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Metallica - Kill 'Em All



8.6 | 2869 votes |
Release date: 25 July 1983
Style: Bay Area thrash metal

Owners:

3023 have it
102 want it
5 trade it


01. Hit The Lights
02. The Four Horsemen
03. Motorbreath
04. Jump In The Fire
05. (Anesthesia)-Pulling Teeth
06. Whiplash
07. Phantom Lord
08. No Remorse
09. Seek & Destroy
10. Metal Militia
11. Am I Evil? [Diamond Head cover] [Elektra reissue bonus]
12. Blitzkrieg [Blitzkrieg cover] [Elektra reissue bonus]
13. The Four Horsemen [live] [digital download bonus]
14. Whiplash [live] [digital download bonus]

Top 20 albums of 1983: 4

Guest review by
TheH2K
Rating:
7.0
Being an inspirational oeuvre for many bands, Kill 'Em All is the debut album of the most successful band of metal music, the first official package after some arguments among band members and finally Dave Mustaine's dramatic departure.

The songs are super fast and neoteric in many cases. Immediately by listening to this record, the punk roots come into view. The riffs are really heavy, yet raw and unpolished, which means they had a long way to go in terms of musicianship at that time. Solos are performed insanely fast; however, this acceleration causes quite a lot of bum notes in many songs, which are obtrusive. Bass lines are stunning and surely enhancing the quality of the record. Hetfield's voice is fairly squeaky and no way near a qualified singer. Arpeggiated guitar chords in "Phantom Lord" would be definitely worth mentioning.

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published 04.06.2020 | Comments (5)

Guest review by
Iced Iñigo
Rating:
8.5
The history of the best Metal band began with this cd. In this album the bases of the thrash metal appeared for first time. By this time Metallica was surely the fastest band of the world, even faster than Venom . In this cd Metallica finds an own style which some years later will bring them to the top of Metal.

The musical quality of this cd is not very good, but the quality of composers of Metallica is incredible. Of course the musicians of the band at this time promised much : Dave Mustaine and the disappeared God of bass Cliff Burton, apart the rest well known band: James Hetfield, Kirk Hammett and Lars Ulrich.

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published 22.09.2003 | Comments (51)

25.07.2023
40 years old today. Congratulations to the biggest metal band of all time and to one of the genre defining albums of thrash metal.

Hit The Lights
The Four Horsemen
Motorbreath
Jump In The Fire
(Anesthesia)-Pulling Teeth
Whiplash
Phantom Lord
No Remorse
Seek & Destroy
Metal Militia


Pick your favourite if you can.

Nejde's picks | More picks ››

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Comments page 2 / 3

Comments: 61   Visited by: 2529 users
22.02.2013 - 00:05
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
1th Metallica album, 1th what make them famose and like media says criated a genre .... rest of try to follow. This case corect woulkd be use speed metal instead of thrashg, its not so agresive, but more fast, more speedy. Only of it kind from Metallica. Rest even in good era are diferent. each song is classic, also James singing well it wa slil diferent
Its unknown , no muisc videos, no good promotion, those who like to wtach VH1 ... no songs also in so called classic rock radio,
Buy t it or be on the road .... metal militia following everywhere
I was in mood for Metallica and will go now true all metallica albums
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I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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22.02.2013 - 01:14
Ellrohir
Heaven Knight
I still need to listen to this
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My rest seems now calm and deep
Finally I got my dead man sleep


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05.03.2013 - 22:53
squidrick420
Written by Abattoir on 28.07.2010 at 12:08

Written by Disposable Hero on 27.07.2010 at 07:02

This is the master piece for a pure thrash album

Masterpiece indeed, though I wouldn't classify this album as a pure thrash, but more like speed/thrash metal.

