Monday, December 6, 2010

When the Four Horsemen rocked . . . (Metallica: Kill Em All)

Dusted off me copy of the album above & gave me Sunday morning the perfect heavy fooking metal wake up call (though not quite sure whether me neighbours apprreciated it!!!). And fook me silly, it is still as vibrant & a shock to the system as swilling from a bottle of Thunderbird under a sweltering noonday sun!

Before Sandman, Bob Fooking Rock, the ultra-slick videos, Napster fiasco & the ham-fisted attempts to regain former glory, Metallica were not just Bay Area heroes. They were the original masters of 'Thrash Metal' before that became a dirty word.

This debut from 1983 had the same effect on us fledgling long hairs halfway round the world as it did with teens everywhere. This was an album that signalled the creation of a generation gap between us & the older Purple/Sabbath crowd. Though most of us loved those classic bands as well, Metallica was OUR band. The pimply complexions, the stonewashed denim & white high cut sneakers combo, sleeveless jacket with patches, the scraggly hair - fook, they were one of us!

Tunes like Hit the Lights, Jump In The Fire & Seek & Destroy may sound primitive & even noisy to Black album converts, but to older longhairs (or baldies?) this remains a high point in genre.

Of course, many will debate the merits of the next three LPs, but this debut effort remains one of me fave metal LPs of all time. Ye can hear the urgency of a band taking flight and of a new sound breaking out.

Watch this vid & roll back the years . . .



If ye've lost yer copy of this vintage piece of metal or never owned one, please click here fer free download: http://www.megaupload.com/?d=GI4IYTK0 .

Look forward to reading yer fondest memories of this classic that's now over a quarter of a century old . . .

17 comments:

Anba said...

This album is the most important, historical and life changing album in my life...
i will no be half the person i am in my life...if not for this album
Im proud to say it changed my taste in music and was my intro to the metal world...
April 92' was the time...though the world was now listening to black album ..i just finished my mid year exam..and i got 10 bucks for acing my examination...
guess what rode down my bicycle to the local mart and bought myself this gem...
words can nvr capture the feeling and excitement taht came along with the music...fast and furious is an understatement...i just wanted to listen to this kind of music 4 eva ...hit the lights right thru whiplash and ending with metal militia ...superb..always after school it was something that i look forward to putting on me walkman on listening to this album..mmg syiok...
and one week after buying KIA me bought ride the lightning...and that's how my metal journey started...

anfield devotee said...

Anba: So ye gonna nickname yer baby Lars?

Unknown said...

Couldnt agree more with Anba. You sed it bro!

anfield devotee said...

premo: Sad innit when ye listen to this & see wot has become of em . . . Cliff would have been disappointed.

One of the last interviews me read on metallica has Lars giving the reporter a tour of his pad & was shown the drum room where he rehearses. Said Lars, it was the room he least visited these days.

WTF?!!??

Too busy being a businessman instead of a musician . . .

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

One of the ultimate classics, and that's quite an understatement! Bought the cassette for 5 freakin bucks from a friend.

Seek and Destroy, I remember it was the first ever tune me and some fellas jammed together at the old Black Widow studio @ Asia Jaya. As expected we made a mess of the song but we just couldnt care any less.

Talking about Mr Rock, some of you may wanna have a look at this very interesting link shared by a friend - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oF-k0QmSwik

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Debbie Does Dengkil...muahahahaha...what name, nothing serious about the band la. We were more into books only to realise later on we chose a wrong career path...hahaha...

anfield devotee said...

Woi, ye talking to a dengkil resident here matey . . .

Achilles said...

AD: It sure is sad what metallica has become today. they should just stop producing albums. The past few new ones have been utter crap.

I like all the older stuff. Seek and destroy... AAAAHHHH.... love the opening guitar riffs... feels like chaos is about to start.

Sure reminds me of those old drunken days....sigh... sound like an old man. heehehehee

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Rajan, one sign of old age we cant understand what the fuss all about surrounding a certain Justin bieber...haha...I for one dont even know who the hell this fella is.

And ofcos, you're old if you own any pre Black album Metallica t-shirts i.e Justice and earlier. I was a proud owner of one (Ride The Lightning)...haha...

Anba said...

Kerp... Debbie does dengkil is a good one...
jangan dengki sudah....
By the way bala...i wanted to put me son's name as
James VayLen but end up as just Vaylen a/l Anbarasan saja...

Achilles said...

Kerp: Justin who? hahahahaha. Honestly, i feel proud that i don't know anything about him.

BTW. Agree with Anba...DDD is a cool name for the band.

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

There you go Bala, this confirms that most of your readers are porn freaks too...hahahaha...

mozHASturnedINTOaMartian said...

hey chief!

talk about a blast from THE past, and not a moment too soon.

ever wondered about this strange lining that weaves through most great bands chief?

some of the greatest throughput of creativitiy came via those outputs that were:
a) recorded cheap (or at the lowest cost comparatively);
b) done in the shortest time (again comparatively); and
c) with cruder versions of technology bordering on minimalist tendencies - i.e. rawasfark in comparison with symphonic overtures that were around the corer.

examples in question:
a) early misfits LPs - amongst other early punk lps;
b) got to be at least one ramones lp somewhere in the mix - HEY, HO, LET'S GO!;
c) then of course yu got early nirvana LPs - bleach. fast. furious. and cheap.
d) SCUM - bluearhghghhghghghghhghhh. enough said.

and

e) kill em farkin all.

i started at justice and went backwards chief. the admiration grew with every step back. couldnot say the same for other bands (e.g. helloween pre-keeper).

but it just kept growin like my puffedup goodyear belly.

then of course..i plugged in
anaesthesia / pulling teeth.
i went...waattt daaa farrrk.

pukimak. who is dis faker sial.
who taught him to play bass like that.
farker. bastard. until then, i never knew how to respect a bass instrutment.
to tell yu the truth, its only from thereonwards i leart to appreciate the finer aspects of the bass.

actually spun me off into a jazzy trip. including a side trip into other bass-laden gems vis-a-vis
-portishead; and
-morphine.

oh yeah. around that time - i had ventured into an elvis costello lp called brutal youth. after the damage anaesthesia did - relistening brutal youth threw up MR.ELVIS C in a different light - most definitely an interesting proponent of loud thumpin' stringed basses.

farker the fella.
he raped his bass, his bass, a whore that remained virginally pure.

RIP c.burton.

appreciatively,
anand.

p.s. other fav track included the rather punky '"JUMPPPP IN THE FAAAYAAARRRR"

Kerp (Ph.D) said...

Bleach!!! Thanks for the reminder Mozzman. Time to blast back to the path!

anfield devotee said...

achilles: Ye is an old man . . . Sad but true (*snigger*) . . . (*Sorry fer the obvious song reference*)

kerp: That Justin Bieber dude is truly a sad indictment of the state of popular music today. This is wot happens when teenage girls get to dictate the airwaves . . . thank fook fer the internet where the underground THRIVES!

Mozzer: Bang that head that doesn't bang!!!

Anba: Why? Wifey veto? Same la here, initially Seth was gonna be named Fernando Gerrard Balachandran . . .

Tinesh said...

Due to my young age, most of these classics had to be visited retrogressively la. My first intro to Metallica was Master of Puppets (the song)and then Seek and Destroy. And goddammit there couldnt be a more awesome intro than that.

ps: the only consolation I get from the existence of Biber is that every music video on youtube has one commenter that bangs biber :D

anfield devotee said...

tinesh: So wot? janji ye knows & appreciate. Same like us with Zep, Hendrix, CCR, The Dead, etc etc.