that would become a favourite of Metallica and their contemporaries, the end of the world.
A kind of chugging guitar riff pulls the song along, and you can hear the influence of British band Diamond Head in it, also the vocal stylings of original Tygers of Pan-Tang vocalist Jeff Cox. In the middle it slows down into a sort of southern boogie style, which Mustaine has, perhaps snipingly, referred to as being based on the riff to Lynyrd Skynyrd's “Sweet home Alabama”, and you know, I can hear it. Mustaine did not write this part when he wrote the song, hence the perceived sense of annoyance. A superb guitar outro from Hammet takes us out and into “Motorbreath”, a fast heads-down rocker, possibly a tribute to Motorhead, though I don't know. One of the two singles to be released from the album, “Jump in the fire”, is up next.
One of many later metal songs to be written from the viewpoint of the Devil, it's a fast rocker with frenetic guitar and postulates the question “who needs Hell when you have humanity?” In other words, people by their actions are sealing their own doom, while Satan sits back and laughs. Ulrich has said that it was inspired by Maiden's “Run to the hills”, and though the two songs are nothing alike, you can see what he means. “RttH” is about man's inhumanity to man, and “JitF” is about man sealing his own fate by his treatment of others, and by the sins he commits. A sweet guitar solo in the middle, it's another of the songs Mustaine had worked on before being fired, and he's credited with it as co-writer, as he is with the other three tracks he partially wrote.
Next we get the rather odd “Anesthesia (Pulling teeth)” which, rather like in ways Manowar's “William's tale” is completely played on bass by Cliff Burton, who makes the bass sound like a guitar, and is helped out by Ulrich keeping the beat on parts of the piece. It's pretty amazing: you would think it was a guitar he was playing, but even so it comes across as just a little self-indulgent, and I believe it's far too long. Very impressive though. A sad loss to the world of metal. “Whiplash” then comes in on his bass lines, before Hammet's scattergun guitar takes over and the song begins to belt along, with a full minute of instrumental before James Hetfield comes in with the vocal. I must say, I hear echoes of “Ace of spades” in there ...
Another fast thrasher in “Phantom lord”, with a blistering solo from Hammet, and then rather unexpectedly slows right down in a sort of blues frame of mind to perhaps presage one of their biggest hit singles, “Enter sandman” before Hammet's chugging guitar again takes it off into the sky, screaming like a pterodactyl who sees her nest under attack. There's a blast from my past for me in “No remorse”, as I'm told the song is the inspiration for the music from the computer FPS “Doom”, which is one of the few games I ever played and on which I wasted quite a lot of my younger life. With a fast, powerful, wailing guitar intro that takes it into the first minute, it marches along with a rocking beat and an unapologetic lyric:
”No remorse, no regrets/ Another day, another death” Yeah. I don't see the "Doom" connection, personally.
“Seek and destroy” starts slower, with a more almost low-key vocal from Hetfield. Again it's introduced by a minute-long guitar passage, and oddly enough, given the title, comes across to me as one of the least angry or aggressive tracks on the album. Not that I don't like it, but it just doesn't seem to have the same unbridled energy that the rest of this debut does. Also, I feel Hetfield's voice is slightly strained especially on the chorus. It does speed up in the midsection, a fast powerful solo injecting new life into what had been up to now not quite a boring track, but not as exciting as everything that has gone before. The song actually improves without the vocal, which comes back for the last two minutes of the just short of seven it runs for.
The album closes on the final track into which Dave Mustaine had any writing input, “Metal militia”, which ramps the energy and passion right back up after the somewhat lacklustre “Seek and destroy”, returning to the speed of songs like “Jump in the fire” and “Whiplash”, Hetfield back on form vocally. It's well named, being a virtual aural assault on the ears and ends the album well. I must however take note of one extra track. You all know I don't usually include bonus tracks, but this one is so important I feel I must. Of course, I've related the story before (in the section on them in “Witches, Bitches, Maidens and Monsters: the bands of the NWOBHM”) of how Diamond Head got a new lease of life, after disappearing from public view for years, with the cover Metallica did of their song “Am I evil?” Here it's included as a bonus track, and though they drop my favourite part, the “Mars: the bringer of war” intro, they do a decent job of it but I still prefer the original. Nevertheless, I must thank them for bringing a band who were pretty much dead at that point back into the light of publicity. The fact that Diamond Head never capitalised on that second chance says all you need to know about them, really.
TRACKLISTING
1. Hit the lights
2. The Four Horsemen
3. Motorbreath
4. Jump in the fire
5. Anesthesia (Pulling teeth)
6. Whiplash
7. Phantom lord
8. No remorse
9. Seek and destroy
10. Metal militia
Try to imagine --- if you weren't there at the time --- what it must have been like for Americans --- and for kids this side of the water too --- to have first heard “Kill 'em all”. Oh, we had Iron Maiden, Saxon, but they didn't have the raw power and aggression that was leaking from the pores of this new kid on the block like angry sweat. Sure, Motorhead were fast and loud, but I've never seen them as angry: Lemmy always seems to treat the whole thing as one sort of massive joke. Not that he's not serious, but when he sings “Iron horse” or “Overkill” or even “Ace of spades”, I don't hear anger or rage or frustration in his voice. It's just music.
Metallica were one of the new breed of bands who were going to shake up the whole world of metal. It would be fast. It would be angry. It would be fu
cking LOUD! Soon, they would be joined by contemporaries Slayer, then Anthrax and of course a disgruntled Dave Mustaine would eventually get his s
hit together and form Megadeth, leading to the four bands being dubbed “The Big Four” of Thrash Metal. And thrash metal itself would be born on on the tattooed arms and roaring lips of these fresh new faces on the US music scene; a whole new subgenre that would spawn countless bands, some good, some not so good, and lead to a total cosmic shift in the appreciation, playing and dominance of heavy metal for nearly ten years. Iron Maiden may have sown the seeds three thousand miles away, but Metallica were genetically altering and then harvesting them, and sharing them with the world. From this dark crop a world of teenagers, hungry for music they could identify with, could believe in, could perhaps one day emulate, would be fed, and would crowd greedily and eagerly at the trough, sating their hunger.
The revolution had begun, and it started right here.