KILL 'EM ALL

This is going to be a tough task for me - Metallica have never appealed to me in the least however I'm going to try and be fair. There are many who feel that Metallica are a "prog" metal band and were highly influential to prog metal - for the purposes of a fair review I'm going to keep an open mind and see where the music takes me.

"Hit the Lights" - Nothing groundbreaking here. Kind of sounds like a cross between "The Sweet" and "Budgie" with a little "Anthrax" thrown in. Ballroom Blitz stuff - he should have started with "Are you ready Steve..............."? I must say that the music is tight though and it is a pleasant enough rocker.

"The Four Horsemen" - "Saxon" meets "Krokus" meets "Anthrax". Interesting listen.

"Motorbreath" - Like a high speed cowboy movie soundtrack. An interesting listen.

"Jump in the Fire" - Again I hear a "Krokus" influence. The track does very little for me although it isn't terrible.

"(Anesthesia) Pulling Teeth" - Interesting lead guitar harmonic and feedback kind of solo thing until the drums come in when it reminds me of Hendrix going through his paces. I enjoy this "acid" trip of a track.

"Whiplash" - Starts off souding like a "Black Sabbath" track until the thrash kicks in. At this stage of the album the high speed antics are kind of annoying me. I enjoy music that goes through nuances and moods - this kind of purely drives on and on and on.

"Phantom Lord" - More of the same. Slow down people! Give the dang album some mood other than the prevalent shouting to high speed cowboy music. Halfway into the track my hopes raise but then are dashed again after a softer little interlude is chased by more of the samey speed thing.

"No Remorse" - Ahhhhh Dang it all! Don't these guys know that restraint can be a good thing sometimes? I'm almost at the level of turning this thing off.

"Seek and Destroy" - This is a little different - now, if someone could tell Hetfield that maybe he should keep quiet and stop yowling about seeking and destroying.

"Metal Militia" - Holy Moly! More speed - only, a little faster this time.

Well, I started out hoping that I could be fair to these guys. Thing is I love melody, ambiance, nuances, the dramatic. Those things aren't here at all. The album carries on and on with a one track mind set. For shaking loose some cobwebs in the head it's ok I guess but once the cobwebs are gone (about three minutes into the album) then the constant yowling and sound barrage just gets annoying. Thus far into the discography I see many influences but I don't see any influence whatsoever. There are more than a few bands who do this way better. Give me "Saxon's" "Dallas One pm" anytime over any of this. It isn't terrible but it isn't great by any stretch of the imagination. Two stars from me.