METALLICA — Kill 'em All (review)

METALLICA — Kill 'em All album cover Album · 1983 · Thrash Metal Buy this album from MMA partners
3.5/5 ·
friso
Metallica - Kill 'Em All (1983)

The new wave of British Heavy Metal had almost reached it's highlight in '83, whilst America's heavy metal was about to get a great boost. Metallica became known as the band that introduced the thrash metal genre to public. When I was sixteen I used to like their up-tempo relentless metal very much and I still think it is quality music within it's genre.

The sound of metal changed. First the heaviness of the guitars was used to make the melodic/chord structures more bombastic, but within the borders of thrash the often non- melodic heavy riffs became the main ingredient of the music. The vocals on this record are very tough!

Metallica proved to be the king of these very heavy riffs with extreme guitar amplification. The songwriting was strong with still some punk and rock'n roll influences from bands like Moterhead and Diamond Head. Metallica developed the genre by changing the rules of songwriting from time to time. The Four Horseman had an extended form with song-within-a- song structures, Jump into the Fire has a Deep Purple influenced sound, Pulling Teeth is the best metal-bass solo ever recorded with it's melodic but distorted bass and great drums in the ending section. Opening and ending tracks Hit the Lights and Metal Militia are both up-tempo trash songs with an catchy sound (who would have though such a thing?).

Conclusion. A nice debut of Metallica and still one of their better albums. A very influential and good metal record with little progressive moments. Only the sound of the album can be put forward as a very innovative development. Three and a halve stars. Must-have for metal-fans.
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