Classic or Dud: Metallica - Kill 'Em All

The way Hetfield speak/sings "All right!" at the beginning of "Seek and Destroy" is one of the great moments in metal history.

What do you think of Hammett's playing on the record? He got a lot better later on, I think. He's fast, but not very imaginative.

Never really liked Kirk Hammet as a guitarist, especially when compared to King & Hanneman of Slayer, who were, for me, the greatest ever (this is going back about 12 years, mind you)

I'll say it's a classic. MAn, I haven't listened to that one in awhile. Just thinking about that red and black cover and the teenaged Metallica picture inside...."Am I Evil". I'd be tempted to say that this in my Top 50 Debut Albums by an Artist. I know that some e.p.'s that had come out but this was their first full-length, right?

Listen to me. Start talking about Kill 'Em All, and I start writing like a fifteen year old. A thread that would bring up more questions than answers would be C/D - ...And Justice For All. "One" is a good song, and so is "Dyer's Eve", but the rest of the album and that hollow tinny production? Sheesh.

The $5.98 EP: Garage Days Re-Revisited
...And Justice For All
Ride The Lightning
Master Of Puppets
Kill 'Em All

Oh, and Metallica broke up immediately after recording ...And Justice For All. I don't know who those other tools are.

The cool thing about Justice was that their songwriting chops were patchy as usual, but they still had their knack for writing THOSE riffs by the caseload. But I really wish they wouldn't have just copy/pasted a riff/drum pattern 40x instead of doing more interesting things with it to build something (change bassline underneath it, change the drum pattern, slight variations in the riff itself). Only a few years later bands like Enslaved and Burzum would emerge who wrote two-riff fifteen minute songs with those techniques.

1.Kill Em All (no weak tracks!)
2.Justice (no weak riffs!)
3.Garage Days (raw & messy! cardboard drums again!)
4.Lightning (killer/filler ratio 6/2)
5.Puppets (killer/filler ratio 5/3)

In the "Cliff 'em All" video (haven't seen it in like ten years), there is a short home video clip where you see the guys sitting in a room and drinking beer (I know, that's like every scene). But in this clip there is a song playing in the background, I'm pretty sure you hear the guitar solo on the track. It's obvious this was playing on a stereo or something in the room they were in. It sounds like a NWOBHM track, but I'd like to know exactly what it is. This drove me nuts back in the day. Any clues?

haha actually, I just googled again to be sure and found this on a tablature file...it's got to be the same thing:

1. There's a home video "Cliff'em all!".
On the 38min:48sec is an interview(almost),after Cliff's bass-solo.

Someone says to - Lars,Kirk,James(from left):

- Hey guys,don't move!

There's a background music! Who play this background song ???!
What is the title of this song ???!
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
(There's only the solo,and a few words)
This situation is before "The four horsmen"

Somehow, that tape was the only VHS tape that was still on my shelf. I just checked it, and the song is none other than Tesla's "Cumin Atcha Live" from their first album, Mechanical Resonance.

That was back when they were trying to sound like Dokken and not CCR.

The riff to "The Four Horsemen" still gets me every time.

Kill 'em All is super loveable! so goony and nerdy but catchy (and great songs!)

This album always sounds better than I remember. Always. It's weird; I like the record when I think about it, but while it's playing I love the damn thing. It's perfect.

i love love love exactly half the songs and the other half, well i can totally admire what they were setting out to do and where all that manic energy and enthusiasm comes from, so i dig them too. it's almost a joyous album in a way.