Metallica – ‘Kill ‘Em All’
As the 1980s metal scene got underway, Metallica was still at the bottom of the totem pole. Inspired by the New Wave of British Heavy Metal, the thrash metal legends were one of the kings of the underground thanks to their first live shows, spitting in the face of what the glam bands out of Los Angeles were doing. The thrash scene was just about to be born… it just needed the proper album to tie everything together.
Across ten tracks, Kill’ Em All was everything Metallica was about in their formative years. From front to end, the thrash legends wear their influences on their sleeve, with hooks that feel like leftovers from a Motorhead or Black Sabbath album. Opening up with the song ‘Hit The Lights’, James Hetfield is already proving himself as a virtuoso rhythm guitarist, having as much precision in his right hand as most lead players would have in their lifetime.
With the arrival of Kirk Hammett, what could have been run-of-the-mill metal songs get turned into the most grandiose tracks of the underground scene. When listening to his solo runs on tracks like ‘Seek and Destroy’, it’s easy to see that Hammett took the framework of what Dave Mustaine had done before he was fired and took it to a different level with a healthy amount of bluesy taste.
Although there aren’t any traditional hooks across Kill Em All, its power comes from the group’s ability to hit its audience with one great riff after another. Compared to the greatest metal bands that have come before them, Metallica already had a healthy dose of punk attitude across their tunes, even if they were spreading them out into long exercises on tracks like ‘The Four Horsemen’, a sign of more glorious things to come.
There are even a handful of songs that fall into traditional metal fanfare that go over surprisingly well. Though the band were never concerned with mainstream appeal, the vocal hooks of tracks like ‘Motorbreath’ and ‘Jump in the Fire’ have that heavy metal aesthetic that would have appealed to a Black Sabbath or Deep Purple fan around the same time.
Aside from the massive riffs from Hetfield, one of the band’s greatest strengths on the debut is the inclusion of Cliff Burton. Replacing original bassist Ron McGovny, Burton’s knowledge of music theory brings a level of sophistication that other metal acts didn’t have. Across his bass showcase ‘Anaesthesia (Pulling Teeth)‘, Burton teaches a clinic on creating a compelling bass melody, weaving together different flurries of notes just like a classical musician would.
Granted, all debut albums tend to be rough around the edges, and Metallica’s is one of the rougher first attempts in metal history. Even with the iconic songs, the production value of the tracks sounds completely DIY, almost like they were trying to record on the fly so they could get back on tour. This leads to a few of Hammett’s solos sounding incredibly sloppy and Hetfield’s vocal takes needing a few touchups.
And while on the subject of Hetfield, his prowess as a singer isn’t quite dialled in yet. Despite having a piercing high voice at this point in Metallica’s history, his approach to lyrics give way to the single stupidest lines to ever appear in a metal song. Considering how metal is known for covering serious topics, a song like ‘Whiplash’ talking about the wonders of headbanging at a show doesn’t exactly invite any philosophical dissection from the listener.
The real elephant in the room on this recording is Lars Ulrich. While his capabilities as a drummer have been questioned occasionally, Ulrich’s performance behind the kit feels too frantic for its own good, often trying to put as many fills in as possible instead of laying down a consistent groove. Going through the entire album in one sitting, Hetfield seems to be the only one holding down the tempo while Ulrich tries to channel his inner Neil Peart.
In all fairness, there are also a handful of tracks that either feel half-finished or don’t really work in the context of the record. The leftover ‘Phantom Lord’ comes off more like Metallica on autopilot, while ‘Metal Militia’ completely ruins its badass title by being merely okay.
Even in the deep cuts, though, Metallica is all about pushing their genre forward in whatever way they can. Outside of the epics like ‘Seek and Destroy’, a track like ‘No Remorse’ is one of the cornerstones of their classic sound, featuring intense down picking from Hetfield and a great lyric about having no empathy in the face of destruction.
For all the production values holding the album back, though, this is still a good indication of where heavy metal could go outside the glamorous aesthetics. Instead of the usual bands off of Sunset like Poison or Mötley Crüe, Metallica were channelling the same influences as old school titans, from Van Halen to Black Sabbath to Mercyful Fate. The band needed to polish off the rough edges, but once they worked out the bugs, they could become one of the biggest metal institutions the world had ever seen.