Agreed, speed metal. At the most i would call it proto-thrash, but not a full on thrash album like the following releases.
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07.04.2013 - 23:37
squidrick420
Written by Bad English on 22.02.2013 at 00:05

1th Metallica album, 1th what make them famose and like media says criated a genre .... rest of try to follow. This case corect woulkd be use speed metal instead of thrashg, its not so agresive, but more fast, more speedy. Only of it kind from Metallica. Rest even in good era are diferent. each song is classic, also James singing well it wa slil diferent
Its unknown , no muisc videos, no good promotion, those who like to wtach VH1 ... no songs also in so called classic rock radio,
Buy t it or be on the road .... metal militia following everywhere
I was in mood for Metallica and will go now true all metallica albums

I agree that this is more of a speed metal album then thrash; nonetheless it is still highly influential to other thrash albums that came later.
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02.06.2013 - 17:03
Rating: 10
MetalAce
The Eternal
One of the Greatest albums from metallica, real speed metal that is! bassist cliff made it a PERFECT album, i listen 3 times a day!
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09.09.2013 - 08:17
Lião
Account deleted
Metallica's best. From here on this just went downhill.
Hell, I think I don't find thrash metal exciting at at all. Most of the thrash albums I've listened I gave a 7. Perhaps I gave this one a 8 because it's more speed metal than actually thrash metal...
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01.01.2014 - 04:54
Rating: 9
JavierML
This album gave birth to Thrash, and its forthcoming genres.
Yes, it might get monotonous sometimes (maybe that's the reason one guy called it boring), but the along with the lack of production, makes this album so romantic. Everything is about speed and heavy riffs, no bullshit.
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02.09.2014 - 04:00
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
After listening to this albujm for the first time in a long time tonight I had to raise the score to a 10 due to the following which I posted on facebook:

Quote:

Being the nostalgic little dweep I am tonight (due to housesitting my parents house I grew up in Nijkerk). I can't leave without posting and listening to this little ditty. Damn... I remember hearing it for the very first time at the time of release in 1983. Never has a band made such a impression on me. Not previous or prior to Kill 'Em All. No idea how some of my contemporaries think about it, but I am willing to bet quite a bit that there are more people like me around me concerning this album. Henri Emond maybe?

Okay, none of you know who Henri Emond is, but the fact still remains hahahahahahah
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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02.09.2014 - 04:06
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Today at the age of 46 I finally realized what a life defining and musically forming album this one has been for me.

And even now, after all these years, I can shout every single word along
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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02.09.2014 - 04:17
Rating: 8
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Metal Militia on Tony Hawks Undergroud 2 man. I can pretty much thank Tony Hawk for my interest in music. Bring Da Noize on THPS2 was a good one when I was 4 or 5.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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02.09.2014 - 04:18
Marcel Hubregtse
Grumpy Old Fuck
Elite
Quote:
Thank you Dave Mustaine. - 61%
Thank you Dave Mustaine.

He didn't contribute that much at all

Quote:
Cliff has got a boring as fuck bass solo on Kill'em All, but is otherwise quite hard to hear

this guys totally disqualifies himself now because the bass is extremely audible. So he is clearly deaf.

Quote:
On top of that, the lyrics are pretty fucking stupid most of the time.

that vision of the importance of lyrics disqualifies 99.9% of all metal bands
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Member of the true crusade against European Flower Metal

Yesterday is dead and gone, tomorrow is out of sight
Dawn Crosby (r.i.p.)
05.04.1963 - 15.12.1996

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31.01.2015 - 06:19
Rating: 8
Ruchesko
Believe that hype, boys and girls.
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08.06.2015 - 05:48
metal220
Bought this at best buy for 6.99 original press. people are paying over 100 bucks for this album on ebay for some reason. A cd isonly worth what youll pay for, they need their voting rights taken away
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Its either heaven or hell. and Jesus is the only way into heaven. People are always looking for something to satisfy them, only when they are saved will they be satisfied. Theres a change about you once you get saved. One god one way.
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08.06.2015 - 07:57
Rating: 6
M C Vice
ex-polydactyl
Written by metal220 on 08.06.2015 at 05:48

