I'm a fan of Metallica, but I confess that I'm not a great fan of this album. It's extremeley raw, compared to the quantum leap that the band made in the next 3 yrs, with Ride the Lightning & Master Of Puppets.
Lars Ulrich's drumming is fast & hard but it's some of the most basic, I've heard. He improved a 1000% by album no.2!
The guitar tone is a little thin and Hetfield's vocals are frankly, awlful, with lyrics only too obviously written by a 20 year old.
On the plus side, Kirk Hammett dishes up a few really good lead breaks (really like his guitar tone here) on the The Four Horsemen and Jump In The Fire, and there is some good bass from Cliff Burton on the faster tracks like Whiplash.
The Motorhead/Venom influence is very apparent and I do appreciate the cultural significance of this, in 1983 BUT for me, Metallica really begins with Ride The Lightning. In all fairness, in regards to the 'Big Four' (Metallica, Megadeth,Slayer,Anthrax), all four bands released less than great debuts, with each band recording far superior follow ups.
In my view, Slayer's Show No Mercy was the best of these debuts - and it's less than perfect, to say the least.
If you want to hear much better versions of Whiplash and Seek & Destroy, then I really recommend the Live Sh*t CD/DVD combo (feat. Jason Newsted on bass/backing vocals). Pricey but well worth it!
Motorhead have done a blistering cover of Whiplash that you can find on the Damage Case CD. Also, Germany's Destruction have covered this song and it's even faster!
