METALLICA – Kill ‘Em All [Japan SHM-CD Remastered] (2018), MP3+FLAC

As requested, here’s the mighty METALLICA debut album “Kill ‘Em All” remastered, in its Japanese SHM-CD pressing mini-LP replica, now out of print.

Without belaboring the point, some albums change the course of music so profoundly that it’s hard to imagine what the world was like before their arrival. Metallica’s 1983 debut “Kill ‘Em All” more or less singlehandedly launched thrash metal and established the template for every other metal band on Earth that’s been active since.

You could argue that other bands were bound to reach the same threshold of tempo and attack because the early ’80s metal underground was collectively headed in the same direction. But the fact is, several key participants in thrash metal’s first wave freely admit that “Kill ‘Em All” gave them a framework for the sound they had all been searching for.
In other words, once Metallica stepped up the pace, everyone else followed suit.

Now remastered and available again on vinyl, CD and deluxe boxset (extras for die-hard fans only in my opinion), “Kill ‘Em All” still sounds fresh 35 years on.
Most of the tropes that would define Metallica’s imperial phase are already in place: memorable, crunching riffs worthy of Black Sabbath (‘The Four Horsemen’, ‘Metal Militia’); bursts of extreme speed, most notably on ‘Whiplash’ and the coda to ‘No Remorse’, and a penchant for complex song structures and time changes.

Yeah, maybe if you’re reading this website Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All” isn’t exactly your cup of tea, but you can’t deny this album is a milestone in contemporary Rock music. Myself, a melodic rock / AOR fan at heart, played this to death (on cassette) back in the day, alongside my Journey, Foreigner and Survivor LP’s.
In this fresh bright remastering, the first, 1983’s wholly insolent “Kill ’Em All” retains its brattish, appealing aura to this day, revealing the Hetfield, Hammett, Burton and Ulrich line-up at their most frantic, rebel early days.
Highly Recommended

01 – Hit The Lights (Remastered)
02 – The Four Horsemen (Remastered)
03 – Motorbreath (Remastered)
04 – Jump In The Fire (Remastered)
05 – (Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth (Remastered)
06 – Whiplash (Remastered)
07 – Phantom Lord (Remastered)
08 – No Remorse (Remastered)
09 – Seek & Destroy (Remastered)
10 – Metal Militia (Remastered)

James Hetfield – vocals, guitar
Kirk Hammett – guitar
Cliff Burton – bass
Lars Ulrich – drums

turbo FLAC