Kill 'Em All is the debut studio album by the American heavy metal band Metallica, released on July 25, 1983, through the independent label Megaforce Records.

They recorded several demos to gain attention from club owners and eventually relocated to San Francisco to secure the services of bassist Cliff Burton.

The group's No Life 'til Leather demo tape (1982) was noticed by Megaforce label head Jon Zazula, who signed them and provided a budget of $15,000 (equivalent to $48,835.49 in 2024) for recording.

It was originally intended to be titled Metal Up Your Ass, with cover art featuring a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl.

Zazula convinced the band to change the name because distributors feared that releasing an album with such an offensive title and artwork would diminish its chances of commercial success.

The album's musical approach and lyrics were markedly different from rock's mainstream of the early 1980s and inspired a number of bands who followed in a similar manner.

[6] To garner attention from club owners, Metallica recorded the Power Metal demo in April 1982, which featured "Motorbreath" in addition to the already-performed originals.

The recording and mastering were financed by Kenny Kane, owner of the punk label High Velocity, and distributed by Ulrich and his friend Pat Scott.

[11] Moving to El Cerrito in February 1983, the band stayed and rehearsed at Exodus manager Mark Whitaker's house, which they called the "Metallica Mansion".

[13] Hetfield and Ulrich fired Mustaine on the morning of April 11 after a gig in New York, because of his drug and alcohol problems, overly aggressive behavior, and clashes with bandmates.

[16] Unable to afford a hotel during the recording sessions, the band members stayed over in people's houses in Rochester and at the Music Factory in Jamaica, Queens, where Anthrax held rehearsals.

[13] The band intended to title the album Metal Up Your Ass with a cover featuring a hand clutching a dagger emerging from a toilet bowl.

[21] Burton suggested to Gary L. Heard, also responsible for the Metallica photograph on the back cover, to feature a bloodied hammer on the album art.

The album is considered crucial in thrash metal's genesis because it introduced fast percussion, low-register chords, and shredding leads to the genre.

Hetfield's vocals evolved from the melodic wail on No Life 'til Leather to a rough-edged bark, and the entire band played faster and more accurately on Kill 'Em All.

[27] According to journalist Chuck Eddy, the juvenile lyrical approach to topics such as warfare, violence and life on the road gives the album a "naive charm".

Although Mustaine told Metallica not to use any of his music, Hetfield wrote lyrics about the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and added a bridge and cleanly picked guitar solo in the middle.

[4] Hetfield's revised lyrics for the album were written from Satan's point of view, describing how the devil watches people killing each other, and is sure they will go to hell for their actions.

[38] The single featured "Phantom Lord" and "Seek & Destroy" as live tracks, although they are actually studio recordings with fake crowd noise dubbed over them.

[58] Greg Kot of the Chicago Tribune acknowledged it as the "speed metal prototype", but felt the lyrical replication of Judas Priest and the Misfits kept the album short from becoming a classic.

He praised Hetfield's highly technical rhythm guitar style and said that the band was "playing with tightly controlled fury even at the most ridiculously fast tempos".

[61] Journalist Martin Popoff said Kill 'Em All differentiated from the debuts by Metallica's Bay Area contemporaries because the fans could identify with Hetfield's lyrics and the band's appearance.

He noted the album did not receive much critical praise at the time of its release but said it aged well and opened the doors for the less commercially successful bands.

[62] Despite its "less-than-perfect" production, Loudwire's Jon Wiederhorn said that Kill 'Em All sounds like an "influential slice of history" and stands on the same level as classic albums by Black Sabbath, Iron Maiden, and Judas Priest.

[68] Despite being the lowest selling Metallica studio album, it helped the band establish its image and build a fanbase in its inaugural years.

[7] Kill 'Em All, as the first thrash metal album released in the US, had a substantial impact on the emerging scene and inspired numerous bands with its aggression and austere seriousness.

Dream Theater's drummer Mike Portnoy observed that Kill 'Em All surpassed the NWOBHM bands in terms of sheer velocity and cited Burton's bass solo as the album's peak.

Seven weeks after the tour ended, Metallica booked a number of performances at Bay Area clubs, the first a Halloween gig at the Keystone in Palo Alto.

Three days later, at a gig at The Stone in San Francisco, Metallica premiered "Ride the Lightning", the title track from the upcoming album.

[78] After concluding the Seven Dates of Hell tour, Metallica headed to Sweet Silence Studios in Copenhagen to record its second album, Ride the Lightning.