1983

Almost 25 years after it's release, "Kill 'Em All" is still like a religious experience for headbangers. Not unlike 70s PRIEST, it's everything metal is meant to be, pure and simple. New things jump out upon each listen; for example, the way the changes in "The Four Horsemen" recall DIAMOND HEAD's "Sucking My Love". Then there's the demonic way Hammett fucking attacks the strings after the last verse of "Motorbreath", the way the tempo changes before the solo in "No Remorse" sound like a BUDGIE song, or hearing Hetfield bark out lyrics like, "Stabbing the harlot to pay for her sins, leaving the virgin." If you listen to the first minute of "Metal Militia" with headphones on, you can actually hear the sound of the pick whistling back and forth over the strings. Picture a twentysomething Cliff Burton on stage, drifting off into his own world, improvising a live version of "Anesthesia (Pulling Teeth)" that simultaneously recalls Stanley Clarke and Lemmy Kilminster. Well, we can go on and on with this, but you get the idea. It's an attitude, a glorious celebration of neck-snapping, alcohol-swilling aggression, held up for a moment in time in glorious analog. Come let yourself go.

Picks of the litter, 1983: