The album ‘Kill ‘em all’ originally titled ‘Metal up your ass’ was the debut album of American thrash metal band known as Metallica. The band intended to call it Metal up your ass with the album cover featuring a very unpleasant looking dagger coming out of a toilet but due to the producing company refusing to produce something out standing like this, they settled on the name we know now, which was inspired by a pissed off Cliff Burton saying how they should ‘kill ‘em all’. This being Metallica’s first album was said to be the birth of thrash metal with its cross between Metal and Punk. Too punk to be metal and too metal to be punk. Released in 1983 and sold just 7000-10000 copies in the first couple of months, less than half set to be sold but it is now a multi-million selling product and that’s just in the U.S. Americas biggest Metal band had to start some where, and this album is the start, strong lyrics, awesome Riffs and a plentiful supply of solos, what better way to begin.

Hit the lights- 4:17
This song can be considered by a fair few people as the song that made Kill ‘em all. Lyrically this is in my eyes, not very good. Instrumentally though, I think this song has an amazing tune, an awesome solo and a brilliantly fast tempo. Hit the lights is a great opening song for the album but it’s probably for this, the album didn’t sell to well, bearing in mind this genre of music had never been heard before. A great song to listen and though the lyrics do not capture Hetfield at his best, they certainly stick in your head.

Motorbreath- 3:08
The song begins with a nice drum intro then the guitars come in and make it sound more like horse hooves than ‘the four horsemen’. Like the first two songs it has a very fast tempo (it is thrash metal) and about half way through a good attempt at a solo comes in but its about 2 and a half minutes in when the real solo hits and its excellent and also brings about the ending of the song. The lyrics though not especially strong are made up by the rhythm they fit into. Definitely a song to be listened to.

(Anesthesia) Pulling teeth- 4:14
This song is just one 4 minute long bass solo which is relatively unheard of but is pulled off to great effect if you can appreciate the talent behind it. Burton changes the tempo continuously through this song so that its not boring like many instrumentals actually are. Then surprisingly, it cranks up a notch where the rest of the band play a small background part and gives off a great beat to nod along. The song itself though shows what Cliff brought to the band and really makes the song stand out.

Phantom Lord- 5:02
The beginning of this song starts slow, which after whiplash comes as a brief moment of respite but then all four instruments start up and mix into one tune that creates a truly original riff that you can really get into. It uses many effects that makes the transition from the slow drone to this really magnificent riff and just lets the power flow out. I think the lyrics don’t have the emphasis on them that the other songs do and are moved into the back ground but its not a huge loss because the tune makes up for this and always keeps you guessing as it progresses through the song. The solo in this is immense and then fades into a real eerie melody that allows you to drift into the music then is followed by more amazing solos from Hammet.

Seek and Destroy- 6:56
My words just cannot do justice to how powerful this song really is. One of the most memorable tunes from metal history and has lyrics that anyone can sing along to. Often mistaken for a militia march type song when it is actually just about drunkenness but the way the lyrics tell the story, it’s really just a matter of how you want to interpret it. The lyrics are put across in a powerful way and again the tune doesn’t disappoint. If there is one song on this album that you’re going listen to, it should be this one.

Thanks for reading this review, it is the first I’ve wrote so please fell free to criticise. The album itself should be a starting point for anyone who likes early thrash and I recommend taking the time to listen to it, even if it is just to get a feel for the genre.