Bought this at best buy for 6.99 original press. people are paying over 100 bucks for this album on ebay for some reason. A cd isonly worth what youll pay for, they need their voting rights taken away

9 bucks on amazon. Unless the ebay versions are original vinyl pressings, the sellers are idiots.
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"I'm here to nunchuck and not wear helmets. And I'm all out of helmets."
"I'll fight you on one condition. That you lower your nipples."
" 'Tis a lie! Thy backside is whole and ungobbled, thou ungrateful whelp!"
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23.07.2015 - 20:04
Rating: 9
Bad English
Tage Westerlund
Written by deadone on 15.06.2015 at 03:12

Written by zombieatemybrain on 14.06.2015 at 06:39

Just listened to this album for the first time in over 15 years. I forgot how incredible it is. 1983, seriously, this album, no doubt, raised the bar in the metal scene.

15 years between listenings? Dang that is mad!

then he was only 15
----
I stand whit Ukraine and Israel. They have right to defend own citizens.

Stormtroopers of Death - "Speak English or Die"

I better die, because I never will learn speek english, so I choose dieing
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29.07.2016 - 15:31
Rating: 10
JOPE OF STEELE
Steelemeister
Man, this used to be one badass album when listened to as a kid. Sure it doesn't sound very extreme now, but still it can be heard as the beginning of extreme metals. Haven't heard the remaster though, and I don't see why this needs a remaster anyway, the album sounds great. There are 1001 other metal albums that are ruined very much by bad productions and could use remastering more than this album.

NOT recommended for pussies.
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My vision is augmented
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21.12.2016 - 19:22
Rating: 8
Boxcar Willy
yr a kook
Cliff's bass solo ruins this album. I never realized how shitty Lars was at drumming until recently, but it shows on this album. It still kicks ass though. Metal Militia will always be a banger.
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14:22 - Marcel Hubregtse
I do your mum

DESTROY DRUM TRIGGERS
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15.07.2018 - 17:10
Rating: 9
Singed
I remember making my friend, a guitar/bass player, listen to Cliff's bass solo for the first time, he was like "So what? This seems to be pretty average." When I told him that this was a bassist's work, he just stared at me with his mouth wide open. Since then, Flea isn't his idol anymore...
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I don't play the guitar, the guitar plays me.

No, honestly. The guitar is an arsehole
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23.10.2018 - 03:49
Angelic Man
Account deleted
Ugh! The album cover is just disgusting. Makes me want to vomit. Not to mention the lyrics are bad. Seek and Destroy could make somebody go insane. Jump in the Fire promotes sin and Satan worship, No Remorse says that it is okay to kill people, and Metal Militia has a bad line about the harlot paying for her sin. This is bad and you shouldn't like this.
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06.01.2019 - 21:22
Rating: 9
Maasai Mara
Simply the best Metallica album. Full of fun and frantic speed,. 4 horsemen, hit the lights and jump in the fire are some pretty sweet shit.
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You are not metal enough until you visit Kenya. The cradle of mankind, where man learnt first to work with stones and first enjoyed the sounds produced by banging stones which later influenced metal in all its sounds and genres.
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14.03.2019 - 16:41
Rating: 9
sookeper
"Kill 'Em All" is the album that started a new line within "heavy metal". The first LP of Metallica is pure energy, explosions with a lot of anger, but very well oriented by the good musical management that brought Cliff Burton to the band. Here is the root of "thrash metal", which then moved through different waters in which each group gave it its personal touch. In the case of Metallica, they decided to take their music along a more "progressive" path, Burton pushed the band to make great compositions, this can be seen in his next two albums.

