Inside Metallica’s Debut Album

2025-09-17

Metallica

We’re going inside the debut album from Metallica and including an in-depth look at the band’s early history. – Author: Charles Ken, Photo from Ross Halfin

As with any band that’s been around as long as Metallica, the California thrash metal group’s history is packed with lineup changes and musical evolution. Let’s face it: Not many bands can say that they’ve been actively touring and releasing new music for nearly five decades. Metallica are a special kind of band, and they still pack stadiums and arenas around the world.

While Metallica’s style, sound and lineup has changed throughout the years, what’s remained the same is that they’re really the quintessential heavy metal band. Along with blockbuster names such as Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Megadeth, they really helped launched the whole heavy metal concept in the 1980s and have made it thrive through today.

So, let’s get into the early history of Metallica. Find some of Metallica’s greatest guitar solos in this Audio Ink Radio feature, too.

The Early History of Metallica

“Metallica, one of the biggest-selling acts in American history, was born on October 28, 1981, when drummer Lars Ulrich and guitar player/singer James Hetfield got together via Ulrich’s LA Recycler newspaper ad,” Metallica’s official website notes. They added Ron McGovney to play bass and Dave Mustaine to play lead guitar.

” Their ascent was to be relatively quick, driven by sheer work-rate, effort, and a rare musical chemistry,” Metallica’s site adds.

The band’s demo, “No Life ‘Til Leather,” was a huge hit in the underground scene, with Metallica noting that the “tape-trading circuit went wild for it.” How cool is it that tape-trading was a thing back then?

In 1983, Metallica has such a buzz that even the East Coast had caught wind of their sound. Jon Zazula pitched the group on an album deal with his indie label Megaforce Records, and the band went to New York in a U-Haul to record their first album. But, it wasn’t long after getting to New York in April 1983 that Mustaine was replaced by Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett.

As Revolver notes of the guitarist change, “Despite having already temporarily relocated to the East Coast to begin work on what would be their full-length debut, Metallica’s ongoing conflicts with lead guitarist Dave Mustaine had deteriorated to the point where the band saw no other choice but to bring in a new axeman for the recording sessions — even though they were only a month away from going into the studio.”

So, for Hammett, “Metallica vacancy was a golden opportunity for Exodus guitarist Kirk Hammett, even though it meant diving straight into the deep end,” Revolver notes. He was really stepping into a new band with new music, not knowing much about his situation yet.

IMDb notes that “Although Dave Mustaine left the band prior to the recording of Kill ‘Em All, he is credited with co-writing songs on the band’s first two albums.”

The Story of Metallica’s Debut Album

“The resulting debut album, ‘Kill ‘Em All,’ exploded onto the scene later that year, brandishing punk-encrusted, crunchy metal riffery,” Metallica’s site notes.

“Kill ‘Em All” was a huge moment for Metallica, and not just for them, but also for thrash metal music. “Metallica’s 1983 debut Kill ‘Em All more or less singlehandedly launched thrash metal and established the template for every other speed- or extremity-oriented metal band on earth that’s been active since,” Pitchfork notes in a review of the set. “You can split hairs about the key role played by fellow ground-floor pioneers Slayer and Exodus, and point out that Anthrax and Voivod had also already formed by the time ‘Kill ‘Em All’ was released.”

In an interview with Rolling Stone, Ulrich talked about how he’s come to appreciate the album later in his career. “I can’t say that there was a magical moment where we’re listening to ‘Metal Militia’ and wrote a song. But we did play ‘Kill ‘Em All’ in its entirety at the Orion festival in Detroit in 2013.”

“That was the first time I really got into that record. Early on, I was dismissive of that record because ‘Ride the Lightning’ and ‘Master of Puppets’ may be a little more intellectually stimulating and challenging – they were deeper records – and it wasn’t until 2013 when we played it that I realized ‘Kill ‘Em All’ had a cohesiveness,” Ulrich added in the chat. “It had its own thing with the speed, but it’s simpler – the songs are longer but not quite as progressive” and is “a world all its own. And I think there are some elements of that that rubbed off into this. I’d say there’s a trace of residue from rediscovering Kill ‘Em All’ that crept into the songwriting.”

Billboard says that the album changed the face of heavy metal music. “Combining the speed of punk heroes the Ramones, American hardcore and the fury of NWOBHM bands like Mötörhead, and saturated with blistering solos inspired by Judas Priest, Metallica captured attention with a sound now known as thrash metal,” they note.

So, there’s a snapshot of how Metallica formed and their early days, through the recording and release of their debut album, 1983’s “Kill ‘Em All.” The band, of course, would go onto become one of the biggest in the metal genre, with subsequent albums, such as “Master of Puppets” and “The Black Album” gaining lots of stream. Long live Metallica.

Charles Ken
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