Metallica - Kill 'Em All (1983)
It's kinda funny how the album cover and title, for that time period, almost gives off the vibe that it'd be a Cannibal Corpse-esque band or at least would be some really heavy shit, but as shown by the opening track "Hit the Lights", they were much more about a ROCKIN' AND ROLLIN' time than killing people, and it also shows right out the gate that they can fuckin' shred! The guitar solo in that song is pretty neat, and kinda sounds like if you threw a Poptart like a frisbee and your dog jumped up and caught it in its mouth, and you're both like "Fuck yeah!" because the dog got to eat and you're a total dumbass because that's a SMORES Poptart, moron!! ENJOY BURYING FIDO YOU FUCKING IDIOTIC PIECE OF SHIT!!!
This is their first album, which features bassist Cliff Burton so that automatically makes it one of those albums you can't criticize or someone's gonna be all "Cliff 'Em All though man come on" so it's a bit of a fine line you gotta walk on, giving respect where it's due and all that good shit, and I'll say that everyone in this band, on this album, does pretty decently (even Lars Ulrich ain't bad, if a bit too simple at times), especially in the case of the famous "(Anesthesia) - Pulling Teeth" consisting entirely of a long and impressive distorted bass solo by Cliff Burton, and sure, "Whiplash" is a great song and I can't deny that, partially because it, along with "...And Justice For All"'s "One" being the first two 'Tallica songs I ever heard as a child, so that makes them both kinda sentimental despite never really being a fan of Alcoholica before, but dammit, while some of these songs hold promise, there are some that just last too long without too much payoff. You can't get me to sit through "Seek & Destroy" unless I'm too buzzed off of something that I can't move. That song makes me want to seek & destroy my LIFE with a GUN in front of my FAMILY who I am RELATED TO, to EMOTIONALLY SCAR them! That's fucked up!!
Pretty interesting also is to just see how far the band has come since this album, I mean, even guitarist/vocalist James Hetfield sounds different on this album, almost sounding like he's shrieking some of the lyrics and has a kinda hair-metal tinge to his voice, especially when talkin' about ROCKIN' ASS \m/ but even more interesting is to sit down and realize just how much this album influenced metal bands for decades to come, and there are some songs on here that I can really see it on, such as the admittedly kickass "Whiplash", but ultimately I'm left doing a polite, almost silent clap, out of some form of respect, and I don't even know where that's coming from because I don't even have respect for my immediate surroundings. Have you seen my room? It looks like a fucking bomb full of MD 20/20 bottles went off! Shit.. Maybe I should've rationed one for tonight's listening. I guess hindsight really is 20/20.
6/10
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