It was 1983, and there was something happening in the metal world, a movement was growing taking influence from early speed metal bands like Venom, Diamond Head and the like. They were there to put a fist in the face of glam metal, which they saw as the pussification of heavy metal. This new genre pushed the envelope of speed and aggression, playing at louder volumes and faster speeds than once thought possible. One of the most notable of these bands was Metallica, who in this very year would record a landmark album in the thrash metal genre. Originally dubbed "Metal Up Your Ass" but changed to "Kill "em All" due to pressure from the record company. Forget about Load, and Reload, toss that shit out the window, this was back when they had something furious inside them, they had what they called the metal madness, and it runs wild on this album.
The album starts off with an unabashed headbanging anthem called Hit The Lights, and right off the bat you know, you're in for a headbanging furious thrashy good time. The guitars burst forth with furious riffing, blistering leads, and James yelling about how loud and fast, and maniacal they are on stage. The closing minutes of the song are full of some of the most shredtastic guitar work that Kirk Hammet has ever pulled off.
The album continues on this same pace with the second track Four Horsemen a declaration of the coming apocalypse and one of the best metal songs ever recorded, yes it was written by Dave Mustaine, but Metallica executed it far better than Megadeth would. Metallica ingeniusly added in a melodic middle part with one of the most awesome solos ever. It continues its thrashy pace with the song Motorbreath which isn't the greatest song ever, but ultimately its fun to listen to, and full of decent riffs.
The middle of this album kind of loses its pace for me with Jump in the Fire and Anesthesia which has a tremendous intro part, but loses my interest when the drums come in. Whiplash picks it back up, but the ball is sort of dropped again by Phantom Lord which is fun enough but ultimately loses my interest. No Remorse and Seek and Destroy are great tracks, the juvenile lyrics of Seek and Destroy notwithstanding.
Metal Milita is a thrashing metal anthem that really has a nice place as a closing track
As far as intstrumentation everything is pretty well executed, the guitars pump out riffs ranging from searing, pummeling thrashy palm muted excellence, to decent midpaced chugga riffs. The bass thunders slightly in the background with its thick juicy tone. The drums are just sort of there, and the vocals are probably the rawest and meanest that James has ever been. So all in all this is a great landmark thrash album, but ultimately one that is pretty inconsistent. Its flaws are really outweighed by the pure raw metallic energy that shines forth, and you can tell that these guys just plain love to play loud, fast and mean.
86/100
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