ABSTRACT
Metallica's electrifying debut, Kill'Em All, ushered in more than just a new band, it was the debut of a new metal subgenre: thrash. Listening to Kill'Em All after hearing the band's subsequent work, especially after their major label breakthrough, Master of Puppets, in 1986, and certainly after their massive hit Metallica, is an archeological experience. Kill'Em All may have been the band's debut, but it wasn't their first recording. That honor, such as it was, belongs to a track on a compilation album of LA metal bands titled Metal Massacre, It was released in June 1982. Kill'Em All was so very exciting for several reasons. For one, it was raw. Missing were the so-called production values, which studio wizards, aka producers, intervene in the band's creative process. One tape-trader brought a Metallica demo recorded at a show at the Mabuhay in San Francisco to Jonny Zarzula's stall in a New Jersey flea-market.