If you want to know the "thrash" this is one of the discs that you should listen to, you understand that fusion of "heavy metal" brought from the United Kingdom, together with the "punk" that raised New York and London. A song to start? "Whiplash" ...
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27.12.2020 - 01:50
Rating: 9
JavierPaper
It's a great album of Metallica, is most agressive one, nothing of progressive or melodic. The best songs are (Anestesia) Pulling Teeth, Seek & Destroy, Hit the Lights, Metal Mitilia, Jump in the fire and The Four Horsemen
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23.01.2021 - 21:21
Rating: 7
I really like the Motorhead influences all over this. The songs that featured Dave Mustaine in their first demo are far better in my opinion. While the newer songs added seem to dwell too much on one riff or another. And as a final note, I do like Cliff Burton's bass playing when the psychedelia seeps through. This is coming from someone who isn't the biggest Metallica fan free from rose-colored glasses. My favorite songs are Hit the Lights and Jump in the Fire.
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03.10.2022 - 11:56
Rating: 8
nonZero
A good debut but no doubt they improved dramatically after this. 'The Four Horsemen' and 'Seek & Destroy' are great standouts but I don't find myself returning to any of the other tracks.
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03.10.2022 - 17:21
gavdann
Written by nonZero on 03.10.2022 at 11:56

A good debut but no doubt they improved dramatically after this. 'The Four Horsemen' and 'Seek & Destroy' are great standouts but I don't find myself returning to any of the other tracks.

I played KeA earlier today funnily enough. It's certainly my least favourite of their first four albums but it's still leagues ahead of everything they released from Black album onwards IMO.

Whiplash is a bona fide classic and in my top 3 favourite 'tallica tunes ever but there's not a bad track on here.
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29.12.2022 - 22:41
Rating: 9
Redel
Moderator
Written by nonZero on 03.10.2022 at 11:56

A good debut but no doubt they improved dramatically after this. 'The Four Horsemen' and 'Seek & Destroy' are great standouts but I don't find myself returning to any of the other tracks.

That is exactly how I thought about this album many years back as well. I have though come to appreciate it much more over recent years. Today it even rivals RTL for my favourite Metallica album, there is no huge margin any more. I may also slightly prefer it to MOP.
Everything on here literally kills.
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23.04.2023 - 10:29
Rating: 6
It’s a pretty lethargic album. Thrash metal at the time all blended together and was as indistinguishable as hair metal. It’s a solid debut album effort but nothin that really stands out as time goes on. Filler is filler too like Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, and No Remorse.
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23.04.2023 - 11:34
JoHn Doe
Written by franksamuel0209 on 23.04.2023 at 10:29

It’s a pretty lethargic album. Thrash metal at the time all blended together and was as indistinguishable as hair metal. It’s a solid debut album effort but nothin that really stands out as time goes on. Filler is filler too like Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, and No Remorse.

Undistinguishable from glam metal?! It's very distinguishable from that, it's enough to listen and see that. Very important album, despite wearing its influences on its sleeve.

I agree Metal Militia is kinda filler, but Phantom Lord and No Remorse are great songs.

Also "a lethargic album" How?!
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I thought the two primary purposes for the internet were cat memes and overreactions.
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23.04.2023 - 12:28
nikarg
Staff
Written by franksamuel0209 on 23.04.2023 at 10:29

It’s a pretty lethargic album. Thrash metal at the time all blended together and was as indistinguishable as hair metal. It’s a solid debut album effort but nothin that really stands out as time goes on. Filler is filler too like Phantom Lord, Metal Militia, and No Remorse.

Taste is subjective and I mean no disrespect, but this is one of the most hilarious comments on this website ever. Kill 'Em All is a genre-defining album that stands the test of time because every person getting into metal is air-guitaring and singing along when listening to these tracks up to this very day. I don't understand the comparison to hair metal either, or how thrash metal "blended together" in 1983. Also, "lethargic"? This album is full of sweat-dripping, unbridled energy.
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20.05.2024 - 06:05
Rating: 8
Majesty1911
Cool, fun and energetic debut from the most overrated band of all time.
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Glory to the Nation!
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