Metallica
The Bay Area Early Days

THE REVIEW

Live EP 1982.

Metallica: "The Bay Area Early Days" (all written with horrible computer graphics).

The question I asked myself half an hour after buying this CD was: "Are we sure this is a Metallica CD?". Indeed, having become accustomed to the surprising and majestic MetallicA logo, with the M and A amusingly elongated downward, I was a bit surprised to notice that, in fact, the logo is characterized by a gray-plastic-metallic coloration (if I conveyed the idea...) and, above all, no elongated letters!

First negative impact, therefore, an impact that leaves me quite perplexed about the actual authenticity of the album in question (having previously read online a warning about the possible presence of a fake Metallica album, passed off as original, in reality a hoax). I check to be sure: James Hetfield gu. & voc., Lars Ulrich dr., Ron McGovney bass, Dave Mustaine le. gu. & voc. Confirmed the presence of the early Metallica lineup (which lasted briefly) and slightly reassured, I turn on the stereo.

The first track is NOT a track: it’s a recording of a voice, with a metallic tone (how strange...), presenting the CD. Horrible, especially for the echo effect at the end. Convinced I’ve wasted nine euros down the drain, I prepare my ears for anything that might come out of the pseudo-stereo (CD player and PC speakers). Good thing, I think, as the first notes of "Hit the Lights" shoot out and overwhelm with the still young and biting fury of a Hetfield still unripe as a singer (but not as a guitarist): it’s then fun to catch the small variations that distinguish the solo performed by Mustaine compared to the one that would later be recorded in "Kill 'em All" with Hammett's performance. Then we catch a ruinous and driving "Seek and Destroy", the star of the live shows (if you’re familiar with 'Live Shit'), performed with violence, intensity, and emotion, as well as "Motorbreath", another piece useful to wake up listeners, with the immortal riff that characterizes it. No doubt, it is Metallica, and from this moment onwards I no longer care if the album is original or not, in fact, I completely forget about it. We then move on to a "Phantom Lord" that sounds stranger without that dark arpeggio, which dampens everything and breaks the song's rhythm, making it more attractive (but this is a personal opinion). One might even gloss over the excellent “Jump in the Fire” as engaging as always, to discuss more extensively about "The Mechanix", the "mother" song of the subsequent (and far more famous) "The Four Horsemen", always in Kill 'em All. Here is a much rougher version, without the musical arrangements inserted by Metallica when they later released Kill, very different from this (and you only need to listen to understand). It concludes with "Metal Militia", a track that needs no further comment.

Essentially, it is an album in some respects unripe, in some aspects mature enough to blow everyone’s "speakers": uncertainties that would later be smoothed over with the reformed line-up. Despite wanting to give a 5 to this album, for the affection I have for the old Metallica, I found myself forced to give it a 4, because it’s poorly produced: understandable for an EP, but to a certain point. Okay, that's enough nonsense, I have to feed the hamsters.

Cheers to the old PKers!