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Metallica · S1 E6
Kill 'Em All
The debut album, recorded in Rochester for Johnny Zazula's Megaforce Records
Music America Studios, Rochester, New York, May 1983. James Hetfield steps up to a microphone in a studio he's never been in, in a city he's never visited, clears his throat, and counts in the fastest album anybody has ever heard.
"Hardwired" (Metallica, 2016). Three chords, no intro, no buildup, full speed from the first second. Thirty-three years after Kill 'Em All, and Metallica can still write a song that sounds like it was recorded in a garage on fire. The DNA has never changed.
Johnny Z
Johnny Zazula runs a record store in East Brunswick, New Jersey called Rock 'n Roll Heaven. He's been trading tapes and selling imports for years when the No Life 'Til Leather demo lands on his counter. He puts up $15,000 of his own money to bring the band east and fund the recording, because no label in America will touch a thrash metal band in 1983.
Sources
Joel McIver, "Justice for All"
So What! magazine
Megaforce Records history
“We recorded the whole thing in like two weeks. We didn't have time to second-guess anything. We just played.”
— James Hetfield, So What! magazine
TAP TO REVEAL: What was Kill 'Em All originally supposed to be called?
Music America Studios, Rochester, New York
The upstate New York recording studio where Kill 'Em All was tracked in May 1983, far from both the LA and Bay Area scenes Metallica had called home.
Hardwired, Metallica (2016)
Three chords, no intro. The song starts at full speed and stays there for three minutes. Listen for how James's vocal is pushed right to the front of the mix, almost raw, echoing the production approach of Kill 'Em All where the budget forced everything to be tracked live. Thirty-three years apart, these two songs share the same philosophy: hit as hard as you can and don't apologize.
Sources
Rolling Stone
Blabbermouth
Kill 'Em All: The Facts
Motorbreath, Metallica
From Kill 'Em All (1983). The fastest, most unhinged track on the debut. Under three minutes of pure velocity with zero room to breathe. If Kill 'Em All is Metallica's opening statement, Motorbreath is the exclamation point at the end of it.
Motorbreath, Metallica (1983)
"Living and dying, laughing and crying." The lyrics are simple, almost punk. No eight-minute epics here, no classical bass solos. Just a band running as fast as it can and daring you to keep up.
Kill 'Em All is widely considered the first album of what genre?
Kill 'Em All is out, the underground is on fire, and Metallica is headed to Denmark to record something bigger. Next season: Sweet Silence Studios, Ride the Lightning, and the album that proves thrash metal can think as fast as it plays.
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To be continued
Season 2: Ride the Lightning
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