Cliff Burton. R.I.P. (Kill 'em All - Metallica)

Member Name: Boonoiy

Product:	Kill 'em All - Metallica
Date:	02/08/02 (486 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Cliff Burton's Bass, Cliff Burton's songwriting ability, The album is just fantastic throughout

Disadvantages: Not really everyone's cup of tea

1983 eh? How many of us remember these heady days of metal in its purest form? - METALLICA .

Not me anyhow, I was only 6 at the time this album came out and was a lot more into cartoons and nursery rhymes than absolutely incredible albums like this one. My loss I suppose, but at least I came to my senses in the early 90s.

The title's explanation is quite simple really. Jason Newstead - the world's most stupid looking individual (well, aside from the entire KISS line up that is) took over on Metallica's bass after the tragic death of the world's most messed up individual Cliff Burton. The Kill Em All album is really a testament to Cliff's huge skills and the ability to make the bass, usually the background (backbone? You decide...) section of a song/band, come to the forefront and give Goosebumps to anyone with a plectrum the size of their hand. Well, needless to say, Cliff Burton was my favourite of the Metallica line up (unfortunately he died before I could get to see him live - bus accident that should've taken Kirk Hammett's life really and lead guitarists are ten a penny), a charismatic, exciting, enigmatic metal head. Real old school, drinking, birds, drugs, the lot - and a fantastic musician to boot.

Anyway, enough of the Jason Newstead disapproval society - onto the opinion of the album.

Shall we?

Track listing and thoughts:
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OK, so you can get the list from the top of the page here but where would the fun be in that?

1. Hit The Lights:
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The intro piece to the album (being the 1st song and all...). What more could you expect from the band with the moshers and the attitude? Loud guitar, heavy bass, James Hetfield's voice going into overdrive with his variety of "singing" (I think he sings properly on the album somewhere but I can't really think of it just now. We'll see what
crops up later in the tracks but for now we'll call what he does "shouting") and Lars Ulrich going mental on his pair of Bass Drums.

You're in no doubt that you've got an early Metallica classic from the first bar of this song. Now, I could sum up the track with a few well chosen lyrics from it but I think I'll just let you know that it follows the theme of:

"Hit the lights [pause] HIT THE LIGHTS"

and doesn't really change much.

2. The Four Horsemen.
3. Motorbreath.
4. Jump In The Fire.

There's not a lot that I can say about these songs, they all follow the same style, heavy guitars (a common theme in the songs of Metallica), Heavy drums (likewise), Incredible bass (a theme until that Newstead pillock joined. Not my fault I don't like him, he is OK sometimes I suppose - I'll write about the Black Album one day and there's bound to be a little praise for him. A great album but I still mourn the bassist I never knew.) and the inimitable style of James Hetfield's vocals (imitated by metal bands from the dawn of time and, oh well, I like to hear a shouter in my metal. Beats the wailing of Axl Rose hands down in my book)

5. Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth):
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CLIFF, CLIFF, CLIFF. How we miss thee.

I'm going to stick my neck out here and say that this is the best of the tracks on Kill Em All by a long, long way.

Four words in the entire track:

Bass...

We know we're onto a good thing already.

Solo...

Ooooh, getting sweaty palms now in anticipation.

Take...

Hmmmmmm, OK then.

One...

If they've been true to themselves and not done twenty five takes with these words at the start then we're really getting Cliff's talent laid bare - only one take and he's good enough for the album! Woo Hoo.

N
ow, the intro to the tune is a feedback fuelled screeching, no discernable talent needed for that I hear you cry but the way it then blends into the distortion laden, heavy simplicity of a true classic bass solo is FANTASTIC. Ask any Metallica fan and they'll agree with me (I hope). If you can imagine the bassist behind later tracks such as Enter Sandman or Nothing Else Matters (2 great songs but not in the same league as this one) being able to produce stuff like this then I'd like a couple of pints of whatever you're drinking.......

Anyway, bass upon bass upon bass (it is a solo after all) going through highs and lows and reaching a crescendo before the drummer (you remember? Madman with 2 bass drums in his kit?) kicks in and the song ends in a strange duet kind of thing and leaves me about to pass out on the bed, all dishevelled as a cause of my head banging exertions.

A wonderful tune and a true classic in the world of metal.

6. Whiplash:
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Back to the norm again. A brief moment of exultation and then we're back to the usual stuff of Metallica at the time. Guess what? Yep, heavy guitars, loud shouting and great bass to go with the mental drumming.

You can say the same for tracks 7-10 too, listed but the above covers them pretty nicely so no comments added.

Oh, except that I love Seek and Destroy more than most of the other songs on the album. Pulling Teeth remains at the top of the tree though.

7. Phantom Lord.
8. No Remorse.
9. Seek & Destroy.
10. Metal Militia

Overall:
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I reckon you can guess what I'm going to be commenting on mostly here.

Cliff Burton and his incredible bass (sounds like a Viz character eh?).

OK, I won't put off the inevitable... The album was written by the entire band, each have chipped in and each has added their specific expertise to the mix and all of them have a
llowed free reign to their imagination and (I reckon anyway) their drug-addled brains.

Cliff's bass playing is at the centre of all the songs I think.

OK, enough of the idolising of dead bass players - what do I think overall?

In essence this is a Metallica classic, they were pretty new to the world stage when this came out and were very raw. Influenced by such nutters as Ozzy Osborne, they were young, dumb and full of wossname (you know the full quote I'm sure - remember, family site ;)) but they could all play metal and play it, they did.

The formative years if you like, an intro to big time success and rightly so. I love Metallica (up to and including the black album - don't get me started on Load onwards. Just imagine my shuddering.....) and this shows off their roots very well.

If you're a fan of the new Metallica - stay away, you'll be too aware of the sweaty, raw, REAL quality of this album but, if you're a true metaller, well, you'll already have this on vinyl somewhere at home and I'll not need to tell you to buy it at all.

Kill Em All - Metallica. A true metal album.

Cheers folks.

Boon ;¬)

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