Metallic was a band that started out in the garage of one of the members when they were In high school. The band went through many changes, tragedies, but found solutions for them and somehow remained playing. They started In 1980 as one of the first, if not the first Black/Metal band. Their popularity decreased in 1 987, and from there they went on to become really popular later on. With Black Sabbath founding heavy metal in the Seventies, Metallic redefined thrash metal in the Eighties. Since erupting on the scene with their debut album, Kill ‘Me All, in 1983,
Metallic has been a cutting-edge band – the standard by which metal’s vitality and virtuosity are measure (1). No band has loomed larger, rocked heavier, raged more angrily or pushed the Limits further than Metallic. The group In 1981. Around the core of James Hatfield and Lars Lurch, who both lived in Los Angels, met when Hatfield answered an ad looking for someone to jam with. The pair bonded over their mutual love of metal – especially the “New Wave of British Heavy Metal. ” Lurch, a Danish immigrant, turned Hatfield on to this faster, thrash like wave of British heavy teal.
The sensibility of that movement – feisty, aggressive, anta-fashion and, most of all, Independent in split – rubbed off as they assembled an American band that would break free of commercial glam-metal cliches. The name Metallic unambiguously expressed their metal salvage mission, and they became identified with the submerge known as thrash-metal(). In addition to singer/guitarist Hatfield and drummer Lurch, Metallic first lineup included guitarist Dave Musician (wood found Megalith after leaving) and bassist Ron McGovern.
Their first release was a even-song tape, No Life Till Leather, that spread their name through heavy-metal’s rabid tape-trading underground(2). After slogging It out on the L. A. Scene for two years, Metallic relocated to San Francisco. With a revamped lineup that Included bassist Cliff Burton and lead guitarist Kirk Hamlet, they flew to New York to cut their first full-length album. Kill ‘Me All, released in 1983 on the Macgregor label, revalidated the stale domestic metal scene. It was one of heavy-metal’s most significant debuts, helping to establish the thrash-metal sound in America.
It also revealed the group’s obsession with themes of death, destruction and the darker realms of the human psyche. (3) Metallic followed Kill ‘Me All with Ride the Lightning (1984) and Master of Puppets (1986). Shortly after the release of Ride the Lightning, Metallic signed to Elektra Records, making them the first American thrash-metal band to land a major-label contract. Ride the Lightning peaked at #100 but spent a year on the charts and sold more than 5 million copies over the next 20 years.
Recorded In Copenhagen, Denmark, Master of Puppets proved to be another pinnacle, exalting considerable ambition and intensity(4). Metallic opened for Oozy Osborne on a six-month tour that furthered the album’s success and returned their previous releases to the charts as well. A headlining tour of England and Europe followed, ending in tragedy when Metallic tour bus ran off an icy road in Sweden. Bassist Burton was killed instantly(5). Convinced that Burton would have wanted them to do so.
