KILL 'EM ALL

The most interesting thing about Kill 'Em All is the one contributing musician who doesn't appear on it: Dave Mustaine, who had left Metallica by this point to form Megadeth, but whose compositions stand out as particular highlights of the album. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in The Four Horsemen, most of which was composed by Mustaine but had a post- Mustaine interlude inserted into the middle; the difference in songwriting ability between Mustaine's sections and the rest of the band's is notable. Metallica would catch up on their subsequent albums and this one is delivered in an engagingly aggressive and thrashy fashion which makes up for its shortcomings, but this isn't the most auspicious debut the band could have had.