Kill' em all (Kill 'em All - Metallica)

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Product:	Kill 'em All - Metallica
Date:	10/12/00 (34 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lots

Disadvantages: Few

'Kill 'em All' contains pure adrenaline-pumping music, plain and simple. The lyrics are not particularly impressive. But then again, this is not a deep album; it's not supposed to make you contemplate life, it's supposed to make you get up and wreak senseless havoc on the streets! All your good sense is stripped from you when you listen to this music. To illustrate, suppose you are driving and you see an animal (be it big or small) in the middle of the road. Normally, you might break or swerve to avoid it, but when you are listening to this music you are more likely to step on the gas and watch the bits of fur go flying! "Yarrghh! ah ha ha!" This is seriously intense music.

This album does not speak of the problems of adolescents, as many other metal bands do (almost exclusively, sometimes). It doesn't have any profound message hidden in it; it's just about living fast and acting crazy. Yet the music, while promoting all of this craziness and mayhem, retains its melodies and articulate structure. Hetfield and Hammet do not simply wail uncontrollably on the guitars; they are precise and skilled in their songwriting and are very technically accomplished. It is good music in its own right, aside from its adrenaline-pumping quality. There is good use of melody, and there is enough variation within most songs to make them interesting enough to listen to repetitively.

Given the album's age, the production quality is surprisingly good. The relative amplification of all of the instruments is well-balanced, and the sounds are well-textured. The only weak part of the production lies in the vocals. It sounds as if young Hetfield is yelling at you from down the hall. His vocals are not strongly amplified compared to the guitars, and they have a seemingly unintentional echo effect.

While the musicianship and songwriting is stellar, Metallica does not show very much flexibility or variation of style in 'Kill
'em All'. The songs, although the melodies are unique, all have a very similar sound. Don't expect the adrenaline flow to relent during the course of this album!

The hot-blooded nature of the songs combined with Metallica's superior song-writing and technical skill make this an essential speed metal album. And even for those who don't care to get crazy every once-in-a-while and go kill animals with their bare hands (or teeth), this album still contains very good music. If you are interested in the band itself, this is probably not the first album you should buy, but it should definitely be on your wish list

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