| Kill 'Em All is a timeless masterpiece. The
album although recorded in 1983 still stands out today over 20 years
since it was recorded as one of the most influential and best loved thrash
albums of all time. For me Kill 'Em All has the right balance of tracks
starting with Metallica first ever song Hit The Light which is still a
favorite live today - Its simplistic lyrics and catchy vibe must have
had people hooked from the first listen.
Then comes the monstrosity that is The
Four Horsemen. This is one of Metallica's best songs and is a track that
everyone wants to hear live. Originally entitled The Mechaix and co written
by Dave Mustaine this is one of the highlights from this album. With
lyrics such as "You've been dying since the day you were
born"....who could argue that Metallica were not talking about the
real world and real world issues? Like a sledge hammer in your face
Metallica were telling it like it was! That I think was one of the
appeals of the early Metallica. They were a bunch of young enthusiastic
creative individuals who people could relate life experiences to within
the lyrics of there songs. This would be the tip of the iceberg. as the
years passed Metallica would get into more deep and meaningful lyrics
that some of the more hardcore fans would live by.
The next track is Motorbreath another
personal favorite for me and with lyrics that have helped me to achieve
certain goals "you only live once so take hold of the chance don't
end up like others same song and dance" A brutal song and I can
only imagine what people must have thought when they first heard that
song. It was so different to everything else that was around at the
time.
At this point we must all remember that
Metallica forged a path for all the other thrash bands that have
followed. Metallica were at the forefront of the movement and some
people argue (convincingly) that Metallica were the band to "invent
trash".
Jump In The Fire was meant to be the
"radio friendly" song on Kill 'Em All and was released as a
single with b-sides of Seek and Destroy and Phantom Lord Live - The
songs were studio recordings with dubbed crowd noise from another band!
Jump In the Fire is a great song and will always be an upbeat funky song
but it lacks the depth of some of the others on the album. Having said
that it is the bands least favorite song on this album.
Cliff Burton's Bass Solo is a testament
to one of the greatest bass players of all time. This song needs to be
listened to to fully appreciate what a technically advanced player he
was. This was the first Instrumental Metallica did and was the highlight
of many a live show with cliff swirling his fire cloloured hair around
whilst bent over his bass playing with his fingers.
Whiplash is a mental song dedicated to
all the hard core Metallica fans out there that follow the band about.
This is a song for all the fans at the front of a show to really go
mental to. Whiplash was released as a single on Megaforce records (Metallica's
first label in the US) but there is some debate over its authenticity as
Lars has scribbled "Bootleg" over some copies he has signed.
The single never appears in any official discography either. Whiplash
was released after Metallica ended there time with Megaforce.
Phantom lord with its old school lyrics
such as "The leathered armies have prevailed, The Phantom Lord has
never failed" and "Sound is ripping through your ears, The
deafening sound of metal nears" is a super song and one of the best
on the album in my opinion.
No Remorse is everyone's favourite and
still a firm favorite of the band with its addition in the set most
nights throughout the 2003/2004 tour. This song really gets you fired up
for a nice bit of killing! There was a case in America where a guy ran
over a hitch hiker whilst quoting the lyrics from this song
"another day another death" and in court all he could do was
to quote the song. A quote from James about this at the time was
"maybe they should quote him the words from Ride The
Lightning" - A song about capitol punishment.
Seek And Destroy is another favourite
live and never fails to get the crowd whipped up into a frenzy and is a
song that the band favour to finish there sets with as it is so nuts!
Seek And Destroy is a classic song and will always be as fresh as the
day it was written.
Metal Militia the album closer is
sometimes overlooked but all the same has a dedicated following of fans.
From its stomping intro to the final few seconds this is a full thrash
onslaught on your ear drums. It would be nice to see the band bring back
Metal Militia into the sets and let us all go nuts to one of the
greatest trash songs ever written.
Kill 'Em All is a fantastic album and
possibly my favorite Metallica album due to the raw and almost innocent
edge it has. This is an album that every fan should really give the time
to as it deserves dedicated listening time to get the full enjoyment out
of this masterpiece. I only wish I had been around for the album when it
was released so I could have experienced what a different album it was
compared to the music of the day.
Steve (Webmaster) 2004
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