JoeLumb's Album Review Metallica's "Kill 'Em All" (1983)

 Metallica was founded in 1981 by Drummer Lars Ulrich and singer/guitarist James Hetfield,before settling in on a definitive line up Brian Slagel who owned MetalBlade Records asked Metallica to record a song for his first compilation record called "Metal Massacre" "Hit the Lights" was chosen from James and  Ron McGovney's previous band Leather Charm and recorded it with James singing,Lars on drums,Ron on bass and temporary guitarist named Lloyd Grant.  But the Original line up comprised of James,Lars,Ron and a fresh faced guitarist in Dave Mustaine. Metallica's first show was at Anaheim's Radio City on March 14,1982 Suddenly Ron McGovney left after a dispute between him and Dave Mustaine so they turned to Trauma's Cliff Burton with the condition is that they move from Los Angeles to San Francisco which would be the home of Thrash Metal. They recorded a number of demos including "No Life Til Leather" and "Power Metal" to gain attention from club owners,but when "No Life" was discovered by Jon Zazula the label head of Megaforce,he signed them up providing a budget of $15,000 for recording. However before they started to record their first full length album Dave Mustaine got fired from the group following a gig in New York. That happened on April 11,1983 and by May Metallica recruited founding Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett to join and they started to record at MusicAmerica Studios in Rochester,New York.  It took 17 days to record and it was produced by Paul Curcio. The first album was initially to be titled "Metal Up Your Ass" where the cover art sees a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl. Zazula convinced the band to change the name because distributors feared that releasing an album with an offensive title would diminish the band's chances of success commercially.

So instead of Metallica's debut record being called "Metal Up Your Ass",they went with "Kill Em All" where the final cover showed a shadowy hand letting go of a bloodied hammer. Cliff Burton was credited for the album title "Kill 'Em All" after a rant from record distributors for being afraid of them. Lars Ulrich believed that "Kill 'Em All" was and still is a good album name instead of "Metal Up Your Ass" and Jon Zazula agreed. 

So "Kill 'Em All" was released on July 25,1983 and they promoted the record by going on a two month co-headlining tour with a British heavy metal act called Raven.  The Tour was titled "Kill 'Em All for One" "Whiplash" and "Jump in the Fire" were released as singles. Selling 15,000 in the U.S. and 60,000 worldwide by the end of their Seven Dates of Hell European Tour in 1984. "Kill 'Em All" didn't enter the Billboard 200 until 1986 when it peaked at 155 following Metallica's newfound success of their third album "Master of Puppets" The 1988 reissue saw "Kill 'Em All" reach #120. 

"Kill 'Em All" was at the time critically praised at the time of it's release and it's been regarded as a groundbreaking thrash metal record. 

My overall rating for "Kill 'Em All" is an 85/100 I love most of the songs off the album except for two songs  "Motorbreath" and "Phantom Lord"

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