Metal Massacre, Vol. 1

Metal Massacre, Vol. 1

Track Listings

1. Chains Around Heaven - Black 'N Blue

2. Live for the Whip - Bitch

3. Captive of Flight - Malice

4. Octave - Avatar

5. Death of the Sun - Cirith Ungol

6. Dead of the Night

7. Fighting Backwards - Pandemonium

8. Kick You Down - Malice

9. Hit the Lights - Metallica

Tracks:

Chains Around Heaven - Black N Blue
Live For The Whip - Bitch
Captive Of Light - Malice
Octave - Avatar
Death Of The Sun - Cirith Ungol
Dead Of The Night - Demon Flight
Fighting Backwards - Pandemonium
Kick You Down - Malice
Hit The Lights - Metallica

Customer Reviews:

SECOND earliest official release of Metallica.......2006-11-13

The only reason I own this is for the early recording of the Metallica track 'Hit The Lights' which personally I find alot more enjoyable than the raw, dusty album version with a prepubescent Hetfield screeching down the microphone. Here we hear him noticably younger and hadnt yet adapted his raw, growling vocals that he was once heralded for. Quite an enjoyable listen indeed.

Just to clarify (for the confused) this IS the re-released version of Metal Masscre Vol. 1 and DOES feature Dave Mustaine (on lead guitar only).

The 'first version' of the track was recorded and pressed in 1981 and originally featured session guitarist (Lloyd Grant) however this has since then been discontinued and would be VERY hard to obtain.

The 'second version' was recorded during a session in 1982 along with 3 other tracks (Mechanix, Jump In The Fire, Motorbreath - general interest) This was the version that was then pressed onto Metal Masscre Vol. 1 and is also the version you see here. Still very collectable, still very enjoyable. Glad I could clear that up.

Straightening of Facts.......2006-08-03

Just to clear up some of the wild info here about the Metallica "Hit the Lights" track - James did sing on this song, but the vocal delivery is almost a mimic of Sean Harris' style, as the primary influence of the band was Diamond Head. Getting the spot on the record was the catalyst for Metallica, as Lars was able to bait James into starting a band with him with the slot Lars's friend Brian Slagel (Metal Blade mastermind) had saved.

Lead guitars are not performed by Dave Mustaine, but instead by session player Lloyd Grant.

Interesting stuff.......2004-05-20

In the early eighties, Metallica was beginning to gain a pretty large following in southern California, the area they were living in at the time and performing. Their demo tape quickly circulated, and eventually it entered the hands of a person who wanted to record a local album's worth of tracks by various up and coming heavy metal artists in the southern California area. Metallica was the only one of these bands that would achieve any real popularity, but a number of other artists were also asked to contribute. Read on for my review of Metal Massacre.

Rather obviously, the primary track of interest on this compilation is Metallica's. This is NOT the same version of Hit The Lights that would later end up on the band's first full-length LP, Kill 'Em All, but rather an earlier version. This is a rare recording of the song that features the ORIGINAL incarnation of the band - You've got James on vocals and rhythm guitar and Lars on drums, but on bass you have Ron McGovney and on guitar you have future Megadeth founder Dave Mustaine. This is a very rough and unpolished recording, and James Hetfield sounds like a shrieking woman on it! This IS James singing, NOT Dave. James just hadn't found his voice yet. Oh, well. He'd find it not long after. All right, all right, I'll shut up about Metallica now. The other bands that contributed to this compilation are also excellent. Among them we have Black 'N' Blue, who contribute the hard and heavy Chains Around Heaven. Why didn't these guys achieve any greater success? This song is excellent! The female-fronted Bitch also shells out an excellent tune, Live For The Whip. Once again, we have an act that had major potential, but it went unnoticed. Malice, another one of these acts, serves up two tracks, both of which are killers. Cirith Ungol's contribution also rocks. Through and through, this is an excellent compilation. The sound quality and production on most songs is weak, but that doesn't subtract from the overall experience.

Want to hear music from some heavy metal geniuses who never got the proper recognition? Check this compilation out. Following its release, a number of other Metal Massacre compilations were released, each of one featuring a number of other excellent up and coming metal artists. If you like classic metal, you'll be doing yourself a real favor picking this up.

good start for many early thrashers.......2001-04-02

this is a good collection of early 80's speed metal. The track of interest is, of course, metallica's, as they're the only band in the album to achieve any real commercial success. Their track, an earlier mix than appeared on their debut album kill em all, did feature dave mustaine on lead guitar (its also rumoured that he actually was on some songs off kill em) , but not vocals (as some reviewers incorrectly stated). Though this collection is rough around the edges, it provides a sample of metallica, and the entire genre of thrash metal, in its infancy.

Excellent early 80's metal.......1999-08-27

Well the reviews here state a lot of good things about the disk I won't even bother to try and repeat here. The best thing to note is that about half of these bands were signed, and had reasonably good career's. The quality is demoish, but the material is first rate. 'Hit The Lights' is not the original from the album (which made me interested in metal in the first place), but a newer version (??). Dave Mustaine of Megadeth was singer at this time, so it is one of those must haves for early metallica/megadeth freaks.

Metal up your Ass...